Archived site. These are my course and outreach materials from 2013–2018, preserved as they were. My current website is russfeld.me.

CIS 225 (Fall 2016)

Section A: MWF 11:30 - 12:20am in 1116 Engineering Hall (DUE)

Information will be posted here as the class progresses. In the meantime, for students currently enrolled in the class, please refer to K-State Canvas for the latest information.

Teaching Assistants:

Alex Todd - atodd AT ksu DOT edu
Kyle Brown - kyle16 AT ksu DOT edu

Class Content

Syllabus
Schedule
Lecture 1 - Introduction & Motivation
Lecture 2 - Duties of a System Administrator
- Standalone Sysadmin - The Future of System Administration (Cached PDF)
- Standalone Sysadmin - The Coming Future of System Administration (Cached PDF)
Lecture 3 - Computer Hardware
- Explaining Computers - Hardware
Lecture 4 - Virtual Machines
- VMWare - Virtualization White Paper
Lecture 5 - OS Installation
- Windows 10 Overview
- Windows 10 ISO Download site (MAY NOT WORK WITH DREAMSPARK KEYS!)
- How to access Microsoft Software for CIS Students via Dreamspark
- Ubuntu Features
- Ubuntu 14.04.3 Download (via CIS Mirror)
Lecture 6 - Windows 10 In-Depth
- TechNet - Architecture of Windows 10
- TechNet - Windows 10 Portal
- How-To Geek - Here’s What’s Different About Windows 10 for Windows 7 Users
- How-To Geek - Here’s What’s Different About Windows 10 for Windows 8 Users
- Windows Support from Microsoft
Lecture 7 - Ubuntu 14.04 In-Depth
- Ubuntu Desktop Guide
- Ubuntu Server Guide
- Switching to Ubuntu
- Know Thy Ubuntu
Lecture 8 - User Account Management
- Ubuntu 14.04 User Accounts
- Ubuntu 14.04 User Management (Ubuntu Server Guide)
- How to Add and Delete Users on an Ubuntu 14.04 VPS (Digital Ocean)
- Installing the "Users and Groups" Management Tool in Ubuntu 14.04 (Ubuntu Handbook)
- The Beginners Guide to Managing Users and Groups in Linux (How-To Geek)
- How to Manage Microsoft and User Accounts in Windows 10 (Windows Central)
- How to Set Up and Configure User Accounts on Windows 10 (How-To Geek)
- The Geek's Way of Managing User Accounts and Groups on Windows
Lecture 9 - File System Management
- Hard Drives (Explain That Stuff)
- Hard Disk Drive (Wikipedia)
- Solid State Drive (Wikipedia)
- Amazing Facts and Figures about the Evolution of Hard Disk Drives
- Hard Disk Partitions Explained (How-To Geek)
- How to Manage Partitions on Windows Without Downloading Any Other Software (How-To Geek)
- How to Partition (Ubuntu Community Guides)
- How to Resize your Ubuntu Partitions (How-To Geek)
- Windows Folder & File Permissions (Windows 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant)
- How to Understand those Confusing Windows 7 Fileshare Permissions
- How to Take Ownership and Change Permissions on Files and Folders (Windows 7 Tutorials)
- An Introduction to Linux File Permissions (Digital Ocean)
- File Permissions (Ubuntu Community Guides)
Lecture 10 - Service & Process Management
- Understanding and Managing Windows Services (How-To Geek)
- Sysinternals Process Explorer
- Process Library
- Managing Processes in Linux (Digital Ocean)
- Daemon (Computing) (Wikipedia)
- How to Manage Systemd Services on Linux (How-To Geek)
- Systemd for Upstart Users (Ubuntu Wiki)
Lecture 11 - Software & Exam 1 Review
- Installation (Computer Programs) (Wikipedia)
- Here's What Happens when you Install the Top 10 Download.com Apps (How-To Geek)
- Systinternals Process Monitor
- InstallWatch Pro 2.5 on Lo4d.com (USE WITH CAUTION! This download has been unreliable in the past)
- Installing Software (Ubuntu Community Guides)
- How To Use Apt-get (Ubuntu Community Guides)
- How Software Installation Package Managers Work on Linux
EXAM 1
Lecture 12 - Networking Concepts
- Wikipedia - Computer Network
- Ubuntu Help - Networking
- Ubuntu Community Wiki - Networking
Lecture 13 - Sharing & Remote Access
- Ubuntu Server Guide - Networking
- Windows 10 Remote Destop - 10 Forums
- Windows 10 File Sharing - Geek Squad
Lecture 14 - Network Security
- Windows Firewall
- Ubuntu Community Wiki - UFW
Lecture 15 - Command Line Interfaces
- Ubuntu - Using the Terminal
- Ubuntu - Advanced Command Line HowTo
- Getting Started with Windows PowerShell
- PowerShell Owners Manual
Lecture 16 - Simple Scripts
- Ubuntu - Beginning Bash Scripting
- Ubuntu - Environment Variables
- What can I do with Windows PowerShell
- Scripting with Windows PowerShell
Lecture 17 - Scripts for Automation
- Ubuntu - Cron How To Guide
Lecture 18 - Advanced Scripts
Lecture 19 - Troubleshooting & Maintenance
- VMWare - Set BIOS Boot Delay
- How-to Geek - Set BIOS Boot Delay in VMWare
- Window 10 - Boot in Safe Mode
- Windows Blue Screen Error Code Reference
- Ubuntu Recovery Mode
- Ubuntu Filesystem Troubleshooting
Lecture 20 - Troubleshooting & Maintenance
- Download Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
- Reset Windows Password (How-To Geek)
- Offline NT Password & Registry Editor Walkthrough
- Ubuntu Reset Password
EXAM 2
Lecture 21 - Cloud Computing Introduction
- DigitalOcean - An Introduction to Cloud Hosting
- Wikipedia - Cloud Computing
- EDX - Introduction to Cloud Computing (IEEE)
Lecture 22 - Setting up Cloud Resources
- DigitalOcean - Creating your First Droplet
- DigitalOcean - How to Connect to your Droplet with SSH
- DigitalOcean - Initial Server Setup with Ubuntu 16.04
Lecture 23 - Securing Cloud Resources
- DigitalOcean - Additional Recommended Steps for New Ubuntu 16.04 Servers
- DigitalOcean - How To Protect SSH With Fail2Ban on Ubuntu 14.04
- DigitalOcean - How to Install LAMP Stack on Ubuntu 16.04
- DigitalOcean - How to Create an SSL Certificate on Apache for Ubuntu
- Ubuntu - How to set up SSH Keys
- DigitalOcean- How to set up SSH Keys
Lecture 24 - Backups
- Wikipedia - Backup
- How-to Geek - How to Back Up Ubuntu the Easy Way with Deja Dup
- Ubuntu - Backup Your System
- PCWorld - How to use Windows 10's File History Backup Feature
- How-to Geek - How to Use All of Windows 10's Backup and Recovery Tools
- DriveImage XML
- Ubuntu - Data Recovery
Lecture 25 - Monitoring
- DigitalOcean - How to Install Linux Dash
- DigitalOcean - How to Install the Munin Monitoring Tool
- DigitalOcean - How to Install Ganglia
- Glances (Python System Monitor Script)
- CloudStats.me - Digital Ocean Droplet Monitoring & Alerts
Lecture 26 - Security & Best Practices for System Administrators
- DigitalOcean - How to use Tripwire
- Wikipedia - ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)

Classes

Information and materials from classes I've taught:

Previous Semesters

Summer 2018
- CIS 527 Online (self-paced online version)
Spring 2017
Fall 2016
Spring 2016
Fall 2015
- CIS 115 (Fall 2015)
- CIS 225 (Fall 2015)
Spring 2015
- CIS 115 (Spring 2015)
- CIS 527 (Spring 2015)
Fall 2014
- CIS 115 (Fall 2014)
- CIS 225 (Fall 2014)
Spring 2014
- CIS 115 (Spring 2014)
- CIS 527 (Spring 2014)
Fall 2013
- CIS 115 (Fall 2013)
- CIS 225 (Fall 2013)
Spring 2013
- CIS 115 (Spring 2013)

Projects

Programming projects I've worked on:

Java Rubik's Cube Solver
K-State Engineering Advising System
(using the Laravel PHP framework)
Beattie Union Cemetery website
(using the Laravel PHP framework)
Medical Device Coordination Framework (MDCF)
(implemented a DDS based message passing system)

Handiwork

Papers written, presentations given, etc.:

Curriculum Vitae (current, on russfeld.me)
Papers
Presentations
Open House
Curriculum Resources