The analogue in CS would be to give the students a pre-configured environment if you want to deep dive into a specific topic before teaching how to set things up. If the students are using a known OS, all you need to distribute is a shell script. Otherwise give 'em a Vagrantfile or something.
That being said, you'll want your students to understand their tools sooner rather than later.
That being said, you'll want your students to understand their tools sooner rather than later.