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405703 Foundations of IT Infrastructure
Semester 2, 2013

 Assignment

 

Contribution to final mark: 50%

Due: 6:00 pm, Fri, 4 Oct 2013 (end of AUT calendar week 9).
“Early bird” submission award: 5 marks (not to exceed 100%) for assignments submitted four
working days earlier.
Late penalty: Late submissions will be penalised at 5% of the actual assignment mark for every
calendar day. E.g. assignments submitted 5 minutes late are penalised as one day late. Late work
of 5 or more days will not be marked.
Miscellaneous:
Mandatory Linux distribution: Ubuntu 13.04 (as one of the OS installed).

Assignment will not be marked if:
• It contains any form of malware (e.g. computer virus)
• Submitted in non-requested compression format (e.g. 7zip, rar, …)
• Not submitted in correct file format (see p.3)

Keep a backup copy of your assignments to be:
• uploaded to “TurinItIn” anti-plagiarism service – if requested.
• submitted as a hard copy – if requested.

Assignment
 Aim
 
The assignment enhances the acquisition of new knowledge through reading, research and
practical work in class and at home. It requires critical thinking applied to real life tasks such as:

• analysis of user requirements and specifying evaluation criteria,
• multi-operating systems installations and comparative investigation of the Operating

System (OS) of your choice.
• ICT related troubleshooting and
• preparing professionally written reports.

It also involves and requires team work and the evidence of effective collaborative
communication.

Instructions
 

Stage 1 (individual tasks, week 1)

1. Investigate implementation of ICT infrastructure for academic home or small business
use. Consider what can be the best for your interest, e.g. one computer for home Internet,
study, work and experimenting with different tools. Consider and evaluate either: (1)
purchasing a new computer(s), providing evaluation matrix with at least the two other
computers; or (2) extending a functionality of existing ones (in which case provide a
table with summarised usability comparison between Ubuntu and existing OS).

2. Obtain your own copy of the mandatory Linux/Ubuntu live CD (e.g.
http://www.ubuntu.com/)

3. Choose the best machine for multi-operating systems and tasks required. Groups who
will install Linux on virtual machine are advised to use Oracle VirtualBox (original/latest
download or AUT mirror: http://damona.aut.ac.nz/software/opensource/vms/virtualbox/)

4. Backup your data and if necessary the OS and device drivers.

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5. Test backup and restore of your data.

Depending of the risk and extra time involved, optional steps as well as hardware modifications
are eligible for bonus marks – subject to quality of evidence.

Stage 2 (individual tasks, week 1)

1. Clearly define the purpose of the machine and each Operating System (OS) with security
concerns and the compare OS installations.

2. Install multi-operating systems residing on the different hard disk partitions and
configure boot menu (e.g. a boot loader – GRUB, adding users and theme selection,
removing guest account etc.). Practice those skills during the lab sessions.
Note: Teams who choose to install VirtualBox instead of multi-operating systems should
not install and configure GRUB. Instead, they should document: (1) all settings related to
system resources allocation (e.g. amount of memory); (2) provide the evidence of
successful installation of installed ‘Guest editions’1; and (3) evidence of file sharing of a
chosen directory between the host and guest OS.

3. Document your log – Task Sheet activity, with supporting evidence (e.g. screen-shots
image files, commands, how-to’s descriptions, etc.) of:

a. achieved troubleshooting,
b. self critique and
c. lessons learned (to be documented in conclusion and future opportunities)

4. Install and test:
a. Application(s) of your choice
b. Script file(s) (SH – shell scripts and/or BAT – batch files) of your choice that is in

accordance with the intended purpose of the installed OS.
Stage 3 (teamwork and individual tasks, remaining weeks)

1. Produce Topic Pros Cons matrix, select and justify the best multi-OS case study to be
reported. Include this into Appendix section of your report.

a. Organise, document and agree on team work (individual tasks, milestones, etc)
b. Optional self assessment (for cases where the team members failed to contribute

equally). If this part is missing, then equal marks will be allocated to each team
member.

2. Produce professionally presented report adhering to Report Structure
3. Final improvements and Report finalisation.

Report
 Structure
 

Prepare a PDF file, of max. size 2MB containing the following sections:

1. Cover page containing AUT logo, title and students’ details (Student #, Student ID,
LAST NAME, First Name and (optional contribution [%] if failed as equal team work).
Include declaration that the submitted work is your original work unless referenced
where appropriate.

2. Table of Content (TOC)
• If you are using OpenOffice or LibreOffice (in Linux), you can generate it by:

Insert | Insert Index/Table, choose Table of Contents. To save it as PDF: File |
Export as PDF… To insert page number: Insert | Footer | Default. In footer part:

1 After successful installation of virtual OS, consult Virtual Box: Help > Contents… ; and select Device > Install
Guest Editions.

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Insert | Fields | Page Number or Page Count. To change page formatting after few
pages, use: Insert | Section …

• Starting from or after the table of content page, each page should contain header
with students’ details and footer with page number and total number of pages
(similar to footer in this document)

3. Introduction (approx. half page)
4. The purpose of the machine and each Operating System (OS) (approx. half – one page)
5. Log (including summary of Tasks, How-to’s and Activities, approx. 2-3 pages)
6. Conclusion and Future Opportunities (approx. half page)
7. References
8. Appendix (include only sufficient evidence)

• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• …

The report has to be submitted as in 2 components: (1) signed declaration hard copy; and (2) an
on-line submission to AUT online and email. The last submitted component counts as complete
assignment submission date and time. The report’s checklist include:
1. Signed declaration with marking scheme to be handed in during the class to your lecturer or

lab supervisor.
2. On-line submissions:

2.1. AUT Online submission. Please refer to AUT Online submission instruction.
2.2. E-mail your backup submission to:

markmyassignment.dropbox@gmail.com

2.2.1. Subject: OS Assignment – Campus2
2.2.2. Message: Team – student detail table (or comma separated text) and optional self

assessment (only if the team failed to equally contribute) e.g.
#,
 Student
 ID,
 LAST
 NAME,
 First
 name,
 Contribution
 [%],
 Reason-­‐description
 
1,
 
 012345,
 
 BLOGGS,
 
 Joe,
 
 35,
 
 Best
 implementation,
 finished
 the
 report;
 
 
2,
 
 098765,
 
 DOE,
 
 Jane,
 
 20,
 Failed
 to
 do
 team
 work;
 
3,
 
 567890,
 
 LEE,
 
 Bruce,
 
 35,
 Did
 a
 bit
 less
 than
 #1,
 but
 done
 proof
 reading,
 and
 quality
 
improvements
 on
 #1’s
 PC;
 

2.3. Submission file format
Archived attachment (ZIP format)3, without any subdirectory structure:

2.3.1. Electronic
 report
 in
 PDF
 format
 (size:
 <  2MB;  to  be  available  in  hard  copy  if  requested). 2.3.2. Any  scripts  and  batch  files  renamed  to  TXT  file  extension.

Task
 Sheet
 

Document the task sheet activity (see Assignment Declaration – Marking Scheme), the evidence
and the outcomes in two different parts of the report:
1. Log section (around two pages): one to three short lines of text on brief instructions or a

command(s) and reference it to appendix entry. At the end of the section, you may also
include concluding statement about lessons learned.

2. Appendix section (around 3 pages or more): Screenshots, brief memo on strategy, “how-to”
screenshots, evidence or any relevant information were obtained.

2 Replace word ‘Campus’ with: City or Manukau
3 Standard ZIP format (see also Ubuntu archive format). E.g. 7zip, 9zip, rar, arj, etc are not acceptable.

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Task Log section

The log section contains brief “how-to” instructions that should match the Marking Scheme
(see the last page). For brevity, avoid unnecessary screenshots information. The screenshots
evidence should be included the Appendix section. Include the following:
1. Document evidence of manual partition (partition table) and comment on differences

between planned and implemented partitions. Include also brief information on computer
hardware (e.g. specifications, upgrades, modifications, etc.).

2. Document which Linux variation and version was installed on which partition. Document
which OS has access to what partition(s).
For VirtualBox users, document how to share a directory between the host and guest OS
(hint: Help > Contents…).

3. Install printer, provide evidence that printing is working. VirtualBox users can provide
evidence of: shared clipboard; CD or USB key data access; or how to save a CD/DVD
image copy in ISO format (ISO9660) using Linux Brasero program (hint: in ‘Disk Copy’
choose ‘Properties’ instead of ‘Create image’).

4. Configure Privacy to prevent on-line monitoring user’s activity.
5. Enable Linux media player software to play MP3 and other video formats.
6. Modify boot loader e.g. Windows should be loaded after 5 seconds by default or provide

summary of Alternative installation using Virtual Machine (see below).
7. Customise Linux – Add users (including AUT logins of the team members), modify

desktop’s “look and feel”, add application(s) that a user may wish to use. Document
privileges or user security restrictions.

8. Customise Linux – Modify keyboard shortcuts.
9. Customise Linux – Install and document the application of your choice (e.g. anti-virus,

remote client, writing music, Arduino / LilyPad open-source development environment,
etc.).

10. Customise Linux – Produce and install the script(s) of your choice – Unix SH or
Windows BAT (e.g. create 20 log directories, log problem – directory creation, backup
and increase version number, “open in Terminal” or “open at DOS prompt”).

For the task points 3,4,7 and 8 above, provide evidence (including screenshots) of using the
mandatory Linux/Ubuntu distribution. If the task points 4 and 5 were achieved automatically via
the Internet access during the installation process, provide a screenshot evidence of the third
party software installation.

Alternative installation using Virtual Machine:
Provide evidence of obtaining a virtual machine (e.g. VirtualBox, VMWare), installation and
administration issues when installing Linux using Virtual Machine. Include: Resources
allocation (e.g. memory, disk quota), how to share a directory between the host and guest OS,
how to take a screenshot and booting from the previous virtual machine “snapshot” before
additional programs have been installed; what happens if host computer goes to “sleep” mode
while virtual machine is actively running, which program/games can not run in virtual box.

Include after Log section and before Appendix section:
1. Add concluding statement (approx. half page) after the log has been completed. E.g. subtitle

“Conclusion and Future Opportunities”. Include summary of your findings and future
research directions. Self-critique, “reality-check” assessments are also welcome.

2. Formatted reference (e.g. web sites, discussion forums, books, articles etc.).
For EndNote users APA 5 (or 6) formatting filter is recommended.
• For further suggestions on assignment formats you may also wish to look at:

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Emerson L. (latest edition). “Writing Guidelines for Business Students, Palmerston
North”. Dunmore Press Ltd.

• Research is encouraged, but plagiarism is not permitted. Copying other peoples’ work is
called plagiarism. Cited sources are not plagiarised if there are fully acknowledged in a
reference list and/or a bibliography.

• If you copy another writer’s words you must acknowledge that by using quotation marks
and a footnote or bracketed reference source. E.g:

“Show me the way” (Lighter, 2004, pp.1-2)
• If you copy a quote from a writer who is quoting another writer you should acknowledge

where you read it and not the primary source although it is good practice to go to the
primary source. E.g:

ABC as cited by DEF says, “Just do it!”(DEF, 2003, pp.1)
• A list of references that you have used should be included in your assignment and must

include the authors’ name, date of publication, name of book or article, place and name of
publisher. For the Internet pages include author, last update title, url and accessed date
E.g:

Badem, A. & Lee, B. 2003. “ICT and eBusiness” 5th Ed. New Jersey: Will Publishing Ltd.
Bloggs, J. 2006. “My web site”. (URL=http://www.bloggsweb.com/). Accessed 1 Jan

2009.
3. Appendix section should include:

• Screenshots of Linux distributions showing active users.
• Optional screenshots may include Windows defragmentation repartitioning and

hardware used in this assignment.
• Sufficient evidence of your work and activity,
• Your contribution to your class, effective electronic communication4 and team work (e.g.

screenshots of individual contribution to discussion forum, minutes of team meeting,
etc.).

4 E.g. opposite of effective communication would be possible unthoughtfull messages content, unnecessary emails
directed to students or a lecturer instead of using a discussion forum, etc.

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405703-Foundations of IT Infrastructure

Assignment
 Declaration
 

I hereby declare that this assignment includes only my own and that of my team
members unless explicitly stated and referenced in the text.

Team
 
member
 

 #
 

 Sorted
 by
 
last
 name
 

Student
 
ID
 

LAST
 NAME
 
in
 capital
 letters
 

First
 Name
 
 
  Optional
 
 
Self
 
assessment5
 
[%/100%]
 

 

 
Reasons
 

1

2

3

NB: Copy the edited text above in your email message as instructed in the assignment.

Team Member’s Signature

1. _____________________

2. _____________________

3. _____________________

 

 

5 Modify if needed, including the next page marking sheet. If empty, it is assumed equal (33.33%) team contribution

Submission Time/Date:_______________ Student ID, LAST NAME, First Name
Team: 1. ________, ___________,__________
2. ________, ___________,__________
3. ________, ___________,__________

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Marking
 Scheme
 

Max Marks Marks
given

Comments

Task Sheet Implementation 30

Installed Multi OS, according to
assignment task sheet.

([ü] … for completed task)

20 [ ]
1[ ]
2[ ]
3[ ]
4[ ]
5[ ]
6[ ]
7[ ]
8[ ]
9[ ]

10[ ]

Can multi-boot and login to at least:
Windows and a Linux edition of your
choice. Sound and video must work.

Professional report presentation 10 Precise, accurate and correct language
use. Professional structure, referencing
and presentation.
Sufficient evidence without
redundant/repetitive information.

Specific functionality

10

E.g. installed three OS on non-AUT
computer with current security updates

6 Team members – users/logins on at least
one Linux.

Application installation of team/user’s
choice

2

Best automation scripts (installation
evidence and listing included) of

team/user’s choice

2

Demonstration, effective use of
digital communication and team

work evidence

10

Deductions

/

Bonus

Failing to: do team work, follow the
instructions, incorrect information, late

penalty etc.

Excellence, level of complexity (e.g. boot,
customisations) “early bird” submission, etc.

TOTALTOTAL
Student #Student # . [Contrib.. [Contrib. %]%] NameName
1.[ ] ___________1.[ ] ___________
2.[ ] ___________2.[ ] ___________
3.[ ] ___________3.[ ] ___________

50

11 .[ ].[ ]

22 .[ ].[ ]

33 .[ ].[ ]