ASSIGNMENT 1: Process Utilization
You will need to locate and utilize performance analysis tools to determine characteristics of your processor and process utilization / management on your Linux partition.
• How many CPUs are running?
• How fast is each CPU?
• What is the size of the cache on your CPU?
• What is meant by "User Time" in terms of CPU usage?
• What is meant by "Kernel" or "System" time in terms of CPU usage?
• What does it mean when a CPU is 90% idle? 0% idle?
• What is the difference between a running and runnable process? What is a blocked (also called "Uninteruptable") thread or process?
Start your Linux Partition from a fresh boot and open the Terminal. Do not open any other applications at this time. Determine values for each of the following. Provide screenshots of command output.
What is the load average from the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes?
Which process appears to be using the most CPU on the system currently? How much is it using? Which process has used the most total amount of CPU time? How much total cpu time has been used.
For a 30 second time interval:
• How much CPU was used for tasks in "User Space?"
• How much CPU was used for tasks in "Kernel Space?"
• What percentage of time was the CPU idle?
• What percentage of time was the CPU "waiting?"
• Describe the activity on the run queue? i.e. runnable and blocked threads.
IMPORTANT: Before performing the tasks below, you will want to open at least one terminal window and maybe 2. You should be watching the performance statistics WHILE these applications are opening! This will yield the most valuable results in this lesson. i.e. Use top and vmstat to watch CPU statistics in real time as the system becomes busy.
Open as many applications as you can while still maintaining a Linux system that functions (the slower the system the better).
Now repeat all of the data gathering steps from above and record new values.
Document before and after results and create a summary documenting the changes you noticed (i.e. The effect of running applications on performance as verified through your performance analysis). Make a recommendation to add resources or change system parameters as necessary to increase performance under heavy loads. Be sure to use your data to back up your recommendation(s) if any.
Submission Requirements
You will submit a Word or Libre Writer Document which contains results from the above analysis and responses. I do not have access to your system so you need to be sure to provide screenshots for anything I cannot possibly know. i.e. vmstat and top output. Please include only screenshots with key information (don't submit all of your analysis).
Please insert your screenshots into your word document with supporting documentation which meets all requirements. You will be penalized for any results which are not backed by proof.
Disclaimer
A large portion of this class is exploring and researching solutions on your own! You will continue to operate as a systems administrator / analyst and thus you will be expected to figure out what you need to know on your own.
You will not find exact solutions in your book which give you what you need to know to complete this assignment or future assignments.
What you will find in your book is an in depth analysis of how an operating systems manages memory at a low level. This is imperative in understanding what the resulting data values mean from your research.
ASSIGNMENT 2: I/O Performance Analysis
Part 1
Start your Linux Partition from a fresh boot and open the Terminal. Do not open any other applications at this time.
NOTE: You may need to install the "sysstat" and "iotop" package for this exercise:
Type command:
apt-get install sysstat
apt-get install iotop
run the following command to create a 50MB test file
dd if=/dev/zero of=test.filebs=1024 count=50000
Now run this command to repeatedly create another file from the first file. This is creating I/O load on the system.
while true; do dd if=/test.file of=test2.file bs=1024;rm test2.file; done
Using iostat watch the I/O for your devices and all of its partitions over 30 second intervals. List the command used and record your findings.
Do not display CPU statistics.
Using iotop, report which three processes are the most I/O intensive.
Part 2
Add 3 new 50 MB Fixed Size Virtual Disks to your linux Partition. This is done using the Virtual Box interface while your Linux Virtual Machine is shut down.
Switch to the root user
sudosu -
Using fdisk create 3 new "linux raid auto" partitions. One for each new drive added. Use the full space available on each disk.
i.e. /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1
install "mdadm" package
apt-get install mdadm
*If asked for a "mail server" choose "No Configuration"
**This can take a few minutes to install.
Create a striped array (RAID 0) using all three disks.
Create Filesystem on New Raid 0 Array
Mount your new striped filesystem
What is the size of the filesystem? Why?
Repeat Part 1 of this assignment but this time make sure you are using your new striped filesystem. To do that just change to that directory
cd /stripefs
Summarize your findings about your new RAID 0 filesystem and iostat output.
Did you achieve desired results? If not, why not and what would need to be changed in a real world production server to achieve desired results?
Submission Requirements
You will submit a Word or Libre Writer Document which contains results from the above analysis and responses. I do not have access to your system so you need to be sure to provide screenshots for anything I cannot possibly know.
I don't need screenshots for every piece of output you analyze during this assignment. Just give screenshots which show snapshot information to support your overall findings.
Please insert your screenshots into your word document with supporting documentation which meets all requirements. You will be penalized for any results which are not backed by proof.
Disclaimer
A large portion of this class is exploring and researching solutions on your own! You will continue to operate as a systems administrator / analyst and thus you will be expected to figure out what you need to know on your own.
You will not find exact solutions in your book which give you what you need to know to complete this assignment or future assignments. What you will find in your book is an in depth analysis of how an operating system manages devices at a low level. This is imperative in understanding what the resulting data values mean from your assignment.
ASSIGNMENT 3: Filesystem Manipulation & Permissions
Your Task
Locate and utilize linux system administration commands to create users and groups. Standard linux commands will be used to allocate specific user and group permissions for files and directories.
For admin tasks you will need to switch to the root user:
Part 1: User and Group Creation
"sudosu -"
Create 3 new groups:
cs
math
science
Create 2 new users named "steve" and "lucy" with the following attributes:
• default shell is /bin/bash
• comment (GECOS) field contains full names (Steve Smith / Lucy Goosey)
• steve primary group = math additional group = science
• lucy primary group = cs additional group = science
Make your own account members of all three groups.
Part 2: Create New Filesystems
Like we did last week, add 1 new 50 MB Fixed Size Virtual Disk to your linux Partition. This is done using the Virtual Box interface while your Linux Virtual Machine is shut down.
Using fdisk create 3 new 15 MB "linux" partitions on this newly added virtual disk.
Using mkfs.ext4, create 3 new filesystems on each new logical partition and mount them with the names below:
/math
/cs
/science
Once your filesystems are created and mounted, add an entry for each one in the /etc/fstab file in the corret format such that they automatically mount up when you reboot. Use UUID for the device so that the filesystem mounts even if the device address changes. Test and verify it is working by rebooting.
Part 3: Permissions
• Set group owner of /cs to "cs"
• Set group owner of /math to "math"
• Set group owner of /science to "science"
• Create a directry in /cs called cs_homework
• Create a directory in /math called math_homework
• Create a directory in /science called science_homework
• Adjust permission so only the owner and members of the group "cs" can access the "cs" filesystem
• Adjust permission so only members of the group "math" can access the "math" filesystem
• Adjust permission so anyone can access the "science" filesystem.
Note: you can use the "touch" command to create an empty file for testing. i.e. touch file1
• Create a file in /cs/cs_homework which only lucy can access with read only access.
• Create a file in /cs/cs_homnework which all members of cs group can access with read only access.
• Create a file in /math/math_homework which only steve can access with read and execute access.
• Create a file in /math/math_homework which all members of group math can access with read and execute access.
• Create a file in /science/science_homework which both steve and lucy can access with read and execute.
• Create a file in /science/science_homework which only steve can access with read / write / execute access.
• Create a file in /science/science_homework which only lucy can access with read / write / execute access.
• Create a file in /science/science_homework which anyone can access with read / write / execute permissions.
Use the long listing command to show filesytem, directory, and file permissions and capture screenshots.
Using the "df" commands, report how much space total space is allocated to each filesystem and how much is used. Report how many inodes are allocated and how many are used.
Submission Requirements
You will submit a Word or Libre Writer Document which contains results from the above analysis and responses. I do not have access to your system so you need to be sure to provide screenshots for anything I cannot possibly know. Only provide screenshots necessary to prove your responses.
Please insert your screenshots into your word document with supporting documentation which meets all requirements. You will be penalized for any results which are not backed by proof.
Disclaimer
A large portion of this class is exploring and researching solutions on your own! You will continue to operate as a systems administrator / analyst and thus you will be expected to figure out what you need to know on your own. You will not find exact solutions in your book which give you what you exactly what you need to know to complete this assignment. You will find fairly in depth overviews of UNIX and Linux permissions in chapters 13 & 15. Implementation specifics can be found in the Linux hands on lecture and online.
ASSIGNMENT 4: Network Tuning and Analysis
Your Task
Locate and utilize linux system administration commands to create users and groups. Standard linux commands will be used to allocate
specific user and group permissions for files and directories.
For admin tasks you will need to switch to the root user:
Part 1: Networking Topology Analysis
What are the following characteristics of your current network connection?
• Network Adapter Type
• Network Interface Name in Linux
• ip address
• subnet mask
• default route
What is the ip address of your Host Machine? (Machine running Virtual Box, not the Linux partition - i.e. Windows).
Is the ip address of the host machine on the same subnet as the virtual host? Why or why not?
Think of a server on the internet somewhere (i.e. google.com). Ping the server and ctrl-c after 10 or so samples). What was the average round trip time.
Open a second window. From one window, ping the server on the internet again. From the second window, bring down the network interface using the "ifconfig" command. Watch the ping output. After several samples, bring up the interface using the "ifconfig" command. Control-C out of the ping commands after watching it for several samples once the interface is up again. Record and comments on the statistics (RTT and Packet Loss).
Can you ping the ip address of the host machine?
Can you ping the ip address of the default route? What machine is responding when pinging the default route?
Open a "command window" ( on Windows) or (Terminal on Mac) in your host machine. Can you ping the ip address of your linux virtual host?
How do you view the routing table? What is represented by the rows in the routing table?
Part 2: Adapter Configuration
In your Virtual Box configuration, add a second adapter which uses a "bridged" connection instead of a NAT connection. Set "promiscuous" mode to allow all. Your VM will need to be shutdown to do this.
Startup your VM.
Review your Network interface(s) using ifconfig.
Now that you have multiple network interfaces on your system with ip addresses on different networks, review the routing table again and describe how it is used to route traffic between the two cards?
Which interface is being used as the default route? Change the routing table so that the default route contains the ip address of the drfault gateway used by your host machine. Use ipconfig in windows to get this address. Can you still ping google? Describe how network trafficing has changed.
Part 3: Packet Tracing
Download and install "putty" on your host machine (Machine running Virtual Box - i.e. Windows - this does not get installed on your Linux Virtual Machine).
*If you already have a telnet and ssh client you can use those instead.
Using ssh and or telnet, login to your Virtual machine.
*sudo apt-get install openssh-server
*apt-get install telnetd
Using "tcpdump" start a packet trace which sniffs all packets on the bridged interface using port 22 or part 23.
Now, SSH in from your Host Machine using putty. Report the traffic you see. Are you seeing what is expected? Take a couple of packet headera and report what the various fields mean. Name a situation where packet tracing is beneficial to you as a system administrator?
NOTE: A packet may contain connection information, including the server running the TCP service first column, and arrow > shows the clients address and high order port used to establish the TCP connection between the two hosts. Additional TCP information required for handshaking and packaging packets is also included - i.e. seq, ack, win, length, tos, ttl, id.
Submission Requirements
You will submit a Word or Libre Writer Document which contains results from the above analysis and responses. I do not have access to your system so you need to be sure to provide screenshots for anything I cannot possibly know. Only provide screenshots necessary to prove your responses.
Please insert your screenshots into your word document with supporting documentation which meets all requirements. You will be penalized for any results which are not backed by proof.
Disclaimer
You will not find exact solutions in your book which give you what you exactly what you need to know to complete this assignment. You will find fairly low level networking concepts and detail of the TCP/IP model in your book. The concepts are crucial in your understanding of the results reported in this assignment. Implementation specifics can be found in the Linux hands on lecture and online.