Day 10 Ed 5769

Day 10 Blog Post

Today was the last day of our networking course.  There was a feeling of excitement in the air as we set about today’s task of setting up and configuring a VOIP connection.  VOIP stands for Voice Over IP.   This allows users to connect to a telephone or another computer.   It was not quite as simple as just using Skype but this exercise was useful because it taught us a lot about bandwidth and quality of service.  Quality of Service becomes important when using VOIP or VC because if you are not running enough bandwidth the signals become choppy.  Another factor is in the way data packets are transmitted.  Normally, data packets are transmitted to a machine and then the receiving machine sends a confirmation packet.  This 2 way traffic eats up bandwidth.  However by using UDP we can turn this off thereby freeing precious bandwidth space. 

1.  Log into switch using coolterm

telnet 192.168.13.254

2.  QoS must be enabled or else the packets will be competing with each other and the pictures and sound will be muddled.  This is very important when doing VC or VOIP.

3.  Install Wireshark ON A WORKSTATION (we made a mistake on this at first and tried to complete the task on our server)

4.  install X-lite ON A WORKSTATION

Open the X-Litesoftware from the desktop and then fill in the required fields to dial the number.

We were able to contact Lyle on his phone, then we dialled Jenn and she answered the phone.   

After the calls were made we ran the wire shark packet sniffing software.   Wire shark monitors the packets and makes sure that the packets are getting through.  Using wireshark allows users to see the packets.  Using wiresharks allows the packets to be sent WITHOUT requiring a confirmation message beign sent to the originating machine.  This saves bandwidth and the packets are transmitted more efficiently. 

We had to change one of the quality of service settings in X-lite preferences to 46 because 16X2+14=46.  We did another packet sniff with wire shark and found that we had a QoS of 46 rather than 0.  This means  that we had a stronger set of preferences because our call was going out on port 46.  We want it on port 46 because that is a quality port. 

Trix box is the web interface through which all the settings are configured.  It gives you all sorts of info about the machine it is running. 

The last part of the day involved a tour of Chinook High School’s media center.  This is a state of the art theatre with all sorts of technological capabilities.  It will allow students to experience professional quality lighting, sound and imaging in productions.  The theatre is also a fully equipped VC suite capable of video conferencing with high definition images and sound. 

I found the technical specs of the theatre interesting.  I feel envious of the students attending the high school.  They will receive a high quality education which will benefit them in the future.  I think that the benefits they receive will undoubtedly trickle down through the community and that all members of the community will benefit from the new media center at Chinook High. 

Day 9 Blog Post

Day 9 Blog Post

Today`s discussion of security was a real eye opener for me.  It is easy to forget about the implications and simply trust that people are all good.  I am not worried about my interactions at work so much, but my home network concerns me a bit.  Our household does use a secure wireless connection which is password protected and although it is visible it cannot be accessed by passerby.  Another thing worth considering is the security level of free wireless connections at coffee shops and restaurants etc.   As an IT leader at a school I see my role as being an advocate for security best practices.  This includes informing staff of policies set in place by our District.   For example, a policy exists concerning IPPs.  If an IPP must be saved on a flash drive, it must be a flash drive that is encrypted. 

The second part of day 9 was spent on virtual servers.  This software allows a second operating system to be installed on a workstation.  The operating system runs at the same time as the machine’s operating system.   This allows users to install and run software on the second operating system.  This can be advantageous for school districts running blade servers.  A blade server is a piece of hardware that is stripped down to conserve power, RAM and hard drive space. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_server

 Our mini exercise for the day focused on installing virtual box.  Virtual box is software which allows the creation and installation of a second operating system.  Jesse and I followed the steps outlined below to install this software.

1.  Go to the S Drive

2.  Run setup magic disc.

3.  Go through installation process, click next 3 times.

4.  Install driver software.

5.  Finish.  The computer sees a CD on the desktop from which you can install virtual box

6.  Run Virtual Box

7.  Run

8.  Run Oracle VM virtual box, go through installation steps.

9.  Do custom setup Create shortcuts

10. Install the device

11.  Finish

12.  Welcome to virtual box

13.  Create a new virtual machine

14.  Select UNIX Redhat

15.  Select how much memory you want to be able to use.

16.  Create new hard disk

17. Add dynamically expanding storage 20 GB

18.  Finish

19.  Now, Jesse machine is our VM

20. Mount Cent OS (Community Enterprise Operating System)

21 create a Linux red hat 32 bit OS

22.  Adjust the amount of memory

23.  Create a new hard disk

24. 20 GB is sufficient

25. Select location

26. First, run wizard

27. Checking Cent OS disc

28. Reinstall centos to get a graphical interface. 

29. Choose the desktop option that gives you a graphical interface

30.  Once the Centos is installed a screen appears saying that there are few more steps to complete. 

31.  Click forward

32.  Accept the licence agreement

33.  Create user, fill in password fields

34.  Adjust date and time

35. Finish

36. Login as the user we just created

37. Open Firefox

38.   Set up the connections by selecting automatic DHCP

39.  Install guest additions

40.  Verify root password

41.  Restart the virtual computer

Day 8 Blog Post

Day 8 Blog Post

Today’s assignment consisted of installing and configuring print services on our Windows 2008 server and our Windows work station. The printer we were installing was the Xerox Phaser 4510. Lyle explained the procedure at the beginning of the class.

The first thing to do was to locate the correct printer driver on the internet. We used google to do a search. The search returned many possibilities and we had to be careful to select the right driver. The driver we were looking for was the Xerox postscript driver which is located at this link.

http://www.support.xerox.com/support/phaser-4510/downloads/enus.html?operatingSystem=wins2008&fileLanguage=en

Once we had downloaded the driver we went to server manager and installed print management. We had to use print management to install the driver in order to set up print services on our server. This was the first step in being able to print.

Next we opened print management and created a standard TCP/IP port. The IP address of our printer was 192.168.24.51. This is a static IP address that is assigned to the printer.

Next we clicked on ``have disk`` this is where we installed the driver we had just finished downloading.

Once this was complete we were able to print a test page from our server. Next it was time to push the policy out to our workstations. This was accomplished from server manager. We had to go to users and computers, then domain controllers. We were able to apply the policy to our workstations.

Finally, after rebooting the workstation we were able to print from our workstation. Although this procedure worked for us I think it is worth noting that the work we are doing is difficult to document because of the nature of the work. Unexpected problems arise and how you deal with those problems will affect the process.

The rest of the morning was spent touring Blackbridge Data Center. This was an interesting tour even though it was a bit complex. I understand the concept of data storage. Companies who have data to store will take advantage of the Blackbridge`s services. Blackbridge guarantees that their data is safe and secure. Blackbridge uses a variety of processes and equipment to accomplish this task. It is mind boggling when one considers the electricity, wires, cooling system, physical building and security.

Day 7 Ed 5769

Day 7 Blog Post.

Today we started out with an explanation of logon scripts by Lyle. Logon scripts are commands that are executed when endusers log on to a machine on the network. The logon scripts determine what programs, services, desktop icons, etc that the user has access to. For example a student might be limited as to what programs he or she can access or what their desktop will look like.
Before we could get started with today’s work we had to finish up yesterday’s exercises which consisted of remotely turning off one of our workstations and hiding the desktop. We were able to get this done by downloading a free program called specopsgpudate. Once we had the program installed it was a simple matter to go into administrative tools on the Windows 2008 Server, look up the program under group policies and then run the command to turn off the desktop from the server. It is cool that a network administrator can remotely control any machine on the network from a remote location.

Once we had completed yesterday’s tasks we were able to begin working on our login scripts. We used a utility called NETLOGON which allowed us to set up the login script. As usual, we did run into some glitches along the way. It seems our folder list was not replicating across the survey. We could not see all the folders on the main server. We conducted several tests that showed that everything was working properly. It was thanks to Sean who had a look at our configuration and noticed that our server was attempting to replicate from Rocky and Gail’s server. We fixed that problem, rebooted our machines and it was clear sailing after that.
I found the information at this link to be particularly useful.

http://www.petri.co.il/setting-up-logon-script-through-active-directory-users-computers-windows-server-2008.htm

Day 6 Active Directory

Day 6 Blog Post – Installing Active Directory

Today’s task involved installing and configuring active directory on our server and then joining our Windows 7 workstations to our domain.
As this was new to me I found it useful to research a bit of background into active directory. What is it? What function does it perform? Why is it necessary were all burning questions. As I read through various links this short explanation from Wikipedia proved to be very helpful in building my understanding of active directory.


“An Active Directory structure is a hierarchical arrangement of information about objects. The objects fall into two broad categories: resources (e.g., printers) and security principals (user or computer accounts and groups). Security principals are assigned unique security identifiers (SIDs).




After reading up a bit on active directory last night I was ready for Lyle’s explanation and I had no trouble understanding him. His explanation of the “root of the forest” and “trees” in the forest helped me to understand the analogy. The head of the network is the root and all of our networks are trees in the forest. Forest is a synonym for network.

Installing active directory was a pretty straightforward process composed of two main parts. Installing and configuring the software on our Windows 2008 server then joining our Windows 7 workstations to the domain. The latter half of the procedure would prove to be the most challenging.


Once we executed the commands to bring up the active directory wizard we went through the prompts and successfully completed the installation. Afterward it was time to join our workstations to the domain.

I found this video to be particularly helpful in joining our workstations to the domain.




We ran into problems because our machines were unable to find the domain. We tried various things to rectify the problem such as refreshing our DHCP settings on the server, rebooting, checking for updates, ipconfig in the command prompt, pinging our machines, etc all to no avail. Finally, we enlisted the help of classmates and Lyle and we were able to make a connection at the end of the class. We continued to work on creating our objects and user accounts and I am looking forward to completing the task tomorrow.

Ed 5769 - Day 5

Day 5 Blog post

Today started off more or less like the others. The work scheduled for today was the installation of Windows 7 Enterprise on our 2 workstations. Before we began this task we searched for documentation that would help us to accomplish this task. I found this somewhat frustrating because it felt like I was going in circles. I tried different search terms and kept getting returns that I did not feel were useful. Things like blog posts and forum threads but not a lot that looked like technical manuals. For example PDF files with easily recognizable titles. I finally settled on the Microsoft site and I was able to locate some resources.
In the meantime my partner had inserted the Windows 7 Cds and was going through the preliminary installation process. Once that was complete we installed 23 updates then had to located device drivers for our Dell Optiplex 755. These were found on the Dell website, downloaded and installed. A reboot completed the process.
Finally, one last check for updates revealed that there were 5 “important” updates to be installed. We installed those and I could not help but notice that it seemed to take a long time.
The final step is to copy files from our workstations to our file server and vice versa. In order to do this we had to bring up a cmd prompt and enable the administrator accounts. Once this was done I was able to browse to our shared folder and placed a folder in there called “I created this folder on July 8 as a test.” We were able to locate this folder on the shared folder from the other workstation so we are confident the process was completed.

Day 4 Blog Post
We started out the day by running updates on our Windows Server 2008. This took some time and several reboots. While this process was occurring Lyle talked about fixing the router. Afterward we went through telnet to perform checks on our system. We were able to ascertain that our network was functioning correctly because we had 4 lines in the test results. The screenshot below shows the routes that the incoming traffic will take. Routing tables instruct the router where to send incoming packets.

This routing table shows the IP routes for our network as seen in the webview of our alcatel switch.



Some general advice on using the GUI (graphical user interface) The GUI is a way to “see” the switch. Humans like using GUI because we are visual creatures who mostly process sensory information through our eyes.

• Using webview you can see in a graphical manner what is going on.
• It is faster to use the cmd prompt than the graphical. Use the web view to check if everything is correct.
• Try to avoid the cmd prompt.
• Tabs on the side of webview show you the commands.
• How we route our traffic.
• If you have multiple net connected to our network, if we have another connection it goes out somewhere else. Set up a routing table on the switch.

Once we had verified that all of our network connections were working it was time to move on to DNS, File services and DHCP. We set up a shared folder on our file server then checked to see if it was accessible. Lyle talked about the importance of properly setting the permission correctly.
Start off with DNS, then do file services, THEN do DHCP. Must do this one step at a time. DHCP allows any machine to connect to the switch.

Internet explorer enhanced security services should be shut off because otherwise it blocks information that prevents us from doing our DNS, File services and DHCP.

Network 5769.local is our parent name.

WINS: Windows Internet Names Service

DHCP Installation

1. Create the scope. The scope is the range of IP addresses. We had to get this info off our diagrams.

2. Default gateway is our switch’s IP 192.168.13.254 (Gateway and router are the same thing)
We plugged my laptop into the switch and it worked. YAHOO!!

We used knoppix to see if we could use the internet on our workstations. Knoppix is a portable operating system which runs off a CD. It is used on a machine that has no operating system installed etc.

We had to perform this test to see if our DNS was configured properly and to see if our Windows Server works with other operating systems.

From Konqueror in Knoppix I went to Go>SambaShares>Password prompt

Drivers are in Sean’s shared folder #25.50

I was able to get into Sean’s folder and install the drivers on our file server. Updates continued through the afternoon.

Ed 5769 Day 3

Wednesday, July 6

This morning started off with a reiteration of subnet masking principals. We completed the pinging exercise together and I am happy to say that it is starting to make a bit more sense to me.

Here are the basics of subnetting as I understand it.

1. The subnet masks overlay the IP address.

2. Subnet masks allow the network architect to allocate more IP addresses. This is important because then he or she can allow more devices.

3. Certain devices can “talk” to each other on the network, the governing factors of this are the bits in the IP addresses and subnet masks.

4. One must look at the octets to determine if two machines will be able to communicate over the network. For example in the table below in row A, computer 1 will be unable to “talk” to computer 2 because the numbers in the 3rd octet of the IP addresses do not match.

5. It is not enough to simply have matching subnet masks,however. One must consider that when you add the numbers in the octets to the subnet mask octets the total cannot exceed 255. If it does the computers will not be able to communicate.






It was time to continue working on our switch. It is necessary to add layer 3 routing capabilities in order to increase the efficiency of our network. This process involved setting up VLAN 2 and then specifying the gateway addresses, subnet mask and IP address of our 2nd VLAN.

The second part of today’s class was spent doing an inventory of the Dell 7500 Optiplex workstations that we will use to build up our networks. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I had never taken the opportunity to open a computer and look at and identify the guts of the machines we all take for granted. I have heard terms like “motherboard”, “RAM”, “slot”, “video card” etc tossed around for years and I have been able to glean some understanding from their context but it pulling out the pieces and talking about them was a new experience for me.
Dell Hardware specs for our server


• Total amount of RAM - 3g ram
• Hard Drive Capacity – 320gb (2x160)
• Total number of USB ports -8
• Total number of Firewire ports – 2 (added firwire 1 Mic card )
• Type of DVD drive: Sony DVD +/- RW 8xDVD 24xCD
• Type of Video port(s) (DVI, SVGA, HDMI, RCA, S-Video) – DVI-1
• Network Interface Card type –Broadcom Netxtreme 10/100/1000 PCle
• NIC Maximum Speed – 1000mbps
• Video Interface Card type – PCI
• Motherboard manufacturer – Intel
• Computer manufacturer (ie Dell, HP, etc.) - Dell
• Computer Model Number – optiplex 755
• Monitor manufacturer - Dell
• Monitor Model Number –55a
• Ehternet card- Broadcom Net extreme
• Added Video Card: ATA radeon model B276
• Power supplies Dell
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Qued Q6700 2.66 GHz

Once we had put the workstation that will become our Windows server back together we began the process of setting up the server. We followed the instructions we had gathered from various websites and so far the process has gone fairly smoothly. I am looking forward to continuing the server set up tomorrow.

On a final note it was heartening to see that even seasoned network administrators occasionally run into the odd technical difficulty. I am looking forwared to completing the setup of our layer 3 router and continuing this process.

Day 2 Ed 5769

Today’s class started out by reconfiguring our layer 2 switch with our correct IP address which is actually 192.168.13.254 as opposed to 192.168.10.254. There was some confusion because we had initially decided to use Jesse’s IP address. We discovered our mistake this morning and had to hustle to reconfigure our switch. We were successful in that endeavour and we were able to catch up with today’s work.

Today’s work consisted of connecting our layer 2 switches to our larger overall network. I appreciated Lyle’s thoroughness at the board in explaining the ins and outs of our network. The bulk of the morning was spent on a pinging exercise. The point of this exercise was to make connections between 2 machines. It was also meant to bolster our understandings of network communications.



Some of the groups (including ours) ran into some difficulties during the pinging exercises. Most of these problems were attributed to the non-standardized equipment we were using. IE, different laptops running different operating systems with various levels of protection and firewall settings.

Once our layer 2 switch was configured it was time to access the switch using a graphical interface. This was done by connecting to the switch through a web browser. We connected the switch through RJ45 connection IE blue line and then typed in our IP address.




I am still struggling a bit with the masking. I understand that masking creates larger networks and increases the efficiency of the router because the router does not have to look at all the numbers in the IP address. However I am struggling because I do not yet know all the rules involved with the masking. For example, do the subnet masks have to be identical for 2 separate networks to talk to each other? My understanding says yes, networks that have the same subnet masks will be able to communicate with each other. However this may not always be the case. In the table that Lyle presented to us computer 1 and computer 2 will not always be able to talk to each other. There is a certain set of rules that govern that. I am struggling with understanding the rules. An experienced network administrator would be able to simply look at the masks and determine whether or not the machines would be able to communicate.

Day 1: Ed 5769 OL

This morning was our first hands on day in this course. I enjoyed reviewing the material from this course in May and June and I was looking forward to getting my hands on the equipment.


Our first introduction to the Alcatel Switch whet our appetites for what was to come. Several hurdles had to be cleared before we could move on.


The first step in the process was a description of the switch itself and its components, namely the USB interface cable, the interface software; CoolTerm and the software drivers. The first step of the process was to download the CoolTerm software. This was easily accomplished using our friend Google.



The next step was locating the drivers for the Keyspan USB serial adapter. A disc was passed around but I could not get the drivers to install on my computer. Finally, it worked when I just went into the D drive and started clicking around. Once the drivers for the Keyspan USB serial adapter were installed it was time to connect the switch.



We connected the switch by using the Keyspan USB cable and tried to login to the switch. Unfortunately it was not quite as easy as a simple login. It was trial or error time again. By going into the options menu and trying different things we were able to get a login and password prompt that worked. It was a great feeling when we were finally successful logging in to the switch.






Next it was time to go about setting up our IP address for the switch. Our IP address was 192.168.10.254. This IP address was pre-selected for our network. The trick at this point was to get the switch to display our IP address after a reboot. If the switch showed our IP address after a reboot then that meant that we had been successful in our objective of assigning an IP address to our switch.

It was discovered by one of our classmates that there are actually 2 operating systems in the switch. There is the working directory and the certified directory. The difficulty arose when we rebooted the switch. OUR IP ADDRESS DID NOT TAKE. It seems that if one does not COPY the working directory to match the certified directory then upon reboot the switch reverts to its certified operating system. That is not good because it means that we were not successful.

Some quick scanning of our documentation was required. It was in this way that we learned commands such as `write memory`, ``show VLAN` ``show running directory``, ``show IP Interface`` Through skimming and problem solving with classmates we were able to save our IP address in the switch.

Overall, it was a very good first day. I appreciate the hands-on nature of the course. Although I sometimes felt like a blind man looking for the switch I am happy to say we were eventually able to light the lamp. Using the equipment in a hands-on fashion is definitley a great way to learn this material but it does put a lot of pressure on the students. Luckily we are able to collaborate and help each other. I appreciated Lyle`s efforts to redirect us when we were stuck. It takes a skilled teacher to balance those needs. Like Dr. Hollingsworth said this morning, ``If we give you everything, you do not learn, if we give you nothing then it will not happen in 2 weeks.`` I like to think that it is that way with everything. Adversity builds character and if everything was a breeze I would leave Lethbridge feeling just a little bit ripped off.