Title: YCCC ICS235 Open Source Server Admin Syllabus
Course: TAACCCT - Open Source Server Admin.- CIS 235 > Section: Syllabus

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Wells, Maine 04090-5341

Fax: (207) 646-9675

Office: (207) 646-9282

CIS 235 01 ON

Spring 2016

Open Source Server Administration

General Course Information and Syllabus

Course Description…

This course covers the fundamental tools and concepts for managing Linux and Open Source Unix servers, focusing on proficient use of the command line through extensive hands-on experience. Following an introduction to the Linux command line environment, students will explore installation, security hardening, configuration and maintenance of a Unix-family server operating system and at common server applications, such as web, email, database, secure shell, domain name system (DNS), and dynamic host control protocol (DHCP) servers. Prerequisites: CIS 118.

The Course Instructor (aka “me”)…:

Office Phone:

E-  Mail:

Office:

Office Hours:

The Textbook…

Linux Operations & Administration

1st Edition

Authors: Nadine Basta, Dustin Finamore, Alfred Basta, Serge Palladino

Publisher: Cengage Learning

What Other Things are Required?

This course is an online only course. To complete this course, you will need a desktop or laptop computer that you can install software on. The computer can run Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux, but Windows is preferred. A tablet device (e.g. Android or IOS) will not be sufficient. You will need speakers or a headphone to be able to listen to podcasts or watch videos. You will also need a Word Processor (Microsoft Word is preferred, but LibreOffice or other free product is fine).

Course Requirements:

This course is entirely taught online. For online classes to work, regular participation and “attendance” is critical. Good attendance requires that you log on and read and respond to discussion posts, check your mail, complete assignments, etc. multiple times a week. Each week you will be given a number of activities to complete. These may include:

•    Read the book

•    Watch a couple of videos

•    Ask and answer questions in the Discussion Board

•    Complete reading quizzes

•    Complete activities either from the book or given separately

•    Turn in the results of some activities some for grading

•    Occasionally, take one of the three exams for the semester

Each week there will be a new module within the Course Content area where the weekly assignments will be posted.

Please refer to these modules for weekly assignments. Assignments will have a due date, but can be turned in late (up to  the last day of the semester), but will have a point penalty applied to them. Technical difficulties (e.g. a problem with your Internet connection) are not an adequate reason for late work – please plan ahead to avoid issues related to trying to turn in something at the last minute.

Instructor Response Expectation:

The most effective way to contact the instructor is via YCCC email. Students may expect a response within 24-36 hours to email sent during normal business hours, possibly sooner. Emails messages sent at on the weekend or on holidays may not necessarily receive a response until the next business day. Please keep in mind that your instructor is not sitting at a computer 24/7 waiting for questions, so sending an e-mail question at night or on a weekend and expecting an immediate response is not realistic.

Completing Reading Quizzes…

There will be a number of reading quizzes throughout the semester. Quizzes need to be taken outside of class time. Each will cover a single chapter in the book, and are open book and open notes. All reading quizzes are in Blackboard Learn (http://learn.yccc.edu). Typically, the reading quizzes are only announced in Blackboard,

and are due two weeks after they are announced. Please visit Blackboard regularly to keep yourself updated on what quizzes are available and when they are due.

Each reading quiz may be taken up to three times until the quiz deadline, and the highest score of the three attempts will be counted.Missed quizzes can be taken late (up to the last day of class), but can only be taken once and have the normal “25%” late penalty.

How Much are Assignments Worth?

Here is what each of the various types of assignments we’ll be doing in class is worth. There are no other “categories” of points beyond these…

Homework                         10 points each assignment (unless otherwise stated) Other Assignments/Projects varies (will be announced on the assignment) Online Reading Quizzes          10 points each quiz

First Exam                         100 points

Second Exam                    100 points

Third Exam                       100 points

How your Grade is Computed...

This course is not graded on a curve. All points are considered equal.

To compute your grade, just add up all of your points and divide by the total number of points possible (and then multiply the result by 100 to get a percent).

As an example, if you earned 437 points out of a total 520 points possible, you would have had earned 84.0% of all points, and earned a B (yea!)

BTW: Just for the record, unlike the photo, there is no A+ grade at YCCC, which is fairly common at colleges– sorry folks…

Turning things in Late…

A           ≥ 95%

A-                     ≥ 90%

B+          ≥ 87%

B            ≥ 83%

B-                      ≥ 80%

C+          ≥ 77%

C            ≥ 73%

C-                      ≥ 70%

D+         ≥ 67%

D           ≥ 63%

D-                     ≥ 60%

F            < 60

Homework assignments are due two weeks after they are handed out, unless otherwise announced in class. All assignments except quizzes and exams can be turned in late until the start of the last class, but will be penalized 25%. No assignments will be accepted afterwards.

Please plan on taking all quizzes and exams on the date they are scheduled. You are expected to work around the  exam dates. However, exams and quizzes can be taken up to one week late (until the start of the class) or until the start of the class the last day the class meets (whichever is earlier) with a penalty. The penalty is 10% for the first late quiz or  exam, 25% for any additionally late quizzes or exams. In any case, if you do not take the exam within a one week period, it is an automatic 0. (This may seem harsh, but I cannot return exams without all exams being completed, and your will likely have bosses at work that are a stickler to deadlines). Make up exams will also not necessarily be identical to the original exam, and may be more difficult.

Talk to me beforehand if you know you will miss a deadline for a non-reschedulable commitment, so that other (non- penalized) arrangements can be made.

Even if it is late, it is still worth points – so make sure to turn in everything even if it’s late (but try not to be late to begin with…). Just remember that the last day that we meet as a class is the last day to turn in anything…

Asking for Special Due Dates…

If you know you are going to miss a class due to previous work commitments or other non-casual commitments, special due date can be arranged.

All arrangements for extensions of due dates must be made with the instructor (me) at least one day before the actual due

date. Sorry, no arrangements will be made afterwards.

What do I Expect from You?

Here is what I expect out of you and your fellow classmates…

  1. Attend class and actively contribute to class discussions
  2. Exhibit respect and civility toward fellow members of the class
  3. Work constructively and cooperatively with fellow members of the class
  4. Read the text ahead of time and prepare to discuss the topics
  5. Complete all homework and class assignments in a professional and timely manner
  6. Prepare for and take tests/quizzes at scheduled times
  7. Know when assignments are due and when exams are scheduled
  8. Check your campus email and the Blackboard website regularly

9.     Have fun

Attendance and Being On-Time…

Just like work, regular class attendance is required, and is considered essential for success. You are expected to attend all scheduled classes, and be ready to start at the beginning of the class period.

Additionally, not all material covered in this course is in the reading assignments, and exams are more heavily based on the lectures and hands-on projects than on the textbook.

Just like life, I don’t give regular points for attendance, - just showing up is not enough. Also, just like life being too absent is problematic.

After Missing a Class…

If you miss a class, you should obtain notes from one of your classmates. See me for missed handouts or homework assignments made during your absence. You are responsible for determining any assignments handed out during your absence.

I try to put all of my handouts online before the start of class, so the companion site is always a good place to check. However, sometimes I fall behind (or “gasp” forget to), so make sure to ask me to see if there was anything that wasn’t put online.

What Can You Expect from Me?

Here is what you can expect from me as your instructor…

1. Provide a safe learning environment where questions are considered good
2. Treat everyone in the classroom the same and as a professional
3. Show how the information is applicable and relevant to the world today
4. Grade assignments fairly and without bias
5. Respect your opinions
6. Provide a variety of learning activities
7. Return graded materials in a timely manner

Weather and Other Class Cancellations…

This is from YCCC’s website…

“In the event of inclement weather, students should listen to either the following radio or television stations before 6:30 am for morning classes and before 3 pm for evening classes. There are three options available, one of which will be announced on FM stations WRED (95.9), WOKQ (97.5), WPOR (101.9), WMGX (93.1), WTSN (AM/FM), WYNZ (100.9)

and on TV stations WCSH (Channel 6), WGME (Channel 13), WMTW (Channel 8) and UPN35/WPXT.”

Additionally, you can sign up to receive school closings via email, phone, and/or as a text message via the myYCCC web site (https://my.yccc.edu).

Reasonable Accommodations…

This is also from YCCC’s website…

“YCCC is committed to providing equal educational opportunities and access for individuals with disabilities. In conjunction with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504, YCCC accepts and provides reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities.

Students are requested to contact and register with the Office of Student Disability Services as soon as possible after acceptance. We want to insure that the process is completed in a timely manner and that accommodations are in place for the start of your semester.”

Academic Honesty & Academic Misconduct…

I expect all students to behave in an honest and professional manner throughout the course. The following is from YCCC’s Course Catalog…

“The College promotes and maintains high ethical standards of academic conduct. It is College policy to discourage academic misconduct via appropriate administrative penalties. Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to: cheating or dishonesty of any kind in performing academic work; plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional; and receiving, or attempting to receive, academic credit under false pretenses; or assisting anyone engaged in academic misconduct.

The instructor has the authority to review instances of academic misconduct and to determine the consequences, which may consist of grade penalties up to and including assigning the offender a failing grade for the course. If the instructor determines that the offense is serious enough, he or she may refer the matter to the Dean of Students for action up to and including dismissal from the College.”

What are We Going to Learn?

Course Objectives:

By successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

  1. Discuss the setup considerations and process of installing the Linux operating system with emphasis on setting it up for usage as a server. (IV)
  2. Describe the purpose and use of shell programs and commonly used Linux commands and discuss the options for automating common tasks and processes using shell scripts and scheduled tasks. (I, III)
  3. Discuss various techniques for hardening a Linux installation against intrusion, including firewall configuration, management of system services and startup options, and the use of other system tools. (IV, VII)
  4. Discuss the importance of encryption, strong passwords, packet filtering, TCP wrappers, mandatory access controls, and other methods for preventing unauthorized access. (VII)
  5. Demonstrate the ability to perform daily system management tasks, such as creating and managing user accounts, monitoring system logs, applying system updates, and performing backups of critical data. (IV-V)
  6. Demonstrate the use of one of the commonly available text editors on Unix-based systems, such as vi or emacs. (I)
  7. Demonstrate the use of common commands to manipulate files and system options. (I)
  8. Explain how to modify the Linux settings using text-based configuration files. (I, IV, VI)
  9. Explain how to find and use resources such as HOWTO documents, man pages, info pages, and websites. (IV)
  10. Discuss methods to troubleshoot problems and optimize performance. (IV)

Course Outline:

I.         Command Line

  1. Shells
  2. Commands and input/output (I/O) redirection
  3. Editors

1. Files, Directories, and Other Resources
  1. File system hierarchy
  2. File permissions
  3. Special files
  4. Alternative file systems
2. Scripting
  1. Basics of writing shell scripts
  2. Regular expressions
3. System Installation and Maintenance
  1. Installation
  2. Partitioning and logical file systems
  3. System startup
  4. Processes, services, and daemons
  5. Patching and upgrades
  6. System backup and restoration
4. Users and Group
  1. User account creation and removal
  2. Group creation and removal
  3. Network-based authentication
5. Network Services
  1. Remote access
  2. DHCP and DNS
  3. Web services
  4. Network file systems
6. Security
  1. Log files
  2. Mandatory access control
  3. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) wrappers
  4. Firewall configuration

The Course Week By Week…

Week #1

Administrivia Class Overview

Intro to Blackboard companion site

Unix & Linux Overview

Virtual Systems Installing OpenSUSE

Reading: Chapter 1& 2

Week #2

Installing OpenSUSE (cont.)

Managing Files and Directories

Linux Directories

Reading: Chapter 3

Week #3

Managing Files and Directories (cont).

Creating and Editing Files

Text Editors

vi / vim

Reading: Chapter 4

Week #4

Creating Shell Scripts

Reading: Chapter 5

Week #5

No Class - Winter Break

Week #6

Backups and Recovery

Exam 1

Reading: Chapter 6

Week #7

Users and Groups

Network Communications

Reading: Chapters 7 & 8

Week #8

Installing Software

Reading: Chapter 9

Week #9

Web Servers

Apache

Reading: Chapter 10

Week #10

E-Mail Clients and Servers

Exam 2

Reading: Chapter 12

Week #11

E-Mail (cont.)

Network File System (NFS)

Reading: Chapter 13

Week #12

Linux File Systems

ext2/3/4

LVM

Reading: Chapter 15

Week #13

Managing Resources

X Window System

su & sudo

Quotas

Reading: Chapter 16

Week #14

No Class - Spring Break

Week #15

Samba

Windows Interoperability

Reading: Chapter 18

Week #16

Securing Linux

tcp_wrappers

Exam 3

Reading: Chapter 19

Week #17

Advanced Linux Administration

Other Linux Distributions

Other Unix Operating Systems

Reading: Chapter 18

Course content may vary from this syllabus to meet the needs of this particular class. Students will be notified by the instructor when adjustments to this syllabus are required.

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