networking expert required

Pearson BTEC Level 5

HNC/D Diploma in Computing and Systems Development

Internet Server Management

Assessment

UHI

Date for Submission:13th November 2014 (The submission portal will close at 13:59GMT)

Set by: Dr. Adrian J Pullin

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Assignment Brief

As part of the formal assessment for the HNC/D programme you are required to submit an assignment for each module. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments. After completing the module you should be able to: 1 Understand internet technologies 2 Understand internet server architectures 3 Implement internet server and services 4 Manage internet server and services. Completing the assignment tasks will demonstrate your ability to do these things. Specifically, each part of each task corresponds to the relevant assessment criterion given at the end of this specification. E.g. task 1 part 1 corresponds with Assessment Criterion 1.1. Scenario The University of the Highlands and Islands is one of the newest Universities in the UK, being awarded University title in February 2011. It has been operating since 1992 as a federation of colleges across the highlands and islands of Scotland, providing higher education courses in more remote areas. Unlike most universities, UHI is geographically spread out with centres in Stornoway (Isle of Lewis), Lerwick (Shetland), Kirkwall (Orkney) and other islands as well as Inverness, Perth and other mainland centres. Note: UHI is a real establishment. You can find out more about it at www.uhi.ac.uk and in particular you can find out about its distributed nature and the geography of the area it covers. However, the remainder of the material in this assignment is fictitious, being designed to provide a suitable scenario for the tasks. Where reality differs from the material presented here, you must use the material presented in the assignment specification. Do NOT contact UHI about this assignment. They will not know what you are talking about! A new college is joining UHI – Eilean Muile, the Isle of Mull College based in Tobermory. Since they have been operating independently until now, there are some IT systems at Eilean Muile that are not based on the same technologies as those used by UHI. This assignment is about the differences between these technologies and how UHI might integrate the new college systems with its own.

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Assignment Task Task 1 – Guideline length 800 words 1.1 Since Eilean Muile is a small college they only have limited computer facilities and they have to

date allocated IP addresses manually and statically to each device. UHI on the other hand have an extensive range of facilities and allocate addresses across all its sites using DHCP.

Explain why UHI use DHCP whereas Eilean Muile can manage with static addresses.

1.2 Up to now Eilean Muile has been using an e-mail service contracted from Google called Gmail

which has a web access interface. This has provided a suitable service for the college but now they need to integrate with the UHI system, which is based on Microsoft Exchange and uses a locally installed client.

Explain the different ways of accessing e-mail (web front end compared with local client) in detail. You should focus on the protocols used by each approach.

1.3 UHI uses Microsoft Active Directory to manage its network resources and users.

Explain why Eilean Muile should have a Domain Controller on site rather than relying on the Primary Domain Controller at UHI Inverness. You should focus on the management issues of the server and the local resources and users rather than the network traffic issues.

Formative Feedback: You are advised to draft your answer to task 1 within the first month of the module and send it to the tutor via e-mail (with your full name, student id and the module name) for comments and feedback. This will help you make sure that you are on the right track. Task 2 – Guideline length 800 words 2.1 Eilean Muile have been running their web server using Internet Information Services (IIS) from

Microsoft. Despite being a predominantly Microsoft site UHI uses Apache running on a Linux server. Explain the key technical and operational differences between these two solutions.

2.2 In order to align with UHI, Eilean Muile are going to move their web server to Apache on Linux.

Explain in detail the hardware and software consequences of this move. Assume that the old server hardware will not be re-used. You do NOT need to consider any issues relating to the actual web site contents itself. (You should read task 3.1 before doing task 2.2 to avoid overlap.)

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Task 3 – Guideline length 1000 words

3.1 As stated in 2.2 above, Eilean Muile are moving their web server to Apache on Linux.

Recommend, with clear justifications, a suitable hardware platform and Linux distribution for them to use. This should include generic specifications for the hardware, a specific server device to buy and a specific distribution of Linux to use.

3.2 The network manager at Eilean Muile is not happy about moving to Apache on Linux as she

has spent a significant amount of time and effort getting IIS working properly. Explain to the network manager why she needs to move to the new platform. You should focus on the advantages that the new platform will give over IIS.

3.3 There are many free Linux distributions available via the Internet which can be installed onto

partitions of a hard disk, or a separate internal or external hard disk, or on to a USB memory stick. There are also many web sites documenting the procedure of setting up both Linux and Apache. One example is OpenSuse available at www.opensuse.org. Download and set up a suitable Linux installation and Apache server. Document this installation by taking screen shots. Provide an annotated set of screen shots showing the installation of the Linux operating system and Apache, up to the point where Apache is up and running. It is strongly recommended that you do this task using a “live” version of Linux, either to CD or USB as this will not affect your normal operating system at all. It is also recommended that the server is run on an isolated machine that has been physically disconnected from any local network and the Internet to avoid interfering with other live services.

3.4 For the installation you have just done, provide a critical review of the setting up of the server, describing the procedure you followed and with a clear focus on the issues that you encountered and how you resolved them. Also compare the Linux installation with that for Windows.

Task 4 – Guideline length 900 words 4.1 Using the server you set up in task 3, install a simple web site. This does not need to be a

complex web site at this stage. A single web page showing your full name and student id will be sufficient. Take screen shots to show the web site being uploaded onto your server and being accessed via a browser. These shots should be annotated to explain what they show. The browser can be running on the same machine as the server. There is no need to connect the machine to a network or the Internet.

4.2 On your Linux installation, set up a general user with your student id as the user name. This user should be given a suitable set of access rights to allow them to upload web pages and generally manage the web server.

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Take screen shots to show how you set up this user and to show the login sequence for both failed and successful login. These shots should be annotated to explain what they show.

4.3 Provide an annotated printout of the appropriate log files for your web server. You should

provide sufficient log files to show that the server is working and sufficient annotation to show that you understand what the log file tells you about the server.

4.4 Explain whether the EXACT setup you have just implemented is appropriate for Eilean Muile.

Discuss the EXACT implementation you have done including the hardware you have actually used and the distribution you have actually used. Remember that this is meant to be a web server for the organisation in the scenario. You should clearly state whether your setup on your hardware is suitable and then justify your answer in light of the likely requirements of this organisation.

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Student Guidelines

1. You should write each task of this assignment as detailed above, in the order given above and clearly

labelled with the task and subtask numbers used above (Task 1.1, Task 1.2 etc.). The assignment

should be in coherent and appropriate English, complete with citations in the text and a list of

references in Harvard notation.

2. You must ensure that the submitted assignment is all your own work and that all sources used are

correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assignments which show evidence of academic unfair practice.

See the Student Handbook which is in the Induction Area for more information. Please also refer to the

„Guide to Unfair Practice in Assessment‟ on the module page on ilearn.

3. You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide ranging

academic research and ensure this is referenced using the Harvard system. The „My Study Skills‟ area

contains the following useful resources; Study Skills Guide (containing a Harvard Referencing section)

and a Harvard Referencing Interactive Tutorial. You must use the Harvard Referencing method in your

assignment. All your answers must be directly related to and focused on the scenario. Generic

responses will score very poorly.

4. You should use diagrams and tables of figures where appropriate ensuring to reference their source

using the Harvard Referencing method.

5. It is advised that you write your assignment within approximately 3500 words in order for your research

and summarising skills to be developed, and for effective time management. You are required to

ensure that the assignment addresses ALL of the assessment tasks .There is no penalty for being over

the suggested word count, however, in the interests of good academic practice, assignments

submitted with excessive word counts (e.g. over 4000 words) may be returned to students and

asked to be reduced before marking.

The word count excludes the title page, reference list and appendices. Where assessment

questions have been reprinted from the assessment brief these will also be excluded from the word

count. ALL other printed words ARE included in the word count. Printed words include those

contained within charts and tables.

6. Your assignment should be submitted as a single document. For more information please see the

“Guide to Submitting an Assignment” document available on the module page on iLearn.

7. As well as submitting a draft of task 1 within the first month of the module for feedback, you are also

advised to submit a full draft of the complete assignment to the tutor via e-mail (with your full name,

student id and the module name) for comments and feedback prior to submission. This should be done

at least a week before the deadline so that you have time to make any suggested changes.

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Recommended Additional Resources In order to complete this assignment you will have to access a wide range of resources that are available on the Internet. Searching for and locating these sources as well as filtering the relevant material from the results of searches is part of the skill set that is assessed in this assignment.

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Assessment Criteria for Pass

To achieve a pass you must meet all of the assessment criteria as stated

below. Failure to cover all of the assessment criteria will result in a referral

grade and you will be required to re-submit your assignment.

Further guidance on completion of your assignment can be found in the

guidance notes which are posted on the group learning space by your

module tutor. For additional support please post questions onto the group

learning space, or e-mail [email protected]

Learning

Outcomes/

Assessment

Criteria

Criteria Met

For tutor use

(you may wish to

use this in your

preparation for

your assignment

submission)

LO1 Understand internet technologies

1.1 critically evaluate different internet technologies and communication protocols

Task 1.1

1.2 critically compare different internet services and internetworking servers

Task 1.2

1.3 discuss network management concerns and make recommendations to sustain network security, reliability and performance

Task 1,3

LO2 Understand internet server architectures

2.1 critically analyse different internet server technologies and their performance

Task 2.1

2.2 explain the hardware and software components of an internet server Task 2.2

LO3 Be able to implement internet server and services

3.1 produce a system specification to meet a given requirement Task 3.1

3.2 evaluate the suitability of internet server components Task 3.2

3.3 build and configure an internet server including services to meet a given requirement

Task 3.3

3.4 critically review and test an internet server Task 3.4

LO4 Be able to manage internet server and services

4.1 install and manage websites and services to meet a given requirement Task 4.1

4.2 implement secure network access to meet a given requirement Task 4.2

4.3 monitor and troubleshoot an internet server and services Task 4.3

4.4 critically evaluate the performance of an internet server.

Task 4.4

Assessment Criteria for Merit

To achieve a Merit all of the Pass criteria need to be met, then the tutor will assess whether you have met the Merit Criteria. Each of the Merit criteria must have been met at least once within the assignment. The following statements are examples of how a merit may be achieved, if you do meet the Merit Criteria by showing you have reached this level in other ways then credit will be awarded for this. You will need to meet M1, M2, M3 at least once.

Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions.

 Effective judgements have been made when selecting appropriate

M1

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solutions.

Select design and apply appropriate methods/techniques

 A range of credible sources of information have been used to

identify appropriate products and solutions

 Selected solutions make appropriate use of available technologies

M2

Present and Communicate Findings

 Material is presented in a logical and accurate manner matching

the stated requirements for each task.

 Appropriate levels of material are presented, taking into account

the target audience.

 Some use of referencing is made.

M3

Assessment Criteria for Distinction

To achieve a Distinction you have met all of the Pass and the Merit criteria. Each of the Distinction criteria must be met at least once within the assignment. The following statements are examples of how a Distinction may be achieved, if you do meet the Distinction Criteria by showing you have reached this level in other ways then credit will be awarded for this. You will need to meet D1,D2,D3 at least once.

Use critical reflection to evaluate your own work & justify valid conclusions

 Proposals offer clearly justified matches to the requirements, with

alternatives being discussed.

 The work demonstrates a clear understanding of the overall

requirements of the client as well as the individual system

requirements.

D1

Take responsibility for managing and organising activities.

 Independent research, outside that provided in course materials,

has been utilised to prepare the work

 Appropriate assumptions are made and justified where detailed

scenario information is not available

D2

Demonstrate convergent, lateral & creative thinking.

 Solutions presented show an innovative approach to network

design based on the latest available equipment.

 A clear understanding of the current trends in Internet Server

Management is demonstrated by the specification of systems that

will handle future requirements appropriately.

D3