Net11 Studies

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2009-03-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

Traceroute

2009-03-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

Trace the path from this server to another
from: centralops.net [70.84.211.98]
to: curtin.edu.au

[Screencapture from http://centralops.net/co/ 8 March 2009]

18 Hops (not including the final destination) - Interesting to see it go through so many routers so quickly across the world and pass through Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide on it's way to Perth and then on to Curtin in approx 1700 milliseconds.

The IP address for curtin.edu.au is 134.7.179.56

I then had to "ping the Blackboard site and compare the time with the time taken to ping from the net tools site. Is it less or more than you expected?" (Curtin Blackboard - excerpts viewed online 8 March 2009 at: http://lms.curtin.edu.au)

I did expect it to be much faster as pinging Curtin from my computer in Perth is going to be a much shorter journey than pinging from the net tools site.

Result (Pinging curtin.edu.au from my local computer):
Pinging lms.curtin.edu.au [134.7.180.137] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 134.7.180.137: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=118
Reply from 134.7.180.137: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=118
Reply from 134.7.180.137: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=118
Reply from 134.7.180.137: bytes=32 time=18ms TTL=118

Ping statistics for 134.7.180.137:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 18ms, Maximum = 19ms, Average = 18ms

Result (Pinging curtin.edu.au from centralops.net):
1 109 234 134.7.179.56
2 109 236 134.7.179.56
3 109 236 134.7.179.56
4 109 236 134.7.179.56
5 109 235 134.7.179.56

Statistics
packets sent 5
received 5 100%
lost 0 0%

times (ms) min 234
avg 235
max 236

On the face of it, this task was pretty straight forward and easy. Though I admit, I didn't know much about practicle uses for this before this task.

I then used tracert to from much computer to curtin.edu.au

Result:
C:\>tracert curtin.edu.au
Tracing route to curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.56]over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 3 ms 2 ms 1 ms 192.168.2.1
2 16 ms 16 ms 17 ms nexthop.wa.ii.net [203.59.14.16]
3 17 ms 20 ms 17 ms gi2-7.per-qv1-bdr2.ii.net [203.215.4.87]
4 17 ms 16 ms 16 ms ge2-0-1.pe1.c.per.aarnet.edu.au [203.215.5.17]
5 17 ms 16 ms 40 ms ge-1-0-3.bb1.a.per.aarnet.net.au [202.158.198.1]
6 32 ms 30 ms 19 ms gigabitethernet0.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au [202.158.198.178]
7 17 ms 19 ms 18 ms gw1.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au [202.158.198.186]
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 19 ms 19 ms 18 ms systems.curtin.edu.au [134.7.179.56]

Trace complete.

Using traceroute from my local computer to Curtin was again much faster due to the distance and reduced "hops" required. The time in milliseconds to each router were much smaller.

Tools such as tracert & ping could be used to identify problems across a network. If one of the hops takes an unusually long time, then there may be a problem at that point.

References:

Central Ops.net - excerpts viewed online 8 March 2009 at: http://centralops.net/co/
Curtin Blackboard - excerpts viewed online 8 March 2009 at: http://lms.curtin.edu.au

File Transer Protocol (FTP)

2009-03-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

[Screencapture from ftp://recall.curtin.edu.au 7 March 2009]

Where would the internet be without File Transer Protocol (FTP). Transfering files is the corner-stone of the internet and has made it easy to move documents and files around for work for example, or for uploading all those family photos and videos, but has also spawned millions of internet users who download/upload files that are perhaps not quite legal.

This task was quite easy for me. I'm a bit of a download junky, so using FTP is second nature.

I'd already had a go at FTP when I got my letter from Curtin Uni with all my student details, which included my own webspace on the Curtin network (http://www.student.curtin.edu.au/~14411447).

I used an FTP client called "Core FTP" that was mentioned on the Oasis help page (Oasis Help - How to access your files off campus (using FTP) - http://oasis.curtin.edu.au/help/student/ftp.cfm 7 March 2009)

This time I decided to skip all that and just FTP through my browser.

I typed "ftp://recall.curtin.edu.au/" into the addressbar of my browser and went from there.

The instructions were a little vague "Find the file called README". I had to search through all the sub folders until I found the readme.txt file.

CAPITALIZATION MATTERS!

References:

Curtin FTP Directory - excerpts viewed online 7 March 2009 at: ftp://recall.curtin.edu.au
Oasis Help - How to access your files off campus (using FTP) - excerpts viewed online 7 March 2009 at: http://oasis.curtin.edu.au/help/student/ftp.cfm
Core FTP Client software - viewd online 3 March 2009 at: http://www.coreftp.com/

Module One - TASK B - Telnet fun

2009-03-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

I telnet'd over to "towel.blinkenlights.nl"

I had pretty low expectations, but I was actually very surprised to find Star Wars!

[Screencapture from telnet://towel.blinkenlights.nl 6 March 2009]

I can't imagine the effort and time it must've taken to do that. It was quite amazing and it certainly made me change my mind a little about Telnet.

I started searching the internet for other interesting Telnet places. I had a look at Telnet.org and found a lot of interesting links.. including MUDS ?? Which is apparently "a multi user real-time virtual world described entirely in text" (Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD 6 March 2009)

[Screen capture from telnet://shadow-lands.com 6 March 2009]

It was like finding a whole new world I never knew existed. I'm sure when Telnet was first invented, it wasn't with MUD games in mind or renditions on Star Wars, but the same can be said for most ideas. Who would've imagined the internet would be shaped to be what it is today from it's simple beginnings. Creative & clever people will always find new ways of re-inventing old ideas for their needs and Telnet is a great example of this.

References:

Wikipedia- excerpts viewed online 6 March 2009 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD
Telnet.org - excerpts viewed online 6 March 2009 at: http://www.telnet.org
Shadow-Lands.com - excerpts viewed online 6 March 2009 at: telnet://shadow-lands.com

Module One - TASK A - Telnet

2009-03-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

The Task

I have two computers with different operating systems (Vista & XP). I first read the Windows Vista Help: Telnet directions. I wanted to try it out on both operating systems, so I had to enable the Telnet feature in Vista and I also enabled the Telnet service on my XP computer.

Firstly tried using telnet://library.deakin.edu.au/ in the URL box of my browser but it didn't seem to do anything. So I remembered back to when I used DOS and attempted to use telnet that way. I typed "telnet library.deakin.edu.au" at the DOS prompt. It came up with some kind of error on my Vista computer (strange letters randomly placed all over the DOS screen), but at least I felt I was perhaps on the right track.

After failing on Vista, I thought I'd try the same approach through XP. So again I used "telnet library.deakin.edu.au" through DOS and bingo!

After successfully connecting to Deakin Library, it first asked me "What kind of Terminal are you using?"

It gave me the options of: V (for VT100) or W (for NCSA VT100)

[Screencapture from telnet://library.deakin.edu.au/ 5 March 2009]

I had no idea so I chose the first one to see what would happen. It worked!!

[Screencapture from telnet://library.deakin.edu.au/ 5 March 2009]

I then proceeded to carry out my task of searching the database and received the following result:

You searched for the AUTHOR: bennahum Deakin:All Location

2 AUTHORS found, with 2 entries; AUTHORS 1-2 are:

1 Bennahum David A 1936 ................................. 1 entry
2 Bennahum Ninotchka .................................... 1 entry

Reflection

I found the task a little difficult at first. It certainly wasn't as easy as just going to a web address. I first had to learn how to turn on the Telnet service and had to do a bit of experimenting to get it to work.

I wasn't happy using Telnet and I feel that you would need a certain level of computer experience to be able to use it well, though I can see how Telnet may still benefit people in some ways.

It was very fast as it was only text. No fancy pictures or sounds needing to be loaded into a web-browser and It would be a great resource for people using older computers or cheaper operating systems.

P.S. I restarted my Vista computer and tried using Telnet through DOS again. This time it worked.

References:

Deakin University Libray Database - excerpts viewed online 5 March 2009 at: telnet://library.deakin.edu.au/
Telnet: frequently asked questions - excerpts viewed online 5 March 2009 at: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/81b6d4b7-905e-4d70-8379-7934913fedb01033.mspx#EIC

Top five tips for new bloggers

2009-03-03T04:01:00.000-08:00

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