TM129 Technologies in Practice

ePortfolio Activity Templates for Block 3

Name: Parth Shah

Personal Identifier (PI): E395923X

Block 3 Weeks 1-3 Module guide, Activity 3 Forward planning

Outline of the task:

Look at the ‘Do more, explore’ section of the Personal Development Planning website and take notes of the
pages useful to me.

Outputs or results for the activity:

Notes:
https://help.open.ac.uk/job-seeking
- Research about the Labour Market Information and where to find that data from.
- Ask friends to make a referral for me at the company they are currently working at.
https://help.open.ac.uk/your-skills-and-qualities
- Task for later: Note down a list of all my skills and try to search matching careers.
- Take a look at the OU Career Planning Booklet pdf before going to sleep.
https://help.open.ac.uk/career-planning
- Watch the videos on the website once in a quieter place.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
Ability to remember things well Communication Skills
Perseverance to keep going even when I fail Confidence in myself
Patience and faith that one day I will rise Taking lots of time to understand something well
Opportunities Threats
Access to thousands of resources online Family Commitments
Free time due to COVID-19 outbreak Lack of Motivation
Free time in summer holidays to focus more on
long-term goals

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Long-Term Goals – Study
1. To be able to continue learning about different topics within computing and understand different areas
(security, networking, software, systems etc.) of computing to a good standard.
2. To be able to manage time better and strategically plan out times for study, so that I can retain more
knowledge and learn more effectively.

Long-Term Goals – Personal Development

1. To discover which area of computing most interests me and which industry within computing is in high
demand right now.
2. To continue developing communication skills and start looking at what I can do to become more
employable.

Good outputs where I was pleased to see you including a good SWOT analysis

Comments on knowledge and skills demonstrated:

I had always thought of basing my career plans around doing the things which I enjoy the most and in an
industry of high demand. By doing this task, I learned about many ways to strategically plan a career choice.
For example, I did not know about the Labour Market Information before, but after doing this task, I looked
it up on Google and tried out one of their tools which allowed me to view income statistics and compare
multiple different jobs all on one page. This tool showed which industry was in high demand and gave
detailed information on all the different types of jobs. By providing so much data and information on any
type of job, it lets people develop an insight into an industry they know little about and helps make a more
informed career decision. This task led me to reflect on my own career plans and learn about my potential
salary expectations and scope for growth within the industry. Planning and knowing enough about the field
are two important skills to have, and this task introduced me to a tool which gave me more information
about what I can expect from the industry I aspire to work in after graduating.
Some good reflection – perhaps could expand slightly on how you might be able to use a SWOT analysis in
the future for a different scenario

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 Block 3 Week 1 Practical Activity 1.2 Installing Virtual Box

Outline of the task:

Install VirtualBox

Outputs or results for the activity:

Installation
Screen

VirtualBox
running with
two virtual
machines

Some sensible screenshots with captions – perhaps also worth including a short textual description of how
you tackled the activity. You could also then have included some potential problems and how they could be
resolved.

Comments on knowledge and skills demonstrated:

From previous OU modules, I had learned about virtual machines and how two different operating systems
could be installed on one computer but had never gotten the chance to make a VM on my own desktop. By
doing this task, I understood why virtual machines are so useful in computing. The ability to create

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‘snapshots,’ and the virtual nature means that it is not a big deal if suddenly something stops working. A
previous snapshot can easily bring the VM back to its original state or a whole new VM can simply be
created. This makes it extremely useful to try out a new operating system or install something which you
would not feel comfortable installing on your own laptop.
I watched a YouTube series a few months ago about how a British security expert exposed a scam call centre
in India by gaining access to their PC. In one of the interviews, the security expert revealed that he used a
VM so that the scammer couldn’t do anything malicious to his computer, and that he could simply create a
new VM if the scammer were to install a virus on his computer. Trying out a virtual machine software first-
hand allowed me to connect the dots and develop a greater understanding of how this technology works
and why it is used by computing professionals around the world.

Good to see you thinking about how virtualisation can be used

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 Block 3 Week 2 Practical Activity 2.2 Installing Ubuntu

Outline of the task:

Install a virtual machine running Ubuntu from the downloaded disk image file using VirtualBox.

Outputs or results for the activity:

Giving 8GB Ram Ubuntu Trusty

and creating a Tahr Desktop
dynamic hard
drive

Again you have included some sensible screenshots, but could have also included some additional text to
describe how you approached the activity. You do discuss some problems you encountered below.

Comments on knowledge and skills demonstrated:

The first time I installed Ubuntu Trusty Tahr, I allocated a very large amount of storage, but this cropped up
issues with my current operating system, so I had to remove the VM. However, it was simple to create a new
VM and this time, I selected a base storage of 20GB, along with the dynamic hard drive option, which would
let the storage space dynamically adjust, so that storage space would not be sitting allocated but empty.
I then had issues setting up the Guest Additions CD Image, so I searched the error code online, and found a
thread on ‘StackExchange’ which helped solve my issue. A key skill in learning how to code or learning how
to use new software is to find what the error code means, and to find the solution behind that error code.
While searching how to solve the issue, I learned a few extra things such as the command to become a root

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user. Figuring out how to solve errors by watching tutorials or reading StackOverflow threads helps me
become better at using the software over time and understand why the issue happened in the first place. In
the process, I often learn new things, which helps me tackle the learning curve.

Yes, perhaps could also discuss the advantages of installing an OS in a virtual environment and how you may
use this in the future

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 Block 3 Week Practical Activity 8.1 Linux networking commands
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Outline of the task:

Use the Linux CLI to test networking commands.

Outputs or results for the activity:

Some good outputs although I might have included some additional textual descriptions. You could also have
discussed some potential problems such as ensuring you have the syntax correct

Running the
lspci command
and finding the
Intel network
card

Running the nm-

tool command to
view system
network
configuration

Comments on knowledge and skills demonstrated:

This task helped me understand how the VMs in Virtual Box connect to the internet. The ‘lspci’ command
showed the presence of an Intel Network Card, and the ‘nm-tool’ command showed that Ubuntu was
connected to the internet via a wired connection, despite my laptop being connected to a wireless router,
wirelessly. I then read in the activity guide that this term is called ‘Bridged Networking’ so I researched that
term as I still was not really sure about how it worked.

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I found that this technology enables a virtual machine to act like an individual, separate device in the
network, and that it allows the VM to have its own IP address. I then realised why this must be so important
because it allows VMs to be part of the network and gives it the freedom to interact with other devices in
the same network. It is important to go further than what the learning material teaches to build connections
in your brain and to have a complete understanding of what is being taught.
Some good reflection – perhaps could also think about how the commands might be useful to you in the
future

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 Block 3 Week Practical Activity 8.2 DHCP and DNS
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Outline of the task:

Use networking commands to learn about DHCP and DNS servers.

Outputs or results for the activity:

Renewing IP
Address, Subnet
Mask, Default
Gateway and
Subnet
information

Running iptraf
and launching
Firefox to open
www.gmail.com

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 Looked at the destination IP address from
iptraf and searched that IP address online.
Found that the server is owned by Google
and it is in Mountain View, California, at
their headquarters.

Some good outputs for this activity – perhaps could expand on the potential problems such as one of the
servers being down

Comments on knowledge and skills demonstrated:

This task helped me understand security vulnerabilities when connecting to a network in further detail. I
recently saw an advertise for a VPN, with one of the main selling points being complete protection when
using a public Wi-Fi network. The advertise showed a man buying something online from his laptop at a café,
while the hacker who sat a few tables away was able to infiltrate his connection. Using iptraf, I got to witness
this first-hand. I opened www.gmail.com in Firefox while watching the network traffic in iptraf. As soon as
the page loaded, iptraf recorded the source and destination IP address of the data packets which were sent
to load the webpage. I used an IP lookup tool online to find the location of the destination IP address:
216.58.213.3, and I was able to find that Google owned the server.
I realised that anyone could use this tool to view the network traffic and find out what websites users were
accessing if they were all connected to the same network. This task introduced a powerful networking tool
and helped reinforce and expand my knowledge of networking.
Some good reflection – can you think how this activity might help you in the future?

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 Block 3 Week Practical Activity 8.3 The Apache HTTP server
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Outline of the task:

Install Apache2 and make the Ubuntu desktop a web server.

Outputs or results for the activity:

Some good outputs, although I might have included some more text to describe how you went through the
installation process and to describe any potential problems that might have occurred.

Checking if
Apache2 is
installed

Edited the html file in the /var/www/html directory to have my name displayed instead of ‘It works!’

Comments on knowledge and skills demonstrated:

I created a website last summer and had to pay a fee to host the website in the internet. In this task, I was
able to create a web server and host a website directly from my computer, but most importantly for free.
Once I got everything to work, the website was only visible from the Ubuntu browser, and I could not access
it from any other device. I then searched how I could view the website from other devices in the network
and found that I had to modify my router settings to open port 80, the HTTP port. In the last unit, I became

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familiar with this as there were a few packet tracer exercises requiring you to modify router settings. Once I
opened port 80, I was able to access the website from other devices in the network using the IP address of
the web server in Linux. Seeing how well everything I have learned so far is coming together feels as if
understanding computing is part of a huge puzzle with every topic that I learn playing a small part in
completing that puzzle. The skill of learning from past experiences and progressing is an important part of
learning and this task helped connect the dots of the different topics in computing for me.
Good to see you recognising how the knowledge and skills learned in one area transfers directly to other
areas.
Perhaps worth discussing how this activity might have helped with question 3

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