Lab Setup and Familiarisation

Aims:

  • To become familiar with the hardware and software setup in the Lab
  • To learn how to start the various operating systems
  • To revise some common UNIX commands and utilities
  • To decide on an topic for Assignment 1

Exercises

Note: The drive drawers contain delicate hard disk drives and should be handled carefully. See the section on drive handling instructions in the Lab description for more details.
  1. Choose a machine.
  2. Turn off the PC if it is already running
  3. Check that the LAN cable is connected to the first network interface card (ie the one integrated into the mainboard; not the one in the I/O expansion slot)
  4. Make sure that the ONE-series disk is installed (The drive drawer label should begin with "ONE"). If not, ask your Tutor to replace the drive drawer with the right one.
  5. Make sure that the Drive is firmly inserted (the Lock mechanism on the drive drawers may need to de disengaged to remove the drive. Be sure that you dont lift the drive handle and accidentally unplug the drive while the power is on!!)
  6. Turn on the power and wait for the machine to Boot. The machine should start Windows XP by default.
  7. Verify that the Windows XP operating environment is OK. Call your Tutor if there are problems.
    • Login as user "STUDENT". No password is required.
    • Click the Start button and select Start|ControlPanel|AdministrativeTools|EventViewer. Look for any red-flagged (error) messages
    • Open a DOS Prompt window using Start|Run|Cmd and execute the commands:
        • IPCONFIG  /ALL
        PING 192.168.1.254
        PING neptune.netcomp.monash.edu.au
        Question: Why did the first PING work but the second one did not?
    • Open a Web Browser (Microsoft IE) and verify that the Web browser works. If there are problems, check the Proxy settings.

  8. Read the Lab description document and answer the following questions. 

    1. aa
    2. bb
    3. cc

  9. Shutdown and Restart the machine. This time boot the Fedora Core Linux operating system.

  10. Check out the Linux environment.

    • Login as user "student". No password is required....
    • Open a shell window and examine the processes currently running in the system
      using the command  ps -ef | less
    • In the same shell window and enter the commands
        • ifconfig -a
        ping 192.168.1.254
        ping neptune.netcomp.monash.edu.au
    • Open a web browser (eg konquerer or mozilla) and check that the web is working.

  11. Now trace the cable connections to verify the network setup for the Lab as shown in the diagram below.


    12. Netlab layout

  12. Your tutor will discuss how to use the Lab equipment to build a private network with several different network domains like the diagram below with a different domain on each bench. 

    13. Multi Subnet diagram

  13. Unix Revision: Have a look at the following links:

    14. Intro to Unix
    ITS Basic Unix
    Backups with Unix commands
    Linux Installation checklist

  14. Discuss the topics available for the Research Essay (Assignment 1) with your tutor. When you are ready, tell your tutor to allocate your chosen topic. Remember that each topic is unique and can be chosen by no more than one student. If someone else has already been allocated the topic you wanted, then you must choose another.