Computer Network Characteristics and Traffic Analysis - Coursework Assignment

This is the first of two assignments given in this module. It is worth 30% of the overall mark for the module. 

Some parts of the coursework will require research beyond the material discussed in the course. This is intended and is part of the assessment.

In this coursework, you will study and analyse computer network characteristics and traffic using various techniques and administration tools. You will use VirtualBox to set up and run any number of virtual machines and create a virtual environment to allow those networked machines to communicate together and to connect to the Internet. Such an environment will be used to analyse and test the main network functions and protocols. Tools such as Ubuntu Linux, Python, and Wireshark will be used to develop and test your virtual network, perform various experiments and scanning and monitoring activities. Wireshark is a traffic capturing tool that can be used by network managers to monitor network activities and operations. It is a widely-used network protocol analyser and is the de facto standard across the network community. It allows you to capture wireless and wired network packets and analyse communication protocols. To achieve all this, you will need to 

• set up your virtual network lab using VirtualBox to perform your experiments and get it ready for your practical activities
• Install the required software and virtual machines (VMs) such as Ubuntu Linux, Kali Lunix, Phyton, Wireshark for setting up the virtual environment
• use scripting languages such as Python to demonstrate some of the useful functionalities and powerful library of Python as a useful networking tool
• build an appropriate environment for investigating and analysing Internet traffic and encapsulation in layered protocols using your network virtual lab
• analyse network and communication protocols such as TCP, UDP, DNS, ICMP, etc. using Wireshark

Your report should include a literature review and description of your networking practical tasks and scenarios you developed in the lab during this semester. The experiments contained in your report should show your practical activities, a description of the tools you used to carry out your experiments, and achieved outcomes. The final results are intended to provide the necessary justifications to your conclusions. You may need to identify and clarify any issues and/or challenges, include screenshots to show results, technical review and assessment of your experiments. Finally, you might think of any other issues that need to be considered.

You will need to produce a professional technical report. Typically, your report might be organized (but not necessarily to be) as follows: 

1. Introduction
2. Setting up your virtual lab
3. background information, scope, and limitations
4. main body including methods used and investigations
5. practical tasks and experimental work
6. testing and analysis
7. Summary
8. references (books, conference papers, journal publications, WWW references)

You should clearly state any assumptions that you have made with justification in your report and discuss any alternatives to your proposed solutions.

• Be your own work - plagiarism will not be tolerated

• Use relevant sources, properly referenced throughout

• Include a bibliography of references