CS615 -- Aspects of System AdministrationCourse Overview:In a networked environment, the need for a skilled system administrator has become increasingly obvious, but what exactly does a System Administrator do? Traditionally, the System Administrator's job has not had a precise definition; instead it covers a large variety of duties and requires at times rather broad, at other times very specific knowledge about a multitude of topics in virtually every area of networked computing. In this class, some of the most essential aspects of system administration will be covered, giving students the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to architect solutions for as well as analyze and troubleshoot problems arising in every day usage of complex networks and large-scale installations. Some of the topics covered include: hardware configuration, operating system installation, shell programming, security policies, backup deployment and disaster recovery, network design, software installation and maintenance, operating system tuning. Students are expected to be comfortable in a UNIX-like environment on a user level and have a solid understanding of TCP/IP networking and Operating System concepts. If you have questions about this class, please email jschauma@stevens.edu and (this is important to escape the spam filters) include "[CS615]" in the subject line. Cloud ComputingIn this class, we will make use of Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud for all homework assignments; this will give students the chance to gain valuable experience in new technologies currently in high demand in the industry (cloud computing, IPv6) and also provide a possibility for students to gain superuser access to a number of operating systems otherwise not available at Stevens.
Textbooks:This class does not have any strictly required textbooks. However, there are two books which are recommended, if only as a reference throughout the semester. These are:
Course MaterialIf you're interested in the raw course material, ie the .tex files that produce the slides etc., you can find everything on github.Instructor:Jan Schaumann [jschauma@stevens.edu]Grading:There will (probably) be:
Plagiarism, Cheating and other ways to get an FThis really should not be necessary, but just to preempt any complains that I did not make myself clear:Students are responsible for their own work. It is unethical (and in some cases illegal) to present as one's work the ideas, words or representations of another without the proper indication of the source. Therefore, it is the student's responsibility to give credit for any quotation, idea or data (such as statistical data or source code) borrowed from an outside source. Time Format:All times, due dates etc. are given in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS according to our systems local time (EST or EDT). A clock is always a 24-hour clock -- there is no AM or PM. Due dates are always fixed, non-negotiable and late submissions are not accepted.Homework Assignments:
Project / Presentation Description:For the project, you are required to either write a paper or to prepare a presentation on a specific topic of interest. The topic of the paper or the presentation needs to be approved in advance by the instructor; other than that, there are no restrictions.If you choose to write a paper, then it should provide an in-depth analysis of the chosen topic based on the research you did, possibly with a case study. The paper should be 8-12 pages long and needs to be submitted via email in either plain text, postscript, or PDF format. The final due date for the paper is 2013-05-06 10:59:59; a draft / work in progress has to be submitted by 2013-04-22: 10:59:59. For a presentation, you may pick a topic that will be covered in class. Your presentation will then be part of that class -- therefore, you will need to coordinate in advance with the instructor. Otherwise, the presentation will be given in one of the last classes. You probably want to prepare some slides, even though you may, of course, speak freely from your notes if you choose to. Your presentation should be no shorter than 20 minutes. Syllabus:Lecture slides and other supporting material will be uploaded as the semester progresses.
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Misc. Topics are done based on interest and time available. They may also be used as a presentation topic. They include: cloud computing, virtualization, IPv6 migration, heterogenous networks / multiple OS, automated installation, server room basics, cooling issues, racking etc. clustering, spam...