IMAT5122 – Computer Systems and Networks

COURSEWORK 2022/2023

Module name: Computer Systems and Networks

Module code: IMAT5122
Title of the Assignment: Linux System Change Logger Script and Network Design
analysis
This coursework item is: Summative
This summative coursework will be marked anonymously Yes
The learning outcomes that are assessed by this coursework are:
1. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of knowledge and show a critical awareness of current
problems in computer systems and networks.
2. Show originality in the application of knowledge as well as systematic understanding of knowledge
and comprehension of the underlying concepts and principles associated with computer systems and
networks.
3. Critically evaluate current computer system and networking technologies and methodologies and
develop critiques of them.
This coursework is: Individual

This coursework constitutes 100 % of the overall module mark.

Date Set: 31st October 2022
Date & Time Due: 16th January 2023 at 11:59AM
Marked coursework and feedback will be available to you on: Feedbacks will be available
If for any reason this is not forthcoming by the due date your module leader will within four weeks after
let you know why and when it can be expected. The Head of Studies submission.
([email protected]) should be informed of any issues relating to the
return of marked coursework and feedback.
note: All marks and grades are provisional until moderation is complete and
confirmed by the relevant Assessment Board, and may change.
When completed you are required to submit your coursework to:
1. The report needs to be uploaded to Turnitin via a link on Blackboard
Late submission of coursework policy: Late submissions will be processed in accordance with current
University regulations which state:
“the time period during which a student may submit a piece of work late without authorisation and have the work
capped at 40% [50% at PG level] if passed is 14 calendar days. Work submitted unauthorised more than 14
calendar days after the original submission date will receive a mark of 0%. These regulations apply to a student’s
first attempt at coursework. Work submitted late without authorisation which constitutes reassessment of a
previously failed piece of coursework will always receive a mark of 0%.”

Academic Offences and Bad Academic Practices:

These include plagiarism, cheating, collusion, copying work and reuse of your own work, poor referencing or the
passing off of somebody else's ideas as your own. If you are in any doubt about what constitutes an academic
offence or bad academic practice you must check with your tutor. Further information and details of how DSU can
support you, if needed, is available at: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-students/the-student-gateway/academic-
support-office/academic-offences.aspx and
http://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-students/the-student-gateway/academic-support-office/bad-academic-practice.aspx

Tasks to be undertaken:
See detailed description on next pages.
Deliverables to be submitted for assessment:
Report and any supporting material required to assess the work
How the work will be marked:
See marking scheme on next pages
Module leader/tutor name: Dr Alex Fasanmade
Contact details: [email protected]
PART 1 COMPUTER SYSTEMS - 50 MARKS
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COURSEWORK 2022/2023

You are an IT support engineer and you have been asked to build a GNU/Linux bash script that
monitors a computer system and user activity regularly and logs key information. You need to
create a script “SysMonitor.sh” that automatically and regularly writes to a log file
“SysMonitor.log”. The log file will need to contain time-stamped detailed information about
significant changes to the following:
a) Users currently logged in
b) Current processes
c) Top 3 CPU utilizing processes
d) Devices plugged in (e.g. USB)
e) Launch another script within the first script that waits for 5 seconds before launching (f)
and (g)
f) Disk usage
1. Overall disk usage
2. Other key directories
g) Network interfaces and their states

The script will need to be written to extract only key details about the changes to the computer
system such as listed above and add them to an ever-growing log file. Hence the log file should
consist of easily readable key details only. For pass level you are expected to write a script that
satisfies a) to f) listed above. For higher marks you are expected to add relevant extra information
(e.g. monitoring OS system file changes, monitoring installed applications, etc.) and relevant
features, more easily readable output (e.g. HTML), configurable log levels (e.g. verbose, debug,
standard and key-details only), etc.

Note that you should only use common pre-installed command line tools and your work should not
rely on additional programs / tools / libraries / etc. If you are unsure about any detail of this
coursework please ask your tutor.
Also you may be called to present and demonstrate the system and report if your module
tutor is in doubt. Failure to proof ownership of your coursework may lead to a fail!

What should be submitted to Blackboard before the due date:

I. Documentation (5 pages maximum (excluding title page, bibliography, appendices etc.) ,
minimum font size 10):
a) A specification of how to install and use the script(s) (max 1 page)
b) Design consideration – what commands you used, how you constructed your script(s)
and justification why you chose these techniques. (1 page)
c) Extensive test results with exemplary log and screen output. (1 page)
d) Conclusion / Reflection – Advantages and disadvantages of your techniques /
work (1 page)
e) Bibliography – An exhaustive list of references you used in your work (1 page)
II. One ZIP file will need to be uploaded to Blackboard, containing all coursework relevant
files including scripts and exemplary log files.
The documentation needs to be submitted to Turnitin assignment submission link on
blackboard while the ZIP file needs to be uploaded separately via the Upload link on
blackboard.
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PART 2 COMPUTER NETWORKS 50 MARKS

Designing and Deploying a Computer Network Solution for a start-up medium defence
enterprise.
This question entails the design and theoretically deployment of a secured computer network for a
medium defence enterprise. Please carefully read the following details:
You are in charge of the IT services of Locked Martin corporation, a relatively new UK defense
contractor company that develops military technology. The company is moving to their new UK
office building in Cranfield and the complete network infrastructure needs to be designed and
implemented from scratch. In addition, the corporation Research and Development (R&D) centre is
working on the next generation of missile technology so security of the designed network is also
critical to the corporation.

“Building 1” (in the UK):

Ground floor: First Floor:

Storage & Shipping: 30 (hosts) employees using wireless devices to label and track products to be
shipped.
Quality Assurance: 6 (hosts) employees with a lot of networked lab equipment to continuously test
and certify products.
Sales & Marketing: 8 (hosts) employees working as a team to bring the products to market.
Research & Development 1: 10 (hosts) employees (plus networked lab equipment) working on
current & new products.
Research & Development 2: 5 (hosts) employees (plus networked lab equipment) working on
current & new products.

Server Room 1: Contains 10 - servers ( client-available servers including Backups, UPS, etc.
Management 1: The overall company boss (1 host), mainly working with the Sales and Marketing
team.
Employees are allowed to work from home one day a week but must use secure remote solutions to
work within the company network.

In addition, Groovy Inc. recently acquired another company to gain its cutting edge technology in
parallel computing and its research and development staff. This new part of the company is located
in Canada
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“Building 2” (Canada):

To be co-located with other companies in a large modern office building as shown above.
Server Room 2: Contains 5 client-available servers including Backups, UPS, etc. Also contains the
10 main Research & Development servers.
Research & Development 3: 12 (hosts) employees (plus networked lab equipment) working on
current & new products.
Management 2: The Canada-division manager (1 host), working mainly with all the Research &
Development team.

Your task
2a) 25 marks
2a) It is your responsibility to design the overall network for the company, connecting all staff,
equipment and customers through appropriate networking technologies. You need to consider a
variety of factors, such as:
 User requirements
 Hardware and Software needed:
o Switches, with VLANs and/or subnets, Gateways, etc.
o Performance Network bandwidth
o Connectivity, Internet Connections, etc.
o Security Issues e.g. Proxy Servers, Firewalls, etc.
o Wired versus Wireless solutions deployed
o Redundancy and Backups
 Deployment Plan
o The when, what, and how exactly to put the solution in place.
 Maintenance and Administration Plan

Answer：
1. Topology design:
The company is headquartered in the UK and has a branch in Canada. The head office has about 60
people and the Canadian office has about 13 people.
2. After consulting a lot of books, the topology of this design combines tree shape and hierarchical
model, namely access layer, aggregation layer and core layer. The core layer of the UK headquarters
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COURSEWORK 2022/2023

is Layer 3 switches, and the aggregation layer and access layer are Layer 2 switches. The Canadian
branch uses the same equipment as the UK headquarters.

In order to meet the expected requirements, make the following design:

 Planning between different departments: deploying different departments into different VLAN,
simultaneously subnetting, carry out a physical isolation.
 Adopt three layers of structure design of the network, choose 10000 megabytes Ethernet
connection are two companies as a high-speed backbone; Gigabit Ethernet is used as the
backbone of each department to form the aggregation layer of enterprise network, and 100
gigabit Ethernet is selected as the access layer.
 Considering redundancy backup, VRRP or HSRP routing protocols are established at the core
layer.
 The company has a number of confidential files and has separate server areas deployed at
headquarters and divisions.
 The security of the network is deployed in the place of the border router firewall.
 In an enterprise, all wireless networks are covered, and four wireless aps are deployed on each
layer.
 NAT is implemented to save IP addresses and access the Internet.
 A VPN channel is established for the access between two companies.
 Establish VPN channel to realize employees home office.

3. Maintain and manage the plan

 The electrical network administrator is responsible for the management and maintenance of the
equipment room. The equipment room should keep the environment clean and orderly. The
network administrator should maintain the equipment in the equipment room and floor swap
machine once a week.
 Personnel who do not work in the equipment room are not allowed to enter or leave the
equipment room, nor are they allowed to show outside personnel the equipment room. They are
not allowed to change or move power supplies, cabinets, servers, switches, transceivers, and
twisted pair cables in the equipment room.
 Do not switch on or operate network devices such as servers, routers, and switches without
permission.
 Staff of all departments are not allowed to disassemble and install computers and peripherals
without permission. If the case really needs to be opened, they should inform the network
administrator before handling it.
 It is strictly prohibited for any department or individual to use the enterprise computer or
network to do anything unrelated to work during the working period. The network
administrator will check once a week and record the inspection results.
 Computer users in each department are responsible for the cleaning of their own computers and
peripherals. Network administrators check regularly every month and record the results of the
inspection.

4. Design the topology as follows

Note: Only one of these devices is listed in the design topology.
IMAT5122 – Computer Systems and Networks
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 IMAT5122 – Computer Systems and Networks
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2b) 25 marks
a) Using a Variable Subnet Length Mask (VLSM) applied to internet protocol (IP) address of
class C with a classless interdomain routing (CIDR) of /24 ( for example 192.168.10.0/24),
assign IP address to all users(hosts) in the network in the UK building and Canada building.

Answer：
I use 192.168.1.0/24 in the UK headquarters and 172.16.1.0/24 in the Canadian branch for subnet
division.
In this design, due to the need to consider redundant backup design, two more available IP
addresses need to be added to the original department to be used as the SVI interface address of
Layer 3 switch. For example, Storage & Shipping only needs 30 information points and a gateway
is 31 information points. You need to add two available IP addresses which is 31+2=33 information
points. The information points of each department are calculated as follows。

UK：（192.168.1.0/24）
Storage & Shipping：30+1+2=33
Quality Assurance：6+1+2=9
Sales & Marketing：8+1+2=11
Research & Development 1：10+1+2=13
Research & Development 2：5+1+2=8
Server Room 1：10+1+2=13
Management 1：1+1+2=4

Canada：（172.16.1.0/24）
Server Room 2: 5+10+1+2=18
Research & Development 3: 12+1+2=15
Management 2: 1+1+2=4

Subnets are divided as follows：

Available IP
Position Department Subnet mask Gateway
address
UK 192.168.1.1 -
Storage & Shipping 255.255.255.192 192.168.1.1
192.168.1.62
192.168.1.65 -
Research & Development 1 255.255.255.240 192.168.1.65
192.168.1.78
192.168.1.81 -
Server Room 1 255.255.255.240 192.168.1.81
192.168.1.94
192.168.1.97 -
Sales & Marketing 255.255.255.240 192.168.1.97
192.168.1.110
192.168.1.113 -
Quality Assurance 255.255.255.240 192.168.1.113 -
192.168.1.126
192.168.1.129 -
Research & Development 2 255.255.255.240 192.168.1.129 -
192.168.1.142
Management 1 192.168.1.145 - 255.255.255.248 192.168.1.145
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192.168.1.150
172.16.1.1 -
Server Room 2 255.255.255.224 172.16.1.1
172.16.1.30
172.16.1.33 -
Canada Research & Development 3 255.255.255.224 172.16.1.33
172.16.1.62
172.16.1.65 -
Management 2 255.255.255.248 172.16.1.65
172.16.1.70
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Marking Scheme

0-5 6-11 12-17 18-23 24-30

No or only little ability to use Little use of basic GNU/Linux Fair use of basic and more Good use of basic and more Very good use of basic and more
GNU/Linux basic GNU/Linux commands. commands. Little attempt advanced GNU/Linux commands. advanced GNU/Linux commands. advanced GNU/Linux commands.
Command Usage No or only little attempt solving the coursework problem. Fair attempt to solve coursework. Well executed piece of coursework. Very well executed piece of
solving the coursework coursework.
problem.

0-3 4-7 8-11 12-16 17-20

No or only little ability to use Little use of basic GNU/Linux Fair use of basic and more Good use of basic and more Very good use of basic and more
GNU/Linux basic GNU/Linux bash bash scripting. advanced GNU/Linux bash advanced GNU/Linux bash scripting. advanced GNU/Linux bash scripting.
Bash Scripting scripting. scripting.

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-25

No, only little or non-relevant Only little or not very relevant Some extra information or extra Good extra information or extra Excellent extra information or extra
Extra relevant extra information or extra extra information or extra features added to the work. These features added to the work. These features added to the work. These
information / extra features added to the work features added to the work extras are fairly relevant. extras are mostly relevant. extras are highly relevant.
relevant features

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-25

Poorly written, unstructured, Understandable, little structure, Reasonably written, adequate Well written, good structure, good Very well written, very good structure
Report and unclear justification, no some justification, little testing, structure, good justification, well justification, thorough testing and and excellent justification, thorough
Referencing testing, none or entirely adequate coverage of sources tested, adequate coverage of coverage of sources with sufficient testing, comprehensive, informative
inappropriate referencing. but lacking sufficient detail in sources but lacking some detail in detail in referencing. and relevant referencing.
referencing. referencing.

0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-25

Part 2
Poorly written, unstructured, Understandable, little structure, Reasonably written, adequate Well written, good structure, good Very well written, very good structure
Network Design unclear justification, no some justification, little testing, structure, good justification, well justification, thorough testing and and excellent justification, thorough
Principles testing, none or entirely adequate coverage of sources tested, adequate coverage of coverage of sources with sufficient testing, comprehensive, informative
inappropriate referencing. but lacking sufficient detail in sources but lacking some detail in detail in referencing. and relevant referencing.
referencing. referencing.
Poor calculation Little calculations with some Reasonably well steps and Good calculations Very well written steps
VLSM justification calculations

Marking comments and feedback: Final Mark 100

IMAT5122 – Computer Systems and Networks
COURSEWORK 2022/2023