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Overview

An overview of Instruqt's virtual IT lab platform, and its usage.

The Instruqt environment

Instruqt is a hands-on virtual IT Lab Platform for interactive learning. Virtual IT labs provide learners with hands-on sandbox environments in which they can learn about products and technology.
Instruqt instantiates a running version of your software in a protected lab environment. With this lab environment, you can create product tutorials, demos, and training material based on real-world scenarios and technology. Because Instruqt is a browser-based solution, it takes away the hassle of firewalls, configuring laptops, or virtual machines.

Sandbox with a virtual machine or container

A sandbox is a self-contained environment created using actual products to match real-world scenarios. Users can access these sandboxes using a web browser and experience technologies without setting anything up or worrying about breaking things. An Instruqt sandbox is set up like so:
Where the sandbox can contain:
  • Virtual machines
  • Containers
  • Virtual browser
  • Cloud accounts (Google Cloud, AWS, Azure)
Furthermore, you can install any web app in an Instruqt sandbox. For example, PostgreSQL, Grafana, and GitLab.

Learners only need a web browser

Learners start the Instruqt web console in their browser to work with Instruqt. From the web console learners can do actions like:

Integrate Instruqt with external systems

You can use Instruqt as a self-contained virtual IT Lab, however you can also integrate Instruqt with your systems—for example, a Learning Management System (LMS). Integration can be done in the following ways:
  • Embed Instruqt in your web pages. In this setup, the virtual IT lab becomes an integral part of your web page:
  • Connect your system to Instruqt through an Application Programming Interface (API). In this setup, your system exchanges data with Instruqt:

Basic parts: track, challenge, and script

Instruqt provides interactive learning using the following basic parts:
  • Track
  • Challenge
  • Script
A track is a series of challenges that a learner has to solve. Where a challenge is a task the learner has to do:
In practice, learning content alternates challenges to guide the learner through a track:
Furthermore, you can use scripts to perform setup tasks, check if learners have solved challenges, or cleanup environments.

Instruqt example

The following example shows a track with three challenges. In this track, you will learn how to navigate between tabs. To play the track, follow these steps:
1. Click this link to open an example track. ↳ This opens the track in kiosk mode.
2. Click Launch. ↳ Instruqt creates the sandbox environment for you, which takes some time. Your sandbox is ready when the Start button appears.
3. Click Start to begin your first challenge. ↳A terminal window opens and on the right, you see your challenge:
4. Follow along the track instructions to solve the challenges. ↳ Finally, you will receive this Great job! message:
5. Click Finish to close the track.

What you need before you start building

You need the following to start building tracks in Instruqt:
  • An Instruqt account You can get a free test drive if you do not have an Instruqt account already.
  • A building tool You can use the following tools to build tracks:
    1. 1.
      Web User Interface (Web UI) A web app that runs in all major browsers.
    2. 2.
      Instruqt Command-Line Interface (Instruqt CLI) A CLI on your local Windows, Mac, or Linux machine.
You are free to choose either tool, and can even use both side by side. Trainers and marketers lean towards the Web UI; developers and sales engineers towards the Instruqt CLI. See Set up for starting with the Web UI or installing the Instruqt CLI. If you choose the Instruqt CLI, you should also have a code editor installed. For example, Visual Studio Code (VS Code). VS Code is free and available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

How to build tracks

To build a track, you take the following main steps:
And progressive learning is the best way to master building tracks:
  1. 1.
    Start with the Getting Started documents Set up and Quickstart. These documents will get you up and running quickly.
  2. 2.
    Progress with the How-to guides. These guides explain all aspects of building tracks, from creating a basic track from a template to creating a complex multi-cloud track.

Where to find detailed information

You will find detailed information—like settings and CLI commands—in the following sections:
You can also search for keywords in the complete documentation:
  1. 1.
    Click Search... on any documentation page to open the Search window.
  2. 2.
    In the Search field, enter your keyword. For example, track. The Search window shows a list of items with documentation pages that contain "track".
  3. 3.
    Click an item of your interest to open the underlying documentation page.
  4. 4.
    To reopen the Search window with the earlier results, click Search... again.
Next - Getting started
Design effective tracks
Last modified 3mo ago