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.

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Month 4: Networks and Server Structures

Lab 4: Subnetworks

Today was a bit rough. We learned how to Subnet. I'm not going to get into that, but it is probably the hardest thing we've had to learn this month, though with practice it gets easier. Basically for lab, we were given a Network Address and Class, and told we needed X amount of Subnetworks and X amount of Hosts per network. For that, we needed to find the Subnet ID's (up to a certain number), the Broadcast Address for those IDs and then the Range. So a lot of math was involved and you can't use your calculator. All in all it was a fun challenge, and now that I'm done, I'm leaving! So, I'll update you next time (after we have our Midterm).

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Grades: Art History

Got our grades back from Art History earlier than usual. I really worked hard throughout the month, so I'm pleased with my 98 A+. Hopefully posting my work and showing the grades helps you to get an understanding of what it takes to pass these classes and were you should be as far as skill level when you come into the program.

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Month 4: Networks and Server Structures

Lab 3: Searching Google

Lab three was fairly simple. We were taught how to use Google 'correctly.' Basically, we searched in formats like this:

Charles would like to buy a Cannon EOS 20D for under $500.00. He spends some time searching:

[canon]
[canon eos]
[canon eos $300..$500]
[canon eos $300..$500 site:ebay.com]
[canon eos $300..$500 site:ebay.com -450d -"eos 7"]
[canon eos 20d $300..$500 site:ebay.com OR site:amazon.com -450d -"eos 7"]

There were several questions like that on a sheet that we had to fill out. It was fairly simple.

Lab 4: Compressing and Addressing

This lab was also fairly simple. We worked in terminal and learned how to compress files, zip them, unzip them, and we even learned how to create .dmg files. You pay attention to the byte, kilobyte and megabyte information and report that on the worksheet they give you. The second part of that lab is more or less about finding the Network Address, the Broadcasting Address, the number of host bits, etc. Then there was a final section where it was matching a computer (in a diagram) to a description. Overall it was fairly easy.

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Month 4: Networks and Server Structures

Lab 2: Terminal Commands

This first lab, we dealt with a lot of commands in terminal. We learned in lecture how to create files and directories, move and rename them, delete them, and much more. We had to create a certain file structure in terminal and then export the text (of terminal) and turn that into our teachers. Overall, it was fairly easy, taking about an average of 45 minutes to complete. I love working with stuff like this, so I'm proud to say I finished first in a clean 30 minutes and was able to talk with the lab instructors a good hour about some unrelated things. Anyhow, overall, it was very easy and by the time you're finished with the assignment, you've got a good grasp on the things that you've learned.

Another thing I'd like to point out, is that this class is very information-intensive. There is so much to know and to learn, it's hard to grasp the concept of everything. I'm just grateful that this month is the month we have spring break, so I can get some extra study in, because you definitely need it. That being said, the class thus far has been incredibly fun, and the teacher is a riot as well. :) He makes it a lot better than it could be if you had one of those monotone drags. :(

Right now I'm actually waiting outside for my third NSS lab to open. I'll try to throw an update up once I'm finished. Keep checking back for more updates! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. :)

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Month 4: Networks and Server Structures

Today was my first day of the NSS class. The teacher is a smart ass, and he makes the class incredibly fun. He jokes, he's sarcastic, and with our class being so small (only eight people), it's definitely tight nit. Everyone talks.

The first day we pretty much had a history of computers. My advice to anyone going into this class, take a lot of notes. There are certain things he says which are really important, which are not on the lecture slides.

We have lecture and lab in the same room. So he lets us out for dinner and then we come back. Since it was a history of computers, we got to watch a movie: The Pirates of Silicon Valley. It was a pretty good movie.

So, that's pretty much it as far as our first day went. During the class, we were told we'd have two exams (one Midterm and one Final), and the Final Exam would be in terminal. So I look forward to that.

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Month 3: Art History

Project 4: Lynda Tutorial

Yesterday was the last lab. We watched a 40 minute video and were given a take home assignment to do a tutorial from lynda.com. Most people do Photoshop or Illustrator. I'm already extremely proficient in both, knowing all the techniques even demonstrated in their Master tutorials.
So I decided to do something relating to my program and chose a CSS tutorial for styling a search box. The main things that interested me regarding this particular tutorial was:
1) The icon inside the search box,
2) The specific style of the button, and...
3) The normalization between browsers so that it looks correct and functions correctly in all browsers or at least has a nice alternative for earlier versions of internet explorer.
Here is the finished (and working) version of the search module:

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