Month 4: Networks and Server Structures

This month has been incredibly information intensive all throughout. When the teacher says, "Study the information you just learned every night," he really does mean it. I live with my boyfriend, and he has two Cisco degrees for networking, so I had an advantage there. The class dabbled into the OSI model, cryptography, binary conversion, subnetting and a whole lot more. The first test is the hardest. I haven't been able to keep my blog updated for the fact that I've been using all of my free time to study. But the first test is forty questions. There is a multitude of information, and it's extremely hard what to decipher is the key information. Because most of it is really important. Labs allow you to focus mostly on Terminal, Mac's Operating System, equivalent to Window's "Configuration." So I suppose I'll pick up where I left off.


Lab 5: Subnetting

For this class we were basically handed out a worksheet with an example on how to subnet and then were given four problems to complete. My suggestion to you is the you should learn how to subnet if you want an extra five points on the final.

Lab 6: SSH

In this lab we established a Secure Shell Handler between Full Sail's server and our computers. Again, really easy stuff.

Lab 7: Designing a Network

I wasn't here for this lab, I had a doctor's appointment on this particular day, but you had to design a functioning network. I used a private VPN to connect the Denver, CO Network and the New York HQ Network. I think I did a pretty decent job.



Lab 8: Deploying a Lamp Server

This class we installed a virtual Operating System and worked within Linux to create a LAMP Server (Linux Apache MySQL and PHP/Python/Perl). For whatever reason, it wasn't working properly for any of the students when we tried to connect via the browser. I'm not sure what was wrong, but we finished the assignment eventually.

Lab 9: Cisco

In Lab 9 we pretty much sat down and began to work on a Cisco chapter. It walked us through some of the basic principles of Networking. At the end, we took a test and had to send a screen shot of the results to our professor.



The Tests

Throughout the month we had two written exams, a midterm and a final, and on practical which was done in terminal. On the midterm, I ended up getting a 77%. You really do need to be careful on these midterms. The questions can get really tricky. For example...

The internet is a...
A) Packet switched network
B) LAN
C) MAN
D) Non Packet switched network

The thing that threw me off was that it was drilled into my head that the internet is a WAN, the biggest wide area network there is. It IS a packet switching network, but the singular form threw me off. Because I just thought it was a bunch of network"S" when really, it is a network of networks. So you really need to be sure when it comes to answering these questions.

Also, there are fill in the blank and True or False sections. You really, really need to know your stuff.

The second test, the Final, isn't so bad. It's pretty obvious that you need to know Protocols and the OSI model. Other than that, there are a few things here and there you'll want to study about, like VPN's, etc. but that'll make up about 10% of the whole test. Also. You NEED TO KNOW WHO INVENTED THE WORLD WIDE WEB. It is Tim Burners-Lee. Make sure you know that for both tests. On the final, if you didn't know that, you automatically missed two questions.

Anyhow, after you take the final, you get a break and then you come back for the Practical. The teacher gives you a packet of information that you can use for the practical, which really made it stupid easy. I was the first one finished. Basically, he gives you a compressed file. You need to upload the file to the server, decompress the file, and then organize the files correctly. You'll need to change the permissions of some files, move files, rename files, make directories, and a few other things. Once you're finished, you'll be able to connect to the server via your browser and you can double check your work with the images that he supplies for you. It's pretty easy as long as you know your stuff.

All in all, this is Networks and Server Structures. Buckle down. It's a looong ride. At least the teacher looks is funny.