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01 IntroMaterial

The document outlines the format and goals of an introduction to system administration course. The course will involve students setting up a virtual Ubuntu server and completing a series of projects. Students will work in pairs on the projects but submit individual lab reports and be graded individually. The core activities will be completing the projects, individual assignments, reading assignments from a textbook, and exams.

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Darwin Vargas
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
24 views

01 IntroMaterial

The document outlines the format and goals of an introduction to system administration course. The course will involve students setting up a virtual Ubuntu server and completing a series of projects. Students will work in pairs on the projects but submit individual lab reports and be graded individually. The core activities will be completing the projects, individual assignments, reading assignments from a textbook, and exams.

Uploaded by

Darwin Vargas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 42

IT341

Introduction to System
Administration

Chris Kelly
[email protected]

1
Goal of This Course
• The goals of this course are
o To teach you how to setup and configure a Linux Server
o To learn some of the basic management principles involved in
system administration
• The goal of this lecture is to let you know how this course
will be conducted
Format of the Course
• This is a lab course
o I will speak briefly at the beginning of each class
o but most of the class time you will spend setting up a Linux server

• I will be here to help you with any issues that may arise
• HINT: When issues do arise, it is to your great benefit to
resolve them sooner, rather than later.
• The bulk of the course will consist of your lab reports for a
series of projects, working in teams of two
o Each team will choose a Windows machine in this Lab
Format of the Course
o On that machine you will be running VMWare
▪ VMWare is virtualization software
▪ You will setup and configure a virtual Ubuntu server using VMWare
o Though you will be working on the projects in pairs, you will be
graded individually
o Each of you must keep an ongoing record of what you are doing
in the form of lab reports
• Also, you will need to read a number of chapters in The
Practice of System and Network Administration, and submit
summaries of what you have read
Format of the Course
• In addition to the aforementioned, there will also be:
o Individual assignments
o Midterm exam
o Final exam
• The exams' questions will be taken/derived from material
covered in...
o Lectures
o The Petersen textbook
Projects
• The core of this course is your work on a series of projects
• You will be working in teams
o Each team will consist of two people, no more and no less
▪ The only exception will be if there is an odd number of students in the
class
▪ In this event, one student will work alone
o You and your teammate will choose a machine in this lab.
▪ The machine will be one of eight: it21 - it28
▪ You will choose your team and machine via the provided sign-up sheet
• There, you will use VMWare to create a virtual Ubuntu
server on this machine
Projects
• Depending on your course section and chosen machine,
you will be assigned a team name -- which will be on the
sign-up sheet, as well.
• In the first project, you will create a basic Ubuntu server
installation
• Through subsequent projects, you will add more and more
features and services to this installation
• You will become more comfortable and familiar with
o the server...
o and its components
Administrator's Log
• One of the most important things you can learn from this
course, is the importance of keeping a written record of
what you have done
• A system administrator will usually do this in the form of an
administrator's log
• When you change a machine you administer - or something
significant happens on it - you should make a note in your
admin log
• Changes to a machine's configuration can cause problems,
that may not appear until months afterwards
Administrator's Log
• If you forget what you changed and when, you will
struggle figuring out what to do next
• This is particularly important when you solve a problem
o First,
if the problem occurs again, the existence of a
previously documented solution will save you the trouble of
looking it up again
o Second, the solution could affect other aspects of the system,
making a clear record even more important
Lab Reports
• For IT341, you must keep an administrator's log - which will
consist of the "daily entry" portions of your lab reports
• Each lab report will be due by a particular date and time -
to be eligible for credit.
• Each team member must write his or her own lab reports
separately
o Even though you are working together and documenting the
same things
o Even though you may share data such as command line output
and rough notes
Lab Reports
o Duplicated text (other than command line output) between team
members' lab reports will be considered plagiarism
• These must be kept in your it341/reports directory,
inside your home directory on the CS department network -
not on your VM!
• The lab reports must be text files (report_XX.txt)
o XX stands for the project number
o For a single-digit project number
▪ XX will be the project number preceded by a 0
▪ Example: report_05.txt
Lab Reports
o For a double-digit project number
▪ XX will be the project number
▪ Example: report_11.txt
o When you are signed into Linux, the file paths will probably look
something like this: ~/it341/reports/report_XX.txt
• You should make an entry in the log for each day you work
on the machine
o This work will usually be done during class
▪ ...but you may sometimes come in outside of regular class meetings or
work remotely
▪ Regardless, that day's work should get an entry
Lab Reports
o While working, you may choose to keep rough notes
▪ ...but those are to help you remember what you did and recall
observations.
▪ The entries in your lab report should be more refined!
▪ You should complete your entries as soon as possible, after doing the
work.
o Note: There is no need to include class notes in your log, nor
should you do so - except as it pertains directly to project work.
• In addition to the daily entries, at the end of each lab
report, you will answer a series of discussion questions.
Lab Reports
• Read the lab report specifications for further details
• There is a link to the specifications on the class web page,
under the Course Components section
Individual Assignments
• Although you will work on the projects as a team of two,
each of you must complete occasional individual
assignments by yourself
• They are not technically "homework", but you may be able
to finish some of them at home
• You will find the list of assignments on the course web page
• You will work on the first assignment today (or next class
period) after I have finished speaking
Individual Assignments
• The first assignment is to
o complete the Unix Apply Process for this course
o set up a special text file for e-mail
o send me an introductory e-mail

• I can help you with this, as needed


Course Textbooks
• The two textbooks for this course are quite different
• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Server: Administration and Reference
describes how to set up and configure an Ubuntu Server
o It will help clarify many of the technical steps we go through
during the course
o Do not neglect this reading!
o By the end of this weekend, you should have read the first two
chapters
o The good news: You need not summarize these readings
Course Textbooks
• The Practice of System and Network Administration is
written by veteran system administrators
o It contains practical advice for system administrators, gleaned
from experience
o Reading this book will help you become a better system
administrator
o These are the readings that you will summarize
Chapter Summaries
• Throughout the course, I'll assign chapters to read from The
Practice of System and Network Administration, along with
suggested summary completion dates.
o You will find the reading schedule on the course web page.
o We may have some discussion on these chapters, if we have time
• You will find a link to the specifications for the chapter
summaries on the course webpage
o under the Course Components section
o under the Chapter Summaries section
• You should get started on these ASAP!
Working in Pairs
• For your work on the projects, you will be working in teams
of two
• Soon, you will choose
o Your partner for this work
o The machine in this lab you will use
o You will do this using the provided sign-up sheet

• it20, it30, and it31 are special machines:


o You should not touch them!
o However, you will occasionally ssh into it20
Working in Pairs
• On your physical machine, you and your partner will create
a single virtual machine using VMWare
o Obviously, there will be some differences from using a physical
machine,
o but much will be the same because you are still emulating
physical hardware
• Though you will be working together on the projects, you
will be graded individually
• Please remember this last point, in particular, so that you do
not end up in a situation that looks like plagiarism!
Working on the Command Line and
with Configuration Files
• Since most of you have taken IT 244 (or possess some
equivalent), you know that the command line is a user-
hostile environment
o On Linux and Unix machines, almost all system administration
work is done at the command line
o Almost all configuration information is stored in text files

• All of the project work you do in this course, therefore, will


be done at the command line
Working on the Command Line and
with Configuration Files
• You must be very careful about what you type at the
command line
o If you mistype or misspell a single character, your command will
not work the way it is supposed to
o As such, you must be extremely careful when changing these files
o A single typo could cause a Linux service on your machine to fail

• You should reconsider taking this course if...


o You did not do well in IT244 or struggle with the command line
o You are unable to quickly and easily recall the material learned in
that course
Working on the Command Line and
with Configuration Files
• Since there are two of you working on the projects
o One person should enter the commands and edit the config files
o While the other should check the commands and file edits for
accuracy
o The two of you are expected to occasionally switch roles so that
you can experience both sides
Do You Have Enough Time to Do the
Work for This Course?
• Many of you work, either part time or full time
o This cuts down on the time you have for class work
o You should not be taking this course if you do not have
enough time to do all the work
• In this course, you will be configuring an Ubuntu server
o As previously mentioned, the command line is user-hostile
o Moreover, configurations and installations will require
considerable attention to many small details
o Project completion will require you to read and follow given
directions closely.
Do You Have Enough Time to Do the
Work for This Course?
o Finally, you need to understand how individual project tasks relate to
the grand scheme of things
• In addition, doing well in this class will require a higher quality
of submitted work.
o You must both understand the material well and express yourself well
o Do you have the time and energy to bring your work to a level
sufficient to achieve your desired grade?
• If you sign up for more work than you can achieve in the time
you have, you are cheating yourself
o Many people in this country rush to get a degree, but haven't done
enough work to digest the material
o Those people invariably set themselves up for failure
Attendance
• At each class I'll take attendance
• I do this to:
o Learn your names
o Have a record

• Your attendance will not affect your grade directly


• However, if you find yourself struggling with the material
and have not been coming to class, I'll be less sympathetic!
Course Documents
• Everything I create for this class is made available online
o All
of it can be accessed from the Class Page:
http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ckelly/teaching/it341
o You should bookmark this page because the page will
function as our syllabus, instead of a paper syllabus
o It is a lot of material, but you should at least get to know the
layout
▪ That way, you will know where to look for information you need
▪ This is much quicker than sending an e-mail and awaiting my
response
Course Documents
• The "Course Policies" section will give you a good idea of
my rules and expectations. That section also contains some
supplementary information you should check out.
• The schedule will feature links to class notes, along with
reading assignments - including your chapter summaries
• The "Projects" section will feature descriptions of each
project as they come up
• Similarly, links to assignments may be found in the
"Assignments" section
Course Documents
• Many terms we encounter in this class can be found on the
Definitions page:
http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ckelly/teaching/it341/
local_assets/files/common/data/linux/
linux_sysadmin_definitions.html
Taking Notes
• Although I make my notes available in PDF form, I want to
encourage you to take notes in class
o Studies have shown that students learn more when they take
notes, even if they never look at their notes again
o Other studies have shown that the more activities and senses are
engaged when you learn something, the greater your likelihood of
remembering
o Writing notes engages another part of your brain, which increases
recollection
• All of you should take notes
Taking Notes
• Probably the best practice would be for you to print the
notes before coming to class.
• That way, you can write your own notes in the margins,
along with any questions you may have.
• Note: Sometimes PDF content may differ from slides as
presented in class!
Textbooks
• There are two textbooks for this course:
o Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Server: Administration and Reference by
Richard Petersen. (ISBN: 193628068X)
o The Practice of System and Network Administration (3rd
Edition) by Limoncelli, Hogan and Chalup. (ISBN: 0321919165)
• You may be able to obtain electronic copies of each of
these...
Cheating
• All students are expected to follow the University's Code of
Student Conduct
• You will find this at
http://www.umb.edu/life_on_campus/policies/community/code
• The Computer Science Department has the following policy
on cheating
o You will be given a score of zero if you cheat on any assignment,
quiz or test
o If you cheat a second time you will receive an F in the course
o If you cheat a third time you can be expelled from the University
Cheating
• I put a great deal of work into my courses, and I ask you to
respect that work by not cheating.
• Important: It is the student's responsibility to know what
constitutes academic dishonesty - at this university and in
this class. Lack of knowledge that something constitutes an
academic honesty violation will not be accepted as a valid
excuse.
Grading Policy
• All homework and exams are subject to the honor code
• Plagiarism is not allowed in any form
• Grades will be computed as follows
o Lab Reports: 50%
o 4 Assignments: 15%
o Chapter Summaries: 10%
o Midterm Exam: 10%
o Final Exam: 15%
Grading Policy
• Final number grades will be translated to letter grades as
follows:
o A 93.3 and above o D+ 66.7 to 69.9
o A- 90 to 93.2 oD 63.3 to 66.6
o B+ 86.7 to 89.9 o D- 60 to 63.3
oB 83.3 to 86.6 oF Below 60
o B- 80 to 83.3
o C+ 76.7 to 79.9
oC 73.3 to 76.6
o C- 70 to 73.3
Accommodations for Disabilities
• The school is legally obligated to try to accommodate
students with disabilities
• If you have a disability you can get help from Ross Center
for Disability Services
o Location: Upper Level of the Campus Center, Room 211
o Phone: 617-287-7430
o Web Site: https://www.umb.edu/academics/vpass/disability/

• After you have discussed the matter with them, see me


• They will usually draft a letter explaining any
accommodations you should receive.
Accommodations for Disabilities
• You should get this letter to me ASAP!
• If you require extra time for an exam, then it is your
responsibility to arrange for this at least a week in advance!
• Also, you may wish to check out the page containing my
own notes:
http://www.cs.umb.edu/~ckelly/teaching/common/
data/disability.html
Communications
• All communication outside of class will be conducted
through email
• For regular contact, we are going to use your @umb.edu or
@cs.umb.edu email
• The first assignment will include setting up email
• I will use that account when sending you a personal email
concerning the class or any class-wide announcements
outside of class.
• If I have sent you an email about something concerning the
class, I'll assume that you have been given adequate notice
Communications
• If you have a question, email me at
[email protected]
• Please be sure to:
1. Use a descriptive, meaningful subject line
2. Begin the subject with IT341:
• Failing to include #2 is effectively the same as not having
sent the e-mail at all!
• Don't hesitate to contact me if you are stuck and/or need
help with something.
• Others might be having the same issue!
Office Hours
• My office is S-3-130
• My official office hours will be posted on the course web
page
• You do not have to make a special appointment to see me
during office hours - just drop in!
• If you need my help and cannot make it to office hours,
contact me and we'll work something out

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