Course Title: Web Servers and Web Technology

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Web Servers and Web Technology

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

COSC1300

City Campus

Postgraduate

140H Computer Science & Information Technology

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2006,
Sem 2 2006,
Sem 1 2007,
Sem 2 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 2 2008,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 2 2009,
Sem 1 2010,
Sem 2 2010,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 2 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013,
Sem 2 2013,
Sem 1 2014,
Sem 1 2015

COSC1301

City Campus

Undergraduate

140H Computer Science & Information Technology

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2006,
Sem 2 2006,
Sem 1 2007,
Sem 2 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 2 2008,
Sem 1 2009,
Sem 2 2009,
Sem 1 2010,
Sem 2 2010,
Sem 1 2011,
Sem 2 2011,
Sem 1 2012,
Sem 1 2013,
Sem 2 2013,
Sem 1 2014,
Sem 1 2015

COSC1301

City Campus

Undergraduate

171H School of Science

Face-to-Face

 Sem 1 2017

COSC2171

RMIT University Vietnam

Undergraduate

140H Computer Science & Information Technology

Face-to-Face

 Viet3 2007,
Viet1 2008,
Viet3 2008,
Viet1 2009,
Viet2 2009,
Viet3 2009,
Viet2 2010,
Viet1 2011,
Viet3 2011,
Viet2 2012,
Viet1 2013,
Viet2 2014,
Viet1 2015,
Viet3 2015,
Viet2 2016

COSC2171

RMIT University Vietnam

Undergraduate

171H School of Science

Face-to-Face

 Viet1 2018

COSC2265

Taylors College KL

Undergraduate

140H Computer Science & Information Technology

Face-to-Face

 Offsh 3 10,
Offsh 1 11

Course Coordinator: Dr. Ron van Schyndel

Course Coordinator Phone: +613 9925 9677

Course Coordinator Email: ron.vanschyndel@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 14.11.29

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Before enrolling in this course, you should become familiar with basic Unix commands, needed to operate and configure the web server. See the Lynda website from the RMIT Library Guide at http://rmit.libguides.com/compsci for more.


Course Description

This course introduces you to the role of a Web server administrator. To that end, it teaches you about

  • basic networking, the Internet and the world wide web;
  • protocols like the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)
  • web caching and web server performance optimization;
  • load balancing of a web server farm.
  • building a secure web server, and related security issues.

You will be given tasks required of a Web server administrator, including configuring the Apache 2 Web servers.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes

This course contributes to the following program learning outcomes for BP094 Bachelor of Computer Science, BP096 Bachelor of Software Engineering and BP162 Bachelor of Information Technology: 

PLO1: Knowledge - Apply a broad and coherent set of knowledge and skills for developing user-centric computing solutions for contemporary societal challenges.

PLO2: Problem Solving - Apply systematic problem solving and decision-making methodologies to identify, design and implement computing solutions to real world problems, demonstrating the ability to work independently to self-manage processes and projects.

PLO4: Communication - Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, employing a range of communication methods in interactions to both computing and non-computing personnel.

PLO5: Collaboration and Teamwork - Demonstrate effective teamwork and collaboration by using tools and practices to manage and meet project deliverables.


Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course you should be able to:

    1. CLO1: Install, configure, and maintain a Web server;
    2. CLO2: Analyse and determine an appropriate web server configuration based on stated user needs;
    3. CLO3: Identify and successfully manage Web security, and related issues
    4. CLO4: Identify and successfully manage issues of Web performance;
    5. CLO5: Implement load balancing multiple Web servers in a ‘server farm’.


Overview of Learning Activities

The learning activities included in this course are:

  • Lectures: Key concepts will be explained in lectures in which course material will be presented and the subject matter will be illustrated with demonstrations and examples;
  • Tutorial / Laboratory sessions provide the opportunity to consolidate and deepen your knowledge from. The sessions include practical analysis and problem-solving exercises to enable you to analyse, compare, rank and trouble-shoot computer system components and designs. For example you may be given a logic problem to analyse, or a sample computer system specification and asked to redesign it to meet stated needs; and
  • Private study, which should include working through the content as presented in classes and other learning materials, and gaining practice at solving conceptual and technical problems. It is essential to keep up to date with provided class exercises as well as doing your own broader reading on the topics covered.

 

A total of 120 hours of study is expected during this course, comprising:

Teacher-directed activities (48 hours): lectures, tutorials / laboratory sessions. Each week there will be 2 hours of lecture plus 2 hours of tutorial / computer laboratory work. You are encouraged to participate during lectures through asking questions, commenting on the lecture material based on your own experiences and through presenting solutions to written exercises. The tutorial / laboratory sessions will introduce you to the tools necessary to undertake the assignment work.

Student-directed activities (72 hours): You are expected to be self-directed, studying independently outside class.


Overview of Learning Resources

The course is supported by the Blackboard learning management system which provides specific learning resources. In addition, there are many relevant textbooks beyond the ones suggested here, and open-source software is available for download from their respective sites (advised within class), and a large amount of general documentation is available on the software site, as well as elsewhere on the web. See the RMIT Library Guide at http://rmit.libguides.com/compsci for more.


Overview of Assessment

The assessment for this course comprises online quizzes, computer laboratory practices, a lab test, a written assignment and a formal written end-of-semester examination. The lab practices and assignment involve implementation of logic gate and algebra solutions to problems, as well as reviewing current hardware systems capabilities when designing a system to meet stated needs.

Note: This course has no hurdle requirements.

 

Assessment tasks

 

Assessment Tasks 1:  Online Quizzes

Regular weekly online quizzes aim to provide early and continuous feedback to help you learn and remember key points.  There is one quiz for the lecture content, and one for the lab content.

Total Weighting 2x10%

This assessment task supports CLOs 1, then 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 progressively throughout the semester

 

Assessment Task 2: Lab Test

Weighting 15%

This assessment task supports CLOs 1  2 & 6, and is meant to ensure that the basics within a virtual environment are understood and feedback is given early.

 

Assessment Task 3: Assignment

Weighting 15%

This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6

 

Assessment Task 4: End-of-semester Examination

Weighting 50% 

This assessment supports CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6