Syllabus, CS 480-M01 - Linux System Administration - Fall 2022

Instructor: Ivan Strnad, Science Hall, Rm 137, phone: 575-646-6831
    E-mail: Use my CS (istrnad@cs.nmsu.edu) or NMSU (ivstrnad@nmsu.edu) e-mails only.
    Office Hours: Tuesday 10:00-11:00 a.m. and any other time by appointment

Teaching Assistant: none 😞

Course Web Site: https://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~istrnad/cs480 and https://learn.nmsu.edu
Textbook:

Title: UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook, Fifth Edition (August 8, 2017) Author(s): Nemeth, Snyder, Hein, Whaley, MacKin Publisher: Prentice Hall ISBN-10: 0134277554 ISBN-13: 978-0134277554 Table of Contents

• Be able to properly set up, configure, and maintain a Linux-based set of networked computers with shared resources
• Understand the significance of proper administration of systems and its impact on users, their data and computational resources, and the security of the overall installation

• Administrator's Tasks, Linux/Unix Relationship, Linux Distributions
• Installing Linux, PC's HW, BIOS, Disk Formatting and Partitioning
• Scripting and the Shell, Booting and Shutting Down, Controlling Processes
• Linux Filesystem, Access Control, Regular User v. Superuser, User Management
• Periodic Processes, Syslog and Log Files, Software Installation and Management
• Networking Basics (TCP/IP, Ethernet, Routing), Domain Name System, Network File System
• some of: Backups, Kernel Configuration and Building, Sharing System Files (LDAP), E-mail, Security Basics, Web Server, Services for Windows

Grading

Your course grade will be based on these criteria:
• 60% : ~8 Assignments
• 15%: Midterm Exam
• 25%: Final Exam

Grades

You must
• take both exams, and
• turn in at least half of the assignments.
  Otherwise you will get an F (or U in case of S/U).
Please note that the above listed requirements do NOT guarantee a passing grade.
You still need to receive enough points to get a grade based on the standard scale :

A:	90% and above
B:	80% - 90%
C:	70% - 80%
D:	60% - 70%
F:	below 60%

Grading Standards

Assignments and exams may NOT be equally weighted.
Each assignment will count towards the final grade according to its total points value. For example, if one assignment has a total value of 100 points and a second assignment has total value of 50 points, then the first assignment counts twice more towards the final grade in the course then the second assignment. Each assignment question will be given a clearly stated maximum point value, on the original assignment. Subparts of questions may or may not have such a maximum. The points don't have to add up to 100.

If in your opinion there is a problem with grading, try to resolve the issue immediately.

Submission requirements

Two files need to be submitted for every assignment :
1. The first file is your typed report in PDF (The report must be typed - no photocopy of a handwritten paper please).
   It has to be submitted through http://learn.nmsu.edu as one file / document and it has to be in the PDF format.
   No other format will be accepted. The name of the file has to contain your name and assignment/lab number separated by "_" (If your name is John Snow then the name of the document submitted for the first assignment needs to be John_Snow_HW01.pdf).  
2. The second file to be submitted into your directory under /home/CS480 directory has to be a tar.bz2 file that contains all other files related to the assignment. It will contain all relevant files that you modified for the assignment. Everything that was done to finish the lab, modify your system, write, run and verify submitted programs or scripts needs to be included in the submitted tar.bz2 file. That includes all your system configuration files modified for the lab/assignment as well as programs and scripts written (including complete source code, supporting shell scripts, test data input files, ...). The name of the tar.bz2 file has to contain your CS login name and the lab number separated by "_" (if your cs login name was jsnow then the file's name for assignment #4 will be jsnow_Lab04.tar.bz2 and you need to place it into the /home/CS480/jsnow directory).   The files submitted as part of the tar.bz2 file have to be the files copied from your cs480 lab virtual machine once the relevant tasks were accomplished and the files were modified.

Due Dates / Late Submissions

Late assignment will be accepted under the following conditions:

1. Late submissions are penalized 20% per day.
2. No assignment will be accepted 3 days or later after its due date. You can be late at most 2 days to receive any points.
3. If, as a result of an emergency (such as a medical emergency), you are unable to turn in an assignment on time, let me know the circumstances as soon as possible. If, in my judgment, the circumstances were an unavoidable emergency, I will take the homework late without penalty. I reserve the right to require documentation of the circumstances.
4. Note: conflicts with homework in other classes, simply failing to complete an assignment on time, and over sleeping, are not reasons that I will accept as no penalty excuse for late homework.

Attendance

Your attendance in the course lectures is not mandatory. However, you are responsible for all material covered in class and in assigned reading (including the extra material not covered in our textbook). You are also responsible for turning in homework and finishing the lab work on time, whether you were present in class or not.

Tentative Schedule

Date	Lecture / Lab / Chapter(s) / Notes
Wed, Aug 17	Introduction & Syllabus, Lab 1 - Linux Installation
Thu, Aug 18	Last Day to Add a Course without Instructor's Permission
Mon, Aug 22	Ch 1: Where to Start, and finishing Lab 1
Wed, Aug 24	Ch 3 : Access Control and Rootly Powers
Fri, Aug 26	Last day to add a class with instructor’s signature
Sat, Aug 27	Assignment 1 due
Mon, Aug 29	Ch 3 - Access Control and Rootly Powers Continued, Basics of Perl
Wed, Aug 31	Ch 4: Process Control
Fri, Sep 2	Last Day to Drop Course without "W" (100% refund)
Mon, Sep 5	Labor Day Holiday - no class
Wed, Sep 7	Ch 4 - Process Control Continued
Thu, Sep 8	Assignment 2 due
Mon, Sep 12	Ch 5: The Filesystem
Wed, Sep 14	Ch 5 and 8 - The Filesystem Continued and User Management
Mon, Sep 19	Ch 7 - Scripting and the Shell
Tue, Sep 20	Assignment 3 due
Wed, Sep 21	Ch 7 - Scripting and the Shell Continued
Mon, Sep 26	Ch2 - Booting and System Management Daemons
Wed, Sep 28	Ch2 - Booting and System Management Daemons Continued
Thu, Sep 29	Assignment 4 due
Mon Oct 3	review before Midterm exam
Wed Oct 5	Midterm exam
Mon, Oct 10	Ch10 - Logging
Wed, Oct 12	Ch10 - Logging / Ch20 - Storage
Fri, Oct 14	Last Day to Drop Course with "W" (no refund)
Mon, Oct 17	Ch20 - Storage
Tue, Oct 18	Assignment 5 due
Wed, Oct 19	Ch20 - Storage Continued
Mon, Oct 24	Ch 13, 14 : TCP/IP and Physical Networking
Wed, Oct 26	Ch 13, 14 : TCP/IP and Physical Networking Continued
Thu, Oct 27	Assignment 6 due
Mon, Oct 31	17: DNS - The Domain Name System
Wed, Nov 2	17: DNS - The Domain Name System
Mon, Nov 7	21 : NFS - The Network File System
Tue, Nov 8	Assignment 7 due
Wed, Nov 9	Chosen Topic 1
Mon, Nov 14	Chosen Topic 1
Wed, Nov 16	Chosen Topic 2
Sat, Nov 19	Assignment 8 due
Nov 21-25	Thanksgiving Holiday - no class
Mon Nov 28	review before the final exam
Wed Nov 30	Final Exam ; 8:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Fri, Dec 2	Last Day to Withdraw from the University (by 4:59 p.m.)
Mon, Dec 5	8:00 - 10:00 am - would be the exam time per Final Examination Schedule

Institutional Policies

Please visit https://provost.nmsu.edu/faculty-and-staff-resources/syllabus/policies.html for university policies and student services, including Discrimination and Disability Accommodation, academic misconduct, student services, final exam schedule, grading policies and more.