Network Systems Management
Academic Year 2015/16 - Class Log.
Wed 16 Sep 2015: Welcome! Check back here after each class for a summary (and links to) the stuff we discuss.
Fri 18 Sep 2015: The Friday Morning Movie (FMM) was the One Ronnie Blackberry sketch (search youtube to find it). We then ran though the "first day on the job" exercise. Check out the class email from me today for a photo of today's whiteboard.
Tues 22 Sep 2015: Class swapped with Gerry Moloney's Emerging Technologies (for today only). Created and (briefly) discussed a list of topics for inclusion under the "Network Systems Management" banner - see the photo of today's whiteboard in your email for what we came up with.
Wed 23 Sep 2015: Worked through the 12 Golden Rules of Network Systems Management. Handed out lab sheet #1.
Thurs 24 Sep 2015: Lab 1: installing Xubunutu Linux onto the virtual machine. Although nearly everyone has the ISO image downloaded, nobody could install it due to a firewall issue in the lab. As a consequence, we all had to abandon ship. The issue has since been resolved, so we can all try again next week.
Wed 30 Sep 2015: Discussed the Data Protection Act - for next class, review the act and be prepared to discuss how that act applies to a number of example scenarios.
Thurs 1 Oct 2015: Lab: Continued to install Linux (some small issues remaining). Lab 2 handed out.
Fri 2 Oct 2015: The FMM was Clifford Stoll's TED talk. Advised everyone to acquire a copy of Cliff's "The Cuckoo's Egg" as it will form the background to the first assignment. No one took the time to read the Irish Data Protection Act, which was not good.
Wed 7 Oct 2015: Class cancelled due to lack of interest (aka: the trip to Grad Ireland).
Thurs 8 Oct 2015: Lab: Some continue to have problems with Linux installs on VMWARE. Lab 3 sheet handed out.
Fri 9 Oct 2015: The FMM was the BBC's Panorama program on Edward Snowden. Watching this video, and the discussion which ensued, took up the entire class.
Wed 14 Oct 2015: Worked through the "What's wrong with this cable cabinet?" scenario, and found at least six things wrong with this image.
Thurs 15 Oct 2015: Lab: Most people up-and-running now and making good progress on the labs (1-3).
Fri 16 Oct 2015: The FMM was the Squatty Potty ad. Once we had recovered from this, we spent the the rest of class looking at the "what's the best place to pull cables?" scenario.
Wed 21 Oct 2015: Class "handed-over" to the Careers Service for today.
Thurs 22 Oct 2015: Lab: Lab 4 handed out. Majority are through 1 and 2, with 3 ongoing, and 4 pending. Note that 4 is a long lab (and may take some time to complete).
Fri 23 Oct 2015: No FMM today. Distributed the empty floorplan. Trying to answer these two questions: How much will this cost? How long will it take?
Wed 28 Oct 2015: Continued the training company floorplan example.
Thurs 29 Oct 2015: Lab: Work continues... All four labs (so far) distributed as soft copies.
Wed 4 Nov 2015: Very poor turn out (as tomorrow is conferring). Even though it wasn't Friday, we had a FMM about Lions and Go Pros.
Wed 11 Nov 2015: Finished off the Training Company scenario/example. 100K euro budget plus a 12 week timeline.
Thurs 12 Nov 2015: Lab: very poor attendance.
Fri 13 Nov 2015: Distributed assignment 1, and introduced the Hospital Email Case Study.
Fri 20 Nov 2015: Worked through the start of a solution to the Hospital Email Case Study.
Wed 25 Nov 2015: Finished off the Hospital Email Case Study - 12 week project costing approx. 300K euro.
Thurs 26 Nov 2015: Lab: Most people are working on, or have finished, lab 4. Lab 5 handed out to those ahead of the pack. Note: you are expected to have completed labs 1-5 before the Christmas break.
Fri 27 Nov 2015: Worked through the LocalValu Case Study - costs unknown, but at least 12 weeks for the implementation, probably a similar amount of time for the preparation and planning. This is a big project.
Wed 2 Dec 2015: A long, rambling story about a hard-disk, a server, and some cloning software.
Thurs 3 Dec 2015: Lab: very poor attendance (again). Most people working on 4 or 5 by now.
Fri 4 Dec 2015: Started to talk about (and introduce) security.
Wed 9 Dec 2015: Introduced Alice, Bob, and Eve, as well as one-way functions.
Thurs 10 Dec 2015: Lab: very poor attendance (again). Most people working on 4 or 5 by now. The first five labs should be completed this side of the Xmas break.
Fri 11 Dec 2015: Discussed the Diffie-Hellman-Merkle key exchange protocol, and how it works. The FMM made a comeback, with a short one on D-H-M and the technologies they helped invent.
Wed 16 Dec 2015: No class, as only 9 students turned up.
Thurs 17 Dec 2015: Lab: last lab before Xmas break. It is recommended that you have labs 1 through 5 done (and handed-up) by this stage. Attendance at this lab was the worst yet. :-(
Fri 18 Dec 2015: No class due to Paul's involvement in Software Development's project presentations (all morning).
Wed 13 Jan 2016: Introduced the concepts behind public-key cryptography.
Thurs 14 Jan 2016: Lab: most working on (or around) 5, and a few brave souls have moved onto 6.
Fri 15 Jan 2016: FMM (yes, it's back!) was James Mickens' talk on Security (find it on vimeo).
Wed 20 Jan 2016: Talked about passwords.
Thurs 21 Jan 2016: Lab: 5 and 6 being worked on.
Fri 22 Jan 2016: FMM (by two) was all about passwords. Also introduced the business Scenario which will be used to structure our discussion about Security.
Wed 27 Jan 2016: Introduced the Security Virtues and Rules, and talked about 1. Daily Consideration and 2. Community Effort.
Thurs 28 Jan 2016: Lab: 4, 5 and 6 being worked on. Some people "almost ready" for 7 (which is coming next week).
Fri 29 Jan 2016: Finished off the virtues with 3. Higher Focus and 4. Education. Applied the virtues to the company scenario to see how it shaped up. It did pretty poorly.
Thurs 4 Feb 2016: Lab: 5 and 6 being worked on. No one yet brave enough to ask for Lab 7.
Fri 5 Feb 2016: A morning of TED talks relating to security...
Wed 01 Feb 2016: Started looking at the eight rules of security. Worked through the first 4.
Thurs 11 Feb 2016: Lab: made the final set of lab sheets available. End-date for all labs to be completed and submitted is Friday 15 April 2016.
Fri 12 Feb 2016: Looked at the remaining 4 security rules.
17, 18, and 19 Feb 2016: Rag Week: everyone MIA (except for a few hardy souls in the Lab).
Wed 24 Feb 2016: Ran a Focus Group on the class's views on the course (and proposed changes).
Wed 02 Mar 2016: Returned to the Scenario, and reviewed it with reference to the Virtues and the Rules of Security. I think we managed to hit every one of them.
Thurs 03 Mar 2016: Lab day: submission of all labs has been extended until the second Friday *after* Easter.
Fri 04 Mar 2016: Class abandoned due to the classroom being freezing cold.
Wed 09 Mar 2016: Went through the first three practices from the "Useful Security Practices" handout.
Thurs 10 Mar 2016: Lab day: small numbers.
Fri 11 Mar 2016: Class abandoned due to lack of interest - where is everyone?
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