Why Rudder Virt?
Turn classroom knowledge into practical IT and cybersecurity skills. Choose existing labs from the module library, deliver individual environments to students, and automatically grade their work against configured rubrics. You do not have to build each lab yourself.
Practical work, automatically assessed
The grader runs author-defined commands inside each student’s VM, evaluates the output against the module’s grading rubric, and collects scores in the classroom gradebook. Assess practical work without manually inspecting every machine.
The autograder uses a specially provisioned serial console rather than its network connection. This supports assessment when guest networking is part of the exercise, but still requires a working guest-grader setup and a tested rubric. Grading evaluates configured criteria, not every aspect of competence.
How grading works inside the VMWhy Rudder Virt instead of Proxmox?
Proxmox VE is a free, open-source way to run real VMs and private networks. You can absolutely build a classroom lab with it. Rudder Virt’s value is not that those capabilities are exclusive. It is bringing lab preparation, student delivery, and assessment together in a classroom platform.
| What your classroom needs | Proxmox VE | Rudder Virt |
|---|---|---|
| Real virtual machines Run real operating systems | Supported | Included |
| Browser-based VM consoles Access machines through the web | Supported | Included |
| Clone VMs Create copies of existing VM templates | Supported | Included |
| Private, isolated networks Build multi-VM network labs | Supported | Included |
| Automated grading and classroom gradebook Automatically check practical work against your module’s grading rubric and collect scores in the classroom gradebook, without manually inspecting every student’s VM. | Not included out of the box | Included |
| Module library and community contributions Choose existing practical modules available to your organization without authoring the lab. Educators who create modules can contribute through publishing or sharing. | Not included out of the box | Included |
| Student-level VPC Each student’s module copy has isolated networking. Run cybersecurity ranges with duplicate IP addresses across student environments, without one student’s lab traffic reaching another’s isolated network. | Not included out of the box | Included |
| Declarative classroom lab recipe VMs, provisioning, and topology in one reusable module | Not included out of the box | Included |
| Automated rebuilds Re-run the build recipe to produce fresh module images. Include update steps or refresh source versions to pick up the latest updates, then test before releasing. Rebuilds are initiated by an author, not scheduled patching. | Not included out of the box | Included |
| Share modules instantly Share module access with another organization that accepts shares, without exporting VM images. The definition is available immediately; another deployment zone must build it before students can run it. | Not included out of the box | Included |
| Classroom rosters and lesson releases Assign a tested module version to your class | Not included out of the box | Included |
| Student instructions alongside the lab Keep the lesson with the environment | Not included out of the box | Included |
Included out of the box. Not included out of the box.
Choose Proxmox when you want to manage virtualization yourself and have the time or tooling to build the teaching workflow. Choose Rudder Virt when you want that workflow built in. You still design and test the lessons; you do not have to assemble the classroom platform around them.
This compares typical workflows, not performance. Proxmox features vary by version and configuration, and integrations can extend either approach.
Existing modules, less preparation
A hypervisor gives you somewhere to run machines. Rudder Virt also gives you a module library to teach from, with student instructions and grading rubrics. Choose an existing exercise, preview the student experience, and release a tested build to your classroom instead of starting each lesson from a blank image.
Authoring is optional. If you create a module, contribute it by publishing modules you own for organizations in your deployment, or share with selected organizations that accept shares. Teach from others’ work and share what works for your classes.
Declarative lab and network configuration
Most educators choose existing modules. For authors, a saved build manifest describes machines, source images, files, provisioning steps, and private network topology. The visual editor or YAML captures how to prepare the environment; student instructions and grading rubrics describe the lesson and assessment separately.
Build and preview the module, then release a tested image version to your classroom. Each student’s copy includes the machines and their network relationships. Reuse the recipe for the next class, or rebuild it with updated inputs. Images are pinned to a build, but rubric changes can still apply to existing work.
Declare VPCs, subnets, and VM interfaces alongside the machines that use them. Model client/server labs, routing exercises, or cybersecurity ranges with isolated student environments that can reuse the same IP addresses.
Private does not automatically mean offline: the default network has internet access. Choose None for an offline VPC, or Build only to download dependencies during a build without giving student clones internet access.
Repeatability still depends on your inputs. Pin images and dependencies when consistency matters, update them deliberately, and test before releasing.
# A two-VM web troubleshooting lab
network:
vpcs:
- name: classroom
internet: true
subnets:
- name: lab-lan
vpc: classroom
cidr: '10.10.0.0/24'
dhcp: true
vms:
- name: web-server
source:
url: 'https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/latest/debian-12-genericcloud-amd64.qcow2'
resources:
cpu: 1
memory: '1Gi'
disks:
- name: rootdisk
size: '8Gi'
communicator:
ssh_username: debian
cloud_init:
user_data: |
#cloud-config
ssh_authorized_keys: []
nics:
- name: nic1
slot: 1
subnet: lab-lan
ip: '10.10.0.10'
provisioners:
- name: install-web-server
type: shell
shell:
inline: |
set -euo pipefail
sudo apt-get update
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y nginx
echo 'Classroom web server' | sudo tee /var/www/html/index.html
sudo systemctl enable nginx
- name: student-client
source:
url: 'https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bookworm/latest/debian-12-genericcloud-amd64.qcow2'
resources:
cpu: 1
memory: '1Gi'
disks:
- name: rootdisk
size: '8Gi'
communicator:
ssh_username: debian
cloud_init:
user_data: |
#cloud-config
ssh_authorized_keys: []
nics:
- name: nic1
slot: 1
subnet: lab-lan
ip: '10.10.0.20'
provisioners:
- name: install-client-tools
type: shell
shell:
inline: |
set -euo pipefail
sudo apt-get update
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y curl
# Run curl http://10.10.0.10 from the client during the lesson.
timeout: 30mOne build recipe defines two Debian VMs, their CPU, memory, disks, network
interfaces, and software setup. During the lesson, students use curl http://10.10.0.10 from the client to test the web server. Each student’s
module copy gets its own network with the same IP layout.
Internet access stays enabled in this example so the VMs can download packages. Use Build only in the editor if student copies should be offline. The build injects its SSH key through cloud-init; no credentials are embedded here. Pin the image version when you need consistent inputs, and test before releasing. Add student instructions and a grading rubric separately to complete the lesson.
Read the multi-VM build guideCompare the approaches
These are capable virtualization tools, and all support automation and isolated networking in different ways. Rudder Virt is a classroom platform built on virtualization, not a replacement hypervisor engine. The difference is how much of the teaching workflow you assemble yourself.
This is a workflow comparison, not a performance benchmark or an exhaustive feature matrix. Features vary by version, edition, and configuration; integrations can extend each platform.
If the lesson is installing and administering a specific hypervisor, you need that product’s native interface. If you only need a few local VMs or already have a complete classroom workflow around your infrastructure, a general-purpose platform may be enough. Choose Rudder Virt when delivering and assessing repeatable classroom labs is the priority.
Bring your class size, learning objectives, and network requirements. Let’s work out what your first lab needs.