Network Operating Systems
Networking Assignment
Teaching period 1– 2011
Worth 20% of ITECH1002 /5002 Assessment
Individual report due by 5pm Friday of week 11.
The aims of this assignment are:
· Section 1 (worth 12 marks)
To investigate and summarise aspects of specific number systems and to document important aspects of the Linux Operating System and its associated commands. This section is primarily intended to help students consolidate their understanding of Linux.
Effort undertaken in this part of the assignment will help students to understand number systems, Linux commands and the Linux file system structure.
· Section 2 (worth 8 marks)
To research aspects of technology related to ITECH1002 /5002 Network Operating Systems. You must write an individual technical report and in that report include at least one reference using APA style referencing.
In addition to answering all questions posed in the assignment description, both sections of the assignment require students to undertake practical investigations, capture associated screen shots and include them in their submission. The majority of your screen shots must include either a directory or file that is named using your student number as this will uniquely identify your screen captures from those of other students. Practical investigations are best done in a VirtualBox environment either on university lab machines or your own machine.
Screen captures in The Linux and XP virtual machines can be copied to a USB memory stick for inclusion in assignment reports. The USB device is seen as a z: drive in the XP virtual machine and as the /mnt/vbox/ directory in ubuntu.
Detailed Requirements
Section 1 (worth 12 marks)
Section 1a: Number systems (3 marks)
Section 1b: Linux commands (9 marks)
Section 1a: Number system documentation. (worth 3 marks)
Computing and related disciplines lend themselves to the use of number systems that reflect the underlying architecture of computer systems, this is particular the case for the binary, octal and hexadecimal number systems. In addition students also require a good understanding of the decimal number system.
Task 1.1: Binary, Octal & Hexadecimal
Document the structure of the Binary, Octal and Hexadecimal number system in terms of their base, valid digits and the weighting of each digit of a 6 digit number for each number system.
Task 1.2: Conversions
Describe how to convert between:
1. Binary and Octal
2. Binary and Hexadecimal
Task 1.3: Bases and valid digits
In any number system the value of each digit to the left of the least significant digit increases in value. For instance in the decimal number system (base 10) the value of the least significant digit is 1, the next digit 10 (tens), the next 100 (hundreds) etc.
Create a table that tabulates this information for all four number systems of interest.
Include in your table the name and base of each number system.
Task 1.4: Conversion to/from Decimal.
Document how to convert between the following number systems:
· Decimal to binary
· Binary to decimal
Task 1.5: practical conversions
Conversion Example
A box contains 5 dozen red balls. How can this number of balls be represented as a hexadecimal, octal and binary number?
Repeat the above exercise for 3.25 dozen balls.
Section 1b: Linux Reference (worth 9 marks)
When working with Linux it is important that students fully understand the structure of the Linux file system, basic console commands and shell features. This section of the assignment is intended to assist students to consolidate these concepts.
Full comprehension of these important concepts will only be achieved through practical investigation on a Linux system (or virtual machine). As previously mentioned students should use screen captures that include a file or directory named using their student ID number throughout their Linux Reference document.
The Linux Reference requires students to document many Linux commands. For each command that you describe you should include:
Ø Brief introduction of what the command does
Ø The basic syntax of the command
Ø Answers to any questions posed in the assigned task
Ø An example of the command (where appropriate)
You should also include a screen capture for numerous commands
Note – Although the Linux “man” (manual) pages will be helpful in this section students are likely to find much more user friendly descriptions of commands and their usage by from the Internet.
Once you have completed documenting a command you should fully understand that command and from then on be able to use it as required. If after documenting any command you feel that you do not fully understand its function then you should investigate that command in more depth. This material will be thoroughly examined in the test and the exam.
Task 2.1: The ls command
Document the “ls” command.
Your documentation should include the following:
Ø A brief description of what the command does
Ø The syntax of the “ls” command
Ø Effect of at least 5 of its options including:
o –l
o –a
o –la
Ø At least one example with an appropriate screen shot that was captured by you and includes a file or directory named with your student number.
Task 2.2 to 2.19
Repeat the procedure from 2.1 above for each of the following commands.
Screen shots should appear in at least five of the following command descriptions.
cd pwd
touch mkdir
cat less more
cp mv rm
chmod (Using both octal and symbolic notations)
chown (Include examples of how to change either user or group owners)
su sudo
useradd group passwd
umask
Task 3: The ifconfig command
The ifconfig command can be used to observe or configure a network interface card.
Describe how the ifconfig command can be used to assign a specified IPv4 address to a specific network interface card.
Task 4: Linux file system directories
Give a brief (at most a paragraph) explanation of what is contained within each of the following Linux file system directories:
Ø /
Ø /root
Ø /home
Ø /mnt
Ø /bin
Ø /etc
Task 5: Some people do not comprehend the difference in function of the root directory “/” and the directory named “/root/”. How would you explain the difference in the intended function of these two directories to any such person?
Task 6: Linux file system
Create your own diagram of the Linux file system. Your diagram should show the following:
Ø The root of the file system (ie / )
Ø The directory used by the root user as his/her home directory
Ø The directory used by the user “ubuntu” as a home directory
Also show the directories contained within ubuntu’s home directory
Ø The directory that contains the “ls” program and other such command binaries
Ø The directory that contains configuration files including the file “lftp.conf”
Task 7: Linux wildcards
When using Linux commands, wildcards are often used. Explain (with examples) the function of each of the following wildcard characters:
Ø .
Ø ..
Ø ~
Ø *
Ø ?
Task 8: Piping to grep
Linux users often pipe the output of commands to grep.
Provide at least 3 examples of piping to grep and in each case describe how the command works. At least one of your examples should also include one or more of the many grep options (See the grep man page for available grep options)
Section 2: Technical Report (worth 8 marks)
Acceptable report length - Minimum length eight A4 sides.
This assignment is both theoretical and practical. You are expected to investigate aspects of Linux and Windows XP from books, electronic help or from the Internet. You are also expected to support your theoretical discussion with results that include at least 4 screen captures as evidence of personal practical investigation.
Topic : File system security
In all networking environments file system security is of utmost importance. In Linux r,w & x permissions along with associated special bits implement file system security. In Windows XP the combined effect of shares and NTFS permissions are used to secure the file system.
Your task is to write a report about file system security that describes how the two operating systems Linux and Windows XP implement file system security. Your report must also include a comparison of file system security in the two platforms.
Your report must include the following headings:
1. Introduction
The introduction should explain the concept of File System security
2. Linux file system security
In this section as well as describing how Linux file system security works you should discuss how the Sticky bit is used for shared file system directories. You should also discuss the role of the SUID bit for allocating extended privilege to running programs.
3. Windows XP share level security
In this section you should:
o identify the main purpose of share level permissions and what machines such permissions apply to in workgroup networks.
o You should detail the level of access each permission provides to affected machines.
o Describe at least 2 ways to connect to a shared resource
o Explain the role of the SAM in Microsoft sharing
4. Windows XP NTFS security
In this section you should:
o Identify the main purpose of NTFS permissions and in so doing describe what resources are affected by NTFS permissions
o Describe the effect each permission has on files and folders
o Explain the fundamental differences between NTFS permissions and share level permissions in terms of what resources are affected by each permission type
5. Describe advantages of Windows ACL’s compared with the Linux equivalent
6. Conclusion
Your report must include at least one reference from a book or journal article. You must include a references section on the last page of your report and it must include the reference formatted in APA standard format. This reference must be cited at least once within the body of your report.
Students should refer to the university’s web site for details on how to correctly reference published material in APA format in academic reports. (http://www.ballarat.edu.au/aasp/student/learning_support/generalguide/)
Assignment submission and Marking criteria
Hurdle
Students must have completed all Moodle quizzes and have gained a mark of at least 70% on each quiz to be eligible to gain any marks in this assignment. Quizzes will be added progressively throughout the semester. Each quiz may be attempted as many times as necessary in order to gain the required 70% mark.
All Moodle quizzes are designed to help students understand the material presented in the Network Operating Systems course and as such will help students pass the theory test and examination.
Submission
Students must submit a hardcopy of their assignment for marking.
Students must also submit an electronic copy via Moodle. If the electronic copy is not submitted zero marks will be awarded for the assignment.
Marking criteria
Section 1 (worth 12 marks)
This section will be marked on its technical content and presentation. This section of the assignment should be written in such a manner that a novice Linux user could understand how to use any command detailed in your Linux reference and also gain a better understanding of number systems, Linux file structure and other topics covered.
Section 2 (worth 8 marks)
Marks will be allocated to:
1. Technical aspects of the submission 5 marks
Students must show good understanding of the technical
aspects of the topic, the report must also show evidence
of practical investigation in the form of screen captures that
contain a file or directory named the same as your student ID number.
2. English expression and presentation 2 marks
3. APA referencing 1 mark