Operating Systems and Networking Functions: A Research and Test Rig Study

Task 1: OSs research and setting up a test rig

This Assignment assesses the following module Learning Outcomes (Take these from the module DMD):

LO1: have a deep and systematic understanding of key features of prevalent operating systems;
LO2: have a knowledge and understanding of how and why different networking functions are separated in the layers of a protocol stack;
LO3: have a deep knowledge and understanding of different security threats to networks and how they might be encountered.

LO4: be able to develop and write complex software to solve problems relevant to different aspects of operating systems and computer networks.

You will assess your deep and systematic understanding of the main features of operating systems and their networking functions, different security threats to networks and how they might be encountered (LO1, LO2, LO3).

a. In this you will review different operating systems architecture, techniques, settings and security provisions and their strengths and weaknesses. This also include review of services and network protocols, mechanisms, tools and will provide an architectural diagram of the system and network.

a. You will carry out the practical installation of operating systems in a virtual environment, configuring and administrating the functionalities (including security) based on a business scenario given and the assumptions you will make.

Small businesses may want to take charge of the services provided by other third party organisations for many business and security reasons. One such service is the web service. As an employee of OrBITal Group, a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) in the tech-services industry, you have been asked to investigate, design and experiment with the features and functions of a web server, that serves the company’s website to customers(organisation’s web page content is shown below in appendix 1). Your company is concerned about the smooth functioning of the system with adequate network and security requirements.

In this project you are required to create a prototype of OrBITal’s network (test rig) with the following basic features:
1. A test rig created under your own University of Hertfordshire username (or student record no.)
2. Install either Ubuntu or Debian operating system on appropriate virtualization product
3. Create two users – one of the user is to be a Superuser and the other a standard user
4. Use an appropriate web server
5. Secure using appropriate baseline security

Any assumptions or parameters you choose, you are to make sure it is well documented, for example:
1. The host machine can be Windows, macOS, etc.
2. The memory and disk space you use will be dependent on your environment
3. Further security implementations you recommend
4. Database driven website using an appropriate database

In this task you are expected to show that you are able to develop and write complex software to solve problems relevant to different aspects of operating systems and computer networks (LO1-LO4). 

a. You will identify problems and vulnerabilities in operating systems and their networking functions in a business scenario.

b. You will write CLI/complex scripts to create the necessary mechanisms and solutions to meet the service needs and test them using identified tools.