assignments

Wireshark 101

• Tell me a little about your computer background.
• What do you already know about how the internet works?
• Read/browse these articles :
  • wikipedia:internet
  • wikipedia:internet protocol suite
  • wikipedia:outline of the internet
• Download and install Wireshark, and try to capture a few packets. Describe you experience, and what you saw.
• Read chapter 1 in Matthews' text, pages 1 to 40.
• Answer, if you can, some of the questions from page 27 and 28 in the text, which look at simpleHttp.cap from the text's CD.
• Let me know how this first week of getting things going went for you.

HTTP

• Read chapter 2.1, 2.2 in Matthews' text, on HTTP. Start 2.3, 2.4.
• Read wikipedia: http
• Do any two exerises on pages 54, 55 from Matthews' text.
• Do exercises 5,6,7 on page 64 from Matthews' text.
• Use wireshark to capture the packets to and from your laptop as you fetch a web page:
  • Start wireshark capturing packets.
  • Open a browser; load a page.
  • Stop wireshark.
  • Discuss what you see:
    • What are the HTTP commands sent to the server?
    • What (exactly) files did your laptop ask for?
    • What (exactly) was the reply?
• Another way:
  • Get Firefox (if you don't already have it.)
  • Install "Tamper Data" : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/966
  • Try the same thing, with tamper data turned on rather than Wireshark.
  • Try loading a web page with a form on it.
• What is a web "cookie"? Which computer(s) sends it where? Why? Can you see any cookies in either Wireshark or Tampter Data's display?

first webpage

• Read chapters 2 and 4 in our HTML text.
• Install a text editor - I suggest either TextWranger (mac) or NotePad++ ; see my software tools page.
• Look at the files in the example webpage I put together, and read about HTML and CSS as I discuss in the README file. (Download the files to a folder on your computer, and look at the .html and .css files in the text editor.)
• Create a web page similar to mine (which you can use as a model) that includes
  • an .html file, with at least one link to another page
  • a .css stylesheet (which can be very short)
  • an image
• Open that local .html file in a web browser and make sure it looks OK.
• Optional: upload the files to your campus akbar web host, as described at the IT filetransfer help page . You'll need to create a folder named "html" and put in it a file named "index.html" .
• Upload all your files (.html, .css, image) using the "choose file" and "upload" buttons on the page where you submit this week's work. (Clicking on the .html file should display your web page.)
• Discuss on the assignments submission page how all this went.

second webpage

• Read chap 1, 4, 6, 7, 16 (boxes) in our HTML and CSS3 text.
• Create a 2nd webpage which includes more features (depending on available time and your background) such as :
  • navigation
  • multiple linked .html files
  • page layout
  • image backgrounds
• Explore what "web hosting" is all about, and summarize your understanding.
  • This is an open ended question; the basic idea is to look at some "web hosting" companies and understand sorts of things they're selling.
  • Using the hosting service we set up Tues in class, upload your new site to an external host using sftp software, control panel, or whatever.
• Describe how all this went.

internet background

• Browse all of the following pages, enough to get a feel for what it is and what's there. Pick at least three on different topics to read more thoroughly. And be ready on class Tues to explain at least one to the rest of the class.

• How many websites are there on the internet today? (And how did you find the answer to that question?) How many per person in the world? What are the most visited?
• Look at the list of topics I put in the Feb 16 notes. Do some googling, reading, and thinking of what you already know to get ready to discuss this next week.
• Finally, as continuing practice with the markup, put together yet another short website using any of the HTML, CSS including images and layout that illustrates one idea from all that.

internet social or commercial paper

• From your own googling and/or the links I've posted in class and on the resources page, do some reading on these topics and come to class ready to discuss:
  • internet advertising
  • privacy
  • piracy, copyright, and DRM
  • security and malicious software
• Choose a topic from those we discussed last week (e.g. internet governance, privacy, piracy, social media, Google, Facebook, or another big site, ...) or a similar one of your choice, and write a 5-ish page paper with references and come to class Thu ready to discuss. This one will be for your midterm grade. (You can if you wish turn it into a webpage, but that's not required.)
• Finally, if you haven't yet put a website with your playing around with HTML & CSS up on marlbororocks.org, please do so; Sam A can help if needed.

security and crypto

• Read about ssl, https, and crypto (particularly public/private keys, also called RSA) from the links on the resources page, or your own web searching.
• What is HTTPS? How exactly does it work?
• Discuss what public/private keys are all about: what are they for, how do they work, and how are they used?
• Describe what an "SSL Certificate" is: what is it? what does it do? how would you get one? how does it work? Be as specific as you can.
• Install a version of GnuGPG or other crypto software on your computer. (See resources for links to it.) Use it to try at least one of these tasks :
  • Create a public/private key pair for yourself. (command line "gpg", or command line "openssl", or mac GUI "GPG Keychain Tools", or win GUI
  • Submit your public key to a public key repository, i.e. http://pgp.mit.edu .
  • Get Jim's public key from http://pgp.mit.edu (It has id 29A4465F.)
  • Using your private and Jim's public key, create and send a signed, encrypted email that only Jim and read and only you could have sent. (Manually encrypt a file with command line "gpg", or Thunderbird email client + Enigmail extension. Note that Thunderbird can connect to gmail.)
  • Set automatic ssh/sftp logins using your RSA key; google "ssh authentication rsa", e.g. http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/530

wordpress

• Register yourself and add some pages and/or blog posts to the class wordpress site, using these site access details, our class notes, and help from Sam.
• Install and customize a wordpress installation of your own at MarlboroRocks.org :
  • Start by adding a new theme, a few plugins, and some pages.
  • Depending on your experience, try modifying a theme with some html5 and/or css to change how the site looks.
  • In any case, write up what you're able to do and come to class ready to discuss.

email

• Read the wikipedia articles I listed on the notes this week, and come to class on Thu ready to discuss email, its protocols, and spam.
• Describe three different ways to read your campus emails. In each case, be specific about what internet protocols are being passed between which computers, where the mail is being stored, and where spam filtering is going on.
• * Why is spam such a problem? Discuss what it is and why it's an issue, in both technical and economic terms.
  • Examine and discuss the full headers from (a) a typical email message, and (b) a spam message, explaining what all the gobbledy-gook in there means in terms of who sent the message and which routers it went through.
• Review Wireshark and how it works; there will be an assignment using it to look at email due next week.

project proposal

• Propose an internet related topic for your final paper
  • due in final form Fri 4
  • i.e. a set of webpages with images, reference etc
  • to be presented in class Tue May 1.
  • Be specific, and include some ideas for sources.
• Use wireshark to investigate how email works "behind the scenes" in terms of packets, protocols, and data, by either (or both if time allows)
  • (a) On page 85 of Matthew's text, do questions 1, 2, and 5, or
  • (b) Use an email application (laptop or handheld, but *not* a web browser interface) to send & fetch some test email messages, while Wireshark is running, find the packets, and discuss what's in 'em.
• Examine and discuss the full headers (i.e. "message source") from (a) a typical email message, and (b) a spam message, explaining what all the gobbledy-gook in there means in terms of who sent the message and which routers it went through.

project presentations

• Share your final project with the rest of the class on our last class.

final project due

• Submit your final project, which should be:
  • on the topic you proposed, related to something we've done this term.
  • an effort comparable to a 5-10 page written paper.
  • in the form of a series of web pages, including images and links to references.

final grade

• a place for Jim to give a grade and feedback