STUDENT INDUSTRIAL WORK EXPERIENCE (SIWES) REPORT - CSC 426

180

CHAPTER ELEVEN STUDENT INDUSTRIAL WORK EXPERIENCE (SIWES) REPORT - CSC 426

11.0 INTRODUCTION The Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) is a commendable programme set forth by the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) as partial fulfillment for the award of degrees to students who pursue Science, Engineering, Vocational and technical courses in tertiary institutions of learning. The programme funded by ITF (Industrial Training Fund) is to enable the students to apply the theories learnt in the lecture hall, and the concepts formed in the process of learning to given situations both in industry and elsewhere. It is in accordance with the directive of NUC on SIWES that the Department of Computer Science, University of Uyo mandated all part four students of the Department to be sent on Industrial Attachment for a period of nine months. It is during this period that students interact fully with the computer system and learn other aspects of Computer Science not taught or mentioned in the lecture hall. They are also expected to study certain courses and from their own notes taken, submit same to the department at the end of their SIWES programme. Besides, they are required to report their daily industrial work in a Log Book in which the student buys before starting off the IT programme and submit same to their industry based supervisors on a weekly basis for assessment. These reports are also submitted to the school at the end of the SIWES programme. As a student of Computer Science, I took part fully in this programme during the 2008/2009 school session. I did my SIWES programme at st@llioNet ISP, C line, Ewet Housing Estate Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. I was attached to the Technical Department of the Company. During my attachment with St@llioNet ISP, I was taught the Basic operation 181

of a Computer, Networking, Wireless Radio Configuration, Cyber Caf management and in addition to that I learnt wireless Internet Hotspot setup/configuration. 11.1 BACKGROUND OF ST@LLIONET: The numerous applications of the Internet have changed the way we do a whole lot of things like business transactions in real time, distant learning through the Internet, just to mention but a few. St@llioNet happens to be the next generation Internet Service Provider, a company that has carved out a niche for itself in the provision of quality Information Technology services. St@llioNet has been a unique Internet Service Provider since 2002, focusing on designing expertly tailored solutions for its clients rather than squeezing them into the mold of off-the-shelf products. St@llioNet has used its expertise to maintain its network and servers at levels of reliability unmatched in the Internet marketplace. St@llioNet's widely respected technical skills and creative problem solving, its mission-critical reliability, and its success in sustaining very high performance even under heavy load conditions is something to reckon with. The company offers a number of packages that makes its IT students compete with the evolutionary world of computing. The packages the offer includes: Dedicated High-Speed Wireless Links Network Design MAN,LAN,WAN,VPN VSAT Installation ISP Design and Implementation Cyber Caf Management Bandwidth Management SUPPORT STAFFS

182

ST@LLIONET STRUCTURE CHAIRMAN SECRETARY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

OPERATIONS MANAGER

ADMINISTRATOR ADMINISTRATOR

SYSTEM SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

SUPPORT ENGINEER OFFICE ASSISTANT RECEPTIONIST

11.3 WORK EXPERIENCE: The practical skills I acquired while in st@llioNet ISP limited during my industrial training includes: Providing internet service to client via Radio Configuration, VSAT installation Connection of networking equipments e.g. switch, in- house Router Installations of softwares on systems e.g. Anti-Virus, Ms Word etc. Cyber Caf management Troubleshooting networking faults Restoring clients lost link 183

Computer system maintenance Hotspot setup/configurations

During this period, my main focus was on wireless internet hotspot setup, configuration and troubleshooting. 11.4 WIRELESS INTERNET HOTSPOT: A wireless internet hotspot is a WLAN

(Wireless Local Area Network) radio technology which enables wireless connection of mobile devices e.g. Laptop or any wi-fi enabled mobile device to access the internet at a very high speed data rate using a single router and an access point. Hotspots are typically found at cafs, airports, schools, hotels and various other public establishments. Prerequisite for a Wireless Internet Hotspot 1. ADSL Broadband Internet service 2. Hotspot Gateway (computer system with two LAN cards) which serves as a billing machine too 3. Wireless Access Point (Wireless Router)/Radio. 4. External wireless antennas for outdoor coverage. 11.4.1 ADSL BROADBAND INTERNET: Broadband is often called "high-speed" access to the Internet, because it usually has a high rate of data transmission. In general, any connection to the customer of 256 kbit/s (0.256 Mbit/s) or greater is more concisely considered broadband Internet access. With broadband internet, multiple pieces of data are sent simultaneously to increase the effective rate of transmission, regardless of data signaling rate. Broadband internet is a high data rate Internet accesstypically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56k modem. DSL, Cable, T1, Satellite, or any other broadband Internet connection will work great for a Hotspot.

184

11.4.2 HOTSPOT GATEWAY: This is a node that allows one to gain entrance into the hotspot network and vice versa. On the Internet, the node which is the stopping point is a gateway or a host node. A computer that controls the traffic and network of an ISP (Internet Service Provider) is the gateway. In most homes a gateway is the device provided by the Internet Service Provider that connects users to the internet. Wireless internet hotspot isnt an exception. It requires two NIC (Network Interface Card) which must be tested for compatibility with a Linux Operating System.

11.4.4 EXTERNAL WIRELESS OUTDOOR ANTENNA: For long distance and wider area coverage, an external outdoor antenna is quite necessary to extend the wireless internet service. The antenna varies in size, signal strength and coverage ability. They are omni directional, sectoral and grid antennas. Omni-directional antenna: Omni-directional antennas provide a 360 degree horizontal radiation pattern. These are used when coverage is required in all directions (horizontally) from the antenna with varying degrees of vertical coverage.

Omni-directional antenna

185

Sectoral antenna: Sectoral antennas focus most of their beam pattern into an elongated shape, allowing them to pick up gain at the expense of being able to broadcast in all directions. Typically, sectoral antennas are rated for beam patterns ranging from 30 degrees to 120 degrees, allowing them to make up a specific slice of a full circle.

Sectoral antenna Grid antenna: Grid antennas are quite similar to dish antennas, but instead of using a solid reflector behind the antenna element, a "grid" somewhat resembling a curved barbecue grill is employed. It provides a direction of 180 degree which is suitable for a point to point connection.

Grid antenna

11.5 TYPES OF WIRELESS INTERNET HOTSPOT: 186

FREE HOTSPOT: Free wireless internet hotspot is a type of wireless connection

that one leaves the access point unsecured. As long as the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) has been configured and enabled for users to be given an IP (Internet Protocol) address automatically and the DNS (Domain Name Server) settings configured as well, users log on to the internet at their will free of charge. This has several disadvantages in that there is no bandwidth limiting, so your use the line may be compromised or one may hog the entire connection. COMMERCIAL HOTSPOT: This is a control access hotspot by means of a gateway that stands in-between the internet and the user. Users are redirected to for authentication and payment by means of ticket bought from the till when they try surfing the internet. Once they have been authenticated, they now have access to the internet as long as their paid bandwidth will last. This is a simple solution for cafes and some business hotels. INSTALLATION OF HOTSPOT EXPRESS Hardware Requirements Linux Cent OS compatible Pentium 4 or equivalent 2GB RAM (recommended) Ethernet Card 40GB Hard Disk (minimum requirement) CD-Drive Preferably a Public Static IP

Software requirement Hotspot Express Manager Installation CD 187

The hotspot Express Manager Installation CD will format the hard disk and install necessary Operating System and modules. You need to dedicate this as a hotspot server and you cannot use this for any other purpose. You do not need any external third party software or Operating System during installation. It is preferred that you allocate a Public Static IP to be assigned to this hotspot server. To Start the Installation
1.

Insert the hotspot express Manager Installation CD. You will see the Welcome to hotspot express Manager Software Installation screen as below. Press ENTER to continue the installation. You will see the screens as below.

2.

To initialise the new partitions, click yes.

188

3.

Select the appropriate Time Zone and click OK.

189

190

191

192

193

4.

After the installation, the server will reboot and you will see the welcome screen as below. Please ignore the login prompt because it is not necessary for you.

194

Connect a Laptop/PC in the same network attached to the hotspot server. The default IP Number of the server is 192.168.1.55 (subnet 255.255.255.0).

Set

the

IP

of

this

Laptop/PC

in

the

same

network

(e.g.

192.168.1.100/255.255.255.0). Please try http://192.168.1.55/admin in the browser. You will be prompted to enter Username and Password. Enter the User name (default is admin) and Password (default is admin) and click Ok.

TYPICAL NETWORK DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING HOW TO CONNECT AN ADMINISTRATOR PC/LAPTOP TO SETUP HOTEX RADIUS MANAGER

195

You will now see the web admin control panel of HOTSPOT RADIUS Manager.

196

Assign IP Address The default IP number assigned to the hotspot server is 192.168.1.55. You can change this IP Number as below.

1.

Goto the Main Screen. Clicking on the left top Home button will bring you to the Main-Screen always. Get into the screen as below. Home -> Miscellaneous -> IP Setting -> WAN IP Setting -> Assign Static IP for WAN Interface.

197

2.

Enter your required IP Number and Click Update.

198

The new IP number will be effective only after rebooting. To reboot, click Reboot.

Please wait until it reboots and you see the login screen.

199

To check the Internet connectivity

1.

Go to the Main Screen selects the menu Miscellaneous -> Internet Connectivity. You will see the menu Test Internet Connectivity. You may enter any valid Internet domain name or IP Address (eg. Yahoo.com) and click PING.

200

You will get the SUCCESSFUL PING RESULTS, if the hotspot server is connected to Internet.

201

2.

Go to HOME; select the menu Miscellaneous -> NAS. You will see the Add NAS screen. NAS is an acronym for Network Access Server (in our case, it is the Linksys router in each hotspot location).

3.

Enter the Domain Name or IP Number and Secret, of the hotspot location and click Add.

Note: If the hotspot location does not have a Public Static IP number or domain name, you may enter 0.0.0.0/0.

202

Go to HOME; click Shutdown -> Reboot to effect the changes.

203

NETWORK SETUP

After configuring your router, and setting up your network 1. Open the browser and try to access a webpage (e.g. google.com). You will see the hotspot server welcome page.

204

2. Click Login, you will see as below.

3. Enter username and password, Click Login.

205

4. You will see the message Logged in successfully and see the timer window.

5. Now, you are logged in successfully and you can start using Internet.

206

6. To logout, please enter http://exit or http://logout in the browser.

While in st@llioNet, the technical department of the company oversea some of these functions: Customers Support Cyber Caf Management Wireless Services/troubleshooting 207

VSAT installation Computer System Maintenance CUSTOMERS SUPPORT: Customer support is very vital in any company or

organization as a means of attending to the plea and problems of its clients. In st@llioNet, we ensure that all devices (system) in the server room are properly setup/connected, answering calls from clients in respects to their problems and proffering solutions, software installation and troubleshooting/servicing of clients systems and network. CYBER CAF MANAGEMENT: This involves the setup of internet browsing

center, cabling the systems, software installation, cloning of computer system hardware and purchasing/replacing of malfunctioned hardware. These are the duties i perform on interval basis at st@llioNet Cyber Caf. WIRELESS SERVICES/TROUBLESHOOTING: The company adopted the

technology of point to point communications were mast are built tall enough so that the antenna mounted on it will be able to have a clear line of sight from the base station (ISP). The physical connection to the network is made by putting a network interface card (NIC) (or network adapter card) inside the computer and connecting it to the network cable and also the cable coming from antenna. Ones the physical connection is in place, the network software is installed and the card is then configured to receive an excellent signal from the base station. The speed of the network depends on the bandwidth size. Bandwidth: Bandwidth can be defined as the speed of data transfer, the company offered different bandwidth at different prices, such as: 208

16kbps shared and dedicated option

32kbps shared and dedicated option

64kbps shared and dedicated option etc.

The higher the bandwidth, the faster the speed of the network. The company uses a wireless connection as its major form of service, though it is more expensive, it is reliable, since everything depends on the ISP unlike the dial-up services that involves the Telecommunication services too. Services provided include: Provision of internet services to client Radio configuration/installation Wireless setup at clients end Troubleshooting of the clients network.

VSAT INSTALLATION: Very Small Aperture Terminal has to do with a direct ISP

(Internet Service Provider) and client connection. Where it (VSAT) at the clients base station communicates directly with an ISPs equipments or satellite in space. They also provide services including: Site survey Purchase of VSAT equipment Pole grounding Configuration of satellite modem/other resource equipments Hardware/Software Installation Troubleshooting 209

- COMPUTER SYSTEM MAINTENANCE: Computer is one of the most powerful innovations in human history. With the use of computers, people are suddenly able to perform a staggering amount of computations at dazzling speeds. Information can be crunched, organized, and displayed in the blink of an eye. However, regular maintenance of the computer system is extremely important and should not be overlooked. Proper maintenance can prevent many computer problems down the road which will save you time, money and probably a headache or two! Below is some of the maintenance i performed while at st@llioNet: Cleaning the inside of a Computer using a blower to keep it clean and dust free. Creating back up using software program incase of a corrupt operating system or virus attack, they back up files can be restored e.g. Power quest software. Deleting of temporary files from the system to enhance the speed performance. Cleaning of mouse and keyboard to prevent dirt Installing an Anti-virus software to prevent a virus attack e.g. Bit Defender. Performing a disk scan.

In the process of my learning in st@llioNet, I equally had a fair knowledge of: - NETWORKING: A network is simply a group of two or more personal computers linked together to share resources, exchanging data and information. Networks are used to provide easy access to information, thus increasing productivity for users. Resources shared in a network include data, printers, network storage components (shared disk space), and backup storage components. Many types of network exist, but at St@llioNet, I was introduced to the 3 basic types of networks. LAN: Local Area Networks (LANs) are used to connect networking devices that are in a very close geographical area, such as a floor of a building, a building itself, 210

or within campus environment. In LAN, one will find PCs, hubs, switches, routers etc. The most common media types used in LAN network include Ethernet, token Ring, copper and fiber cabling. WAN: Wide Area Networks (WANs) are used to connect LANs together. Typically, WANs are used when the LANs that must be connected are separated by a large distance. It can span through a city state, or country. Internet is the worlds largest WAN technology. MAN: Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) acts as an intermediate network between LANs and WANs. MANs interconnect computing resources that can span an area typically larger than a LAN but smaller than a WAN. - VSAT INSTALLATION: A Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) is a device known as a small private earth station - that is used to transmit & receive data signal through a satellite. The "very small" component of the VSAT acronym refers to the size of the VSAT dish antenna typically about 4 feet (1.2 m) diameter- that is mounted on a roof, or placed on the ground. This antenna, along with the attached low-noise converter (LNB-which receives satellite signals) and the transmitter (BUC-which transmit the radio waves signals) make up the VSAT outdoor unit (ODU), one of the two components of a VSAT earth station. WIRELESS ANTENNA: A wireless antenna (or aerial) is a transducer designed to

transmit or receive electromagnetic waves. In other words, antennas convert electromagnetic waves into electrical currents and vice versa. They are used with waves in the radio part of the electromagnetic spectrum, that is, radio waves, and are a necessary part of all radio equipment. Antennas are used in systems such as radio and television broadcasting, point-to-point radio communication, wireless LAN, cell phones, radar, and spacecraft communication 211

- TYPES OF CABLE USED IN ST@LLIONET: Cable is the medium through which information usually moves from one network device to another. There are several types of cable which are commonly used with LANs. In some cases, a network will utilize only one type of cable, other networks will use a variety of cable types. The type of cable chosen for a network is related to the network's topology, protocol, and size. Understanding the characteristics of different types of cable and how they relate to other aspects of a network is necessary for the development of a successful network. Below are various kinds. COAXIAL CABLE: Coaxial cabling has a single copper conductor at its

center. A plastic layer provides insulation between the center conductor and a braided metal shield.

Coaxial cable Although coaxial cabling is difficult to install, it is highly resistant to signal interference. In addition, it can support greater cable lengths between network devices than twisted pair cable. TWISTED PAIR CABLE: Twisted pair cabling comes in two varieties:

shielded and unshielded. Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) is the most popular and is generally the best option for school networks. 212

Unshielded twisted pair

The quality of UTP may vary from telephone-grade wire to extremely high-speed cable. The cable has four pairs of wires inside the jacket. Each pair is twisted with a different number of twists per inch to help eliminate interference from adjacent pairs and other electrical devices. The tighter the twisting, the higher the supported transmission rate and the greater the cost per foot. Unshielded Twisted Pair Connector The standard connector for unshielded twisted pair cabling is an RJ-45 connector. This is a plastic connector that looks like a large telephone-style connector. A slot allows the RJ-45 to be inserted only one way. RJ stands for Registered Jack, implying that the connector follows a standard borrowed from the telephone industry. This standard designates which wire goes with each pin inside the connector.

213

RJ-45 connector ETHERNET CABLE: Ethernet cables connect network devices such as modems, routers, and adapters. They transmit data using the Ethernet protocol. Ethernet is a type of cabling commonly used in high-speed wired computer networks. You'll find Ethernet cabling in local-area networks (LANs). It's also commonly used with broadband Internet, connecting the cable modem or DSL modem to a wired router or a wireless router.

Internal Cable Structure and Color Coding STRAIGHT-THROUGH CABLE: This is a type of network cabling that connects a computer to a network device. For example, straight through cables are the type of cables that connect a computer to a network hub, network switch, and network routers. CROSS OVER CABLE: A crossover cable directly connects two network devices of the same type to each other over Ethernet. It is commonly used when temporarily networking two devices in situations where a network router, switch or hub is not present. Compared to standard Ethernet cables, the internal wiring of Ethernet crossover cables reverses the transmit and receive signals.

214

ROLLED CABLE: Rolled cable is used to connect a host to a router console serial communication (com) port. It is probably the easiest cable to make because you just need to cut the end of one side of a straight-through cable and reverse the other end.

St@llioNet has the following internetworking devices and facilities that aid in rendering unparallel services to their clients. Satellite Modem: A satellite modem's main function is to transform an input bit stream to a radio signal and vice versa. There are some devices that include only a demodulator (and no modulator, thus only allowing data to be downloaded by satellite) that are also referred to as "satellite modems". These devices are used in satellite Internet access (in this case uploaded data is transferred through a conventional PSTN modem or an ADSL modem). A satellite modem is not the only device needed to establish a communication channel. Other equipment that is essential for creating a satellite link includes satellite antennas and frequency converters. Cisco Router: A router is a device in computer networking that forwards data packets to their destinations, based on their addresses. The work a router does is called routing, which is somewhat like switching, but a router is different from a switch. The latter is simply a device to connect machines to form a LAN. Packet Shaper: It is an application-intelligent traffic management system which delivers predictable, efficient performance for applications running over the WAN and the Internet. It also identifies traffic markers, discovers changing or dynamic 215

port assignments and tracks transactions with changing port assignments. This type of traffic classification enables network managers to fix policies and keep control over the traffic related to an individual application, server, client, and session or traffic type. Digital Video broadcasting (DVB): This is a networking device that receives signals from the satellite modem and distributes to other devices on the network. Domain Name Server: Domain name server, or DNS, is an incredibly important but completely hidden part of the Internet, and they are fascinating. The DNS system forms one of the largest and most active distributed databases on the planet. Without DNS, the Internet would shut down very quickly. Human-readable names like "www.yahoomail.com" are easy for people to remember, but they don't do machines any good. All of the machines use names called IP addresses to refer to one another. For example, the machine that humans refer to as "www.yahoomail.com" has the IP address 206.190.60.37. Every time you use a domain name, you use the Internet's domain name servers (DNS) to translate the humanreadable domain name into the machine-readable IP address. During a day of browsing and e-mailing, you might access the domain name servers hundreds of times! Gateway: A gateway is a node that allows one to gain entrance into a network and vice versa. On the Internet the node which is the stopping point can be a gateway or a host node. A computer that controls the traffic your network or your ISP (Internet Service Provider) receives is a node. Switch: A switch is a small hardware device that joins multiple computers together within one local area network (LAN). Technically, network switches operate at layer two (Data Link Layer) of the OSI model. 216

Hub: A hub is used in a wired network to connect Ethernet cables from a number of devices together. The switch allows each device to talk to the others. Switches aren't used in networks with only wireless connections, since network devices such as routers and adapters communicate directly with one another, with nothing in between.

Smoothwall Server: is a Linux distribution designed to be used as an open source firewall. Designed for ease of use, SmoothWall is configured via a web-based GUI, and requires little or no knowledge of Linux to install or use. It works much like a gateway, directing traffic.

Patch Panel: is a panel, typically rack mounted, that houses cable connections. One typically shorter patch cable will plug into the front side, whereas the back holds the connection of a much longer and more permanent cable. The assembly of hardware is arranged so that a number of circuits, usually of the same or similar type, appear on jacks for monitoring, interconnecting, and testing circuits in a convenient, flexible manner.

CONCLUSION As technology grows, so does our need for bigger, better and faster internet connections. Wireless Internet Hotspot has contributed to the success of the IT (Information Technology) world of today. Todays world has been turned into a global village where communications between the different parts of the globe have been simplified and made possible through numerous applications such as e-mail, e-schooling etc.

217

However, Wireless Internet Hotspot has shelved the difficulty of running network cables to span a locality for the purpose of sharing resources using it wireless connection. It is convenience to use, can be access outside ones normal work environment (Mobile), has the ability to serve a suddenlyincreased number of clients with existing equipment (Expandability) and it is cost effective.

RECOMMENDATION I am grateful to Industrial Training Fund (ITF) for organizing Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) and the Management of St@llioNet Nig. Ltd. for the opportunity given to me to serve and be trained. The Industrial Training has tremendously helped me in acquiring industrial and practical skills that will help me face the challenges of the present Information Technology age. 218

Indeed, the experience and exposure gathered is of a life time benefit which cannot be quantified. It is something I will not forget; the memories will remain indelible in my mind. The training made me to understand that there is always a solution to any problem knowing fully well that when called upon by a client, you are expected to provide solution to his/her problem. I will not fail to say that the experience I gathered in the areas of Networking, Wireless Internet Hotspot and Computer System Maintenance will be of great value to me in any IT firm I find myself in the nearest future. However, I suggest that the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) and the ITF should go into serious negotiation with well-established organizations and companies to create vacancies for students to be carrying out the SIWES programme. Apart from that, they should find out the vacancies that these organizations have available for the students over a period of time. Besides, that these organization should be encouraged to absorb more students when they feel reluctant to do so. Also, the various laboratories of our university and higher institution should be properly equipped and the students exposed to more practical to prepare the students for industrial training (IT) and life performance. I strongly recommend this scheme (SIWES) for every student of the university or any institution of higher learning as this programme has benefited so many students including me.

REFERENCES Akpan, Victor and Akpan, Bassey (2009): St@llioNet ISP, Uyo Akwa Ibom State.

219

Pommer, Hermann: Roaming zwischen Wireless Local Area Networks. VDM Verlag, Saarbrcken 2008, ISBN 978-3-8364-8708-5.

220