Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
175945
2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.1 Introduction
After completed all the courses in Universiti Putra Malaysia, students are required
to go through industry training in selected company. Industry Training is a compulsory
course that allow students to undergo training in the industry for 24 weeks. In this course,
student could apply the knowledge they learned in the university in the real work
environment. This also allow them to make enough preparation to work in the industry.
They can choose the suitable field to start their career right after graduation.
1.2 Objective
The main objective of the industry training is to expose the real working environment
of information technology fields. Students should able to:
• Gain experience in the real working environment.
• Increase knowledge, skills, and new experience in related fields.
• Obtain an understanding of tasks in the field of information technology.
• Develop self-confidence in the profession.
• Understand organization roles in information technology.
• Create more opportunities and networking in the job market.
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CHAPTER 2
ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND
2.1 Introduction
In this chapter, all the information about the organization will be explained. The
company chosen is IPServerOne Solutions Sdn. Bhd. IPServerOne is a Malaysia-based
web hosting provider offering the complete range of best quality web
hosting solutions and DDoS protection.
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2.3 Service offered
IPServerOne provides a wide range of hosting services for customers to achieve
success operation on the Internet. The technical expertise proved their ability to integrate
systems, network and software applications seamlessly. The solutions offered are:
• Dedicated Server Hosting
• Cloud Hosting
• Co-Location Services
• Email Hosting
• Web Hosting
• Domain Name Services
• Managed Services
• Migration Services
• DDos Protection
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2.4 Network Infrastructure
To provide a reliable network connection with minimal downtime, IPServerOne put
a lot of effort in building their network infrastructure. One of the effort is using Border
Gateway Protocol for peering. Border Gateway Protocol is an exterior gateway protocol
that used to exchange routing information between Autonomous Systems on the Internet.
The main reason of using BGP is for better redundancy, so that there are multiple route
to reach the destination. The BGP network of IPServerOne are the best in Malaysia so
far, as they have the highest number of adjacencies.
Figure 2.1: The BGP peering world report (Malaysia region) states that IPServerOne
Solutions Sdn Bhd had the most number of Adjacencies V4.
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CHAPTER 3
TASK PERFORMED
3.1 Introduction
In IPServerOne, I had been assigned into Data Centre team which is led by Mr.
Steven Ma. All the task perform are related to data centre, including the preparation and
installation of server and network equipment. The job scope is related to my field of study,
which is computer network. Basically, the task that I performed can be divided into two
main categories, in the data centre and IPServerOne office.
All the task assigned are involving the data centre mentioned above. At least one
data centre engineer or network engineer will be responsible to guide us to complete the
task.
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3.2.1 Server Installation
The server that prepared in the IPServerOne office will be sent to data centre for
installation. All the server need to be declared to the network operation centre by fill in
the declaration form. This is the procedure that need to be done by the engineer before
bringing the equipment into data centre.
After the declaration process, the server will be installed on the server rack that
identified by our manager. The access to the server rack will be guided by the security
guard of the data centre. He will check our visitation pass and open the selected server
rack.
The installation process started with mount the server rails into the rack space. The
server rails will be mounted according to the number labelled on the server rack.
Figure 3.1: The server rails that successfully mounted on the server rack.
Next, the server will be put on the rails and pushed into the rack space. The rails
allow the server to be pushed into and pulled from the rack easily. Different brand of
server has different design of rails. Some of the rails might need to be screwed on the
rack space. The newer style of server rails are not using any screw, it is replaced with
clip on style which easier to install and remove from the rack.
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Figure 3.2: The front view of 1U (unit) server installed in the rack.
Before we push the server on the rails into the rack space, we need to make sure that
there is no cables or other object that will block the server on the backside. If we push
the server into the rack harshly, it may cause the power cord of another server being
unplugged from the server. This could lead to the malfunction of affected server. Thus,
this is the important precaution that must be followed.
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connection. The colour of the network cable had been standardized, red for remote server
connection, blue for LAN connection and grey for WAN connection.
All the cable used in the installation need to be labelled properly to ease the
recognition of cables. As we know there are a lot of cable pulled on the backside of rack
space, so it is easier to recognize the cable by using the number labelled. This also prevent
accidentally remove unnecessary cables, which may cause downtime of the server.
Figure 3.3: the figure shown the server installed with properly labelled and well
managed cables.
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3.2.3 Switch installation
Each rack in data centre have its own rack switch to get the server connected to the
network. The amount of switch need to be installed depends on the number of switchport
and the amount of server installed in the rack.
Since all the network port of the server are placed on the back side of the server, the
switches need to be install at the back of server rack. This would ease the work on
managing the network cable.
Switch usually mounted on the rack by using bracket on both side of the switch itself.
The bracket will be screwed tightly on the rack. However, for some newer switches, as
the weight of the switch become heavier, it requires a proper rail to mount the switch.
The rails are similar with server rails, thus easier mounting and removing process.
Figure 3.4: The position of switch installed on the back side of the rack.
Each of the switchport will be labelled in the description option inside configuration
mode of the switch. The purpose is for easier identification of switchport, to prevent
unnecessary downtime due to accidentally unplug certain network cable. The format for
the description of the port had been standardized, to make sure information in the
description is useful.
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Port Description Details Example
[TAG_ID]_eth0 Vacant 6475-C1509_eth0
Server port
eth0
[TAG_ID]_eth1 Vacant 6475-C1509_eth1
Server port
eth1
[SSID]_[FULL IP] Occupied SS0004098_103.3.172.10
server
[SSID]_[FULL Suspended SS0004098_103.3.172.10_SUSPENDED
IP]_SUSPENDED server
[SSID]_[FULL Terminated SS0004098_103.3.172.10_TERMINATE
IP]_TERMINATE / pending to
vacant
[TAG_ID]_IPMI_[FULL_IP] IKVM port 6475-C1509_IPMI_10.10.10.2
Table 3.1: The standardized format that used for description of each switchport.
Once the network cable plugged into the switchport, the description of the port need
to be updated and assigned into VLAN so that the sever can be accessed through network.
For service termination, the description will need to be updated with terminate label. This
will allow data centre engineer identify which server need to be removed from data centre
and transfer back the server to office. The server that had been terminated will be moved
back to office to save up rack space and electricity.
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3.3 IPServerOne Office
IPServerOne office located at A-1-1, Block A, Glomac Damansara, Jalan Damansara,
Glomac Damansara, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. IPServerOne started with two office lot, and now extended into three office lot
since April 2017.
All the equipment including server, server component, and network devices were
placed in the office. For the new installation of equipment and server, it will be prepared
in the office. Firstly, data centre team will receive customer order from sales team, then
data centre team will prepare the equipment according to the order.
IPROBOT is the inventory system that developed by the company itself. It is a web
based inventory system that records all the information about the equipment, components,
IP address, rack information, and everything about things that belong to company.
Therefore, it is very important step in their daily operation. Any changes that made, need
to be updated into the system. For example, new server request by customer A. All the
component that added into the server need to be recorded as installed into server (server
tag). It is easier to trace the status of the equipment by looking at the record of IPROBOT.
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There are two main types of hard disk used by IPServerOne.
i. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)
SAS hard disk is the hard disk that widely used by IPServerOne. All the new
servers are come with SAS type of hard disk.
To perform data retention on this type of hard disk, the hard disk need to be
installed on server. After install the hard disk into the server, I need to install CentOS
on one of the hard disk. These is no USB to SAS connector dock station can be used
to access the hard disk. The dock station only available for SATA type of hard disk.
The Data Duplicator (dd) command is a common Unix program whose primary
purpose is low level copying and conversion of data. However, it can be used to wipe
the data on the drive. This command can wipe the entire disk/partition and Master
Boot Record (MBR) content. The command copied random file into the disk to
destroy existing data.
Figure 3.5: The dd command applied to wipe the data in the hard drive.
After wiping off the data in the hard disk, a performance test will be run to check
the health status of the disk. The result will display how many error occurs in the hard
disk. Only hard disk with zero error will be reused, to ensure only hard disks that are
in good condition sent for production of new server.
Figure 3.6: The command that used to display the physical drive information.
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Figure 3.7: The physical disk information that resulted from
“MegaCli -PDList -aALL” command.
Figure 3.7 shows the output of “MegaCli -PDList -aALL” command that display
the information of the SAS hard disk. The important piece of information is the
“media error count” and “other error count”, we need to make sure there are none
error occur in the hard disk. Only hard disk with zero error will be reused for
production.
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ii. Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)
The data inside SATA hard disk can be wiped off by using DISKPART utility
in windows. The hard disk can be accessed using a USB to SATA dock station. Any
hard disk with SATA connector can be cleaned using the dock station.
Figure 3.8: The SATA hard disk and SSD that can be accessed by using USB to
SATA dock station.
Figure 3.9: The DISKPART utility that used to clean the SATA hard disk and SSD.
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3.3.2 Server preparation
After received the new subscription or quotation that had been agreed by customer,
the server need to be prepared based on the new subscription or quotation. The document
consists of the detailed specification of the server.
The main component that need to be prepare for new server installation including: -
i. Processor
Processor is the main component of server. Server won’t be working without it.
Processor’s model was defined with model number. The model number indicates the
clock speed and number of core of the processor. Most of the processor is from Intel.
Figure 3.10: The processor that had been installed properly on the socket and
locked.
Figure 3.9 shows the processor that installed correctly. There are one important
things need to be verified. The arrow as highlighted in the figure above need to be
pointed on the same direction. After the processor was put on the socket, the arrow on
the processor and the arrow on the bracket should point to the same direction. With
that, we can verify that the processor installed correctly on the socket.
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ii. Random-access Memory (RAM)
Random-access memory (RAM) is a temporary data storage that stores
frequently used program instructions to increase the speed of a system. The amount
of RAM used in server normally are more that those used in normal computer. The
model of RAM is differentiated by its amount of storage and speed.
Figure 3.11: The label that consist of the information of the RAM.
Figure 3.11 shows the label that can be found on all type of RAM. The red
highlight on the picture indicates the size of the RAM and the green highlight indicates
the speed of the RAM. Normally the combination need to be in the same brand, size
and speed. For example, the customer needs 32GB of RAM on their server, there is
two options, one pieces of 32GB of RAM or two pieces of 16GB of RAM. For the
two pieces of RAM option, both RAM need to be in the same brand, size and speed
to prevent any problem on the RAM in the future.
Figure 3.12: The RAM properly installed into the RAM slot.
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There are more than one RAM slots available on the server. The RAM need to
be installed on the correct sequence to work properly. The RAM slots are
differentiated by the sequence number that labelled on the motherboard. Plug the
RAM into the wrong slot will cause the server failed to boot up.
The yellow circle that highlighted on the picture indicates the difference
between a SAS type of hard disk and SATA type of hard disk. The main difference
between them is that SAS drives are faster and more reliable than SATA drives.
Customer that does not require very fast access to the data normally will choose
magnetic tape type of hard disk whereas Solid State Drive (SSD) type of hard disk
will be chosen if they need very fast access to the data.
Before the hard disk installed on a server, it needs to be put on a bracket.
Different brand of server had different type of bracket. The hard disk need to be
screwed properly with the bracket then only it can be inserted into the storage space
of server.
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Figure 3.15: The SAS type of hard disk screwed on a Cisco server bracket.
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Figure 3.17: The upper view of a NIC.
Figure 3.18: The two port NIC that can be use with fibre optic cable.
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Figure 3.19: The power supply unit properly inserted into the server.
The idea of having a redundant power supply unit is when one of the power
source has gone, the server still can work without interruption because the other unit
of power source still supplying sufficient power to the server. The power supply unit
also comes with hot swappable design so that any malfunctioned power supply unit
can be replaced immediately without interruption.
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Figure 3.20: An example of RAID 0 configuration as requested by customer.
Different brands of server use different hardware RAID controller; thus the interface
is varying with each other.
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Figure 3.21: The login page of iDRAC accessed by using web browser.
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Figure 3.23: The iBMC homepage of Huawei’s server.
Figure 3.24: The iBMC of Huawei’s server that display the real-time monitoring of
CPU usage.
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Figure 3.25: The iBMC of Huawei’s server that display the current usage of the
server.
The iBMC of Huawei’s server have many features that allow user/administrator
monitor the current condition of the server. It has the Virtual Console Preview like other
server management system. The difference about iBMC with other server management
system is the server monitoring features. It has included the sensor on the CPU usage and
the current power usage of the server. The information sent from the sensor will be
displayed on the server management system in real time. Administrator or engineer can
test the server capability by carry out stress test on the server, and then monitor the CPU
and power usage of the server. Then the capability of the server can be verified.
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To update configuration of the rack switch, I was given a login information that has
limited privileges. The network engineer set the privilege to only allow me update
configuration of ACL rules. The IP address of the switches can be found inside the
IPROBOT, the inventory system of IPServerOne.
After I was given the login information, I will use Putty to telnet into the switch and
perform my task.
Figure 3.27: The network cable that had been labelled with serial number.
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The purpose of label all the cable with unique serial number is to prevent accidentally
unplug wrong cable. As we know in the server rack, there are many servers placed
together. There are many network and power cable mixed together, so it is hard to identify
cable. With both end of the cable is labelled with unique serial number, cables can be
easily identified. This can prevent unplug wrong cables, which could lead to unnecessary
downtime on the server.
This is a procedure that must be completed on new cables before it is sent to data
centre for installation.
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Figure 3.29: The cable tester.
Figure 3.29 shows the cable tester that used to test the connectivity of network
cable. The cable crimped need to be checked to verify it is working properly. If the
cable was crimped properly, all the light on the tester will blink to indicates there is
connection on the cables.
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3.3.8 New technology research
Whenever I was done with my task, my supervisor will give me extra task to do
research and testing on new technology which could be use in their operation. Among
the research that I had done are Suricata and Cumulus Linux.
Suricata is an open source network threat detection engine. It is capable of real time
intrusion detection (IDS), inline intrusion prevention (IPS), network security monitoring
(NMS) and offline pcap processing. Since IPServerOne are doing business on Ddos
protection, they want to know whether Suricata can be implemented in their
infrastructure, thus I was required to do some research and present my findings to them.
Cumulus Linux is a powerful open networking operating system that allow
automation, customization, and scalable usage. It provides a more flexible way of doing
switching. It is a Linux based network operating system that can be installed on the
switches that support Open Networking. First, I was given the login information to
download the operating system from its website. Then I performed OS installation onto
the switches and start doing research. The documentation in their website helps me a lot.
And I do the configuration based on the situation given by supervisor.
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CHAPTER 4
LESSON LEARNED
The task assigned in IPServerOne Solutions Sdn Bhd required me to follow data
centre engineer to go data centre frequently. I was thought the procedure from server
preparation until the server installed into the rack space in data centre. From there, I
learned the rules and policy of data centre.
To access the data centre, data centre visitation registration need to be done before
going to data centre. Any person that visit data centre need to be registered. After the
registration done, the security personnel in data centre will give you a visitation pass.
The visitation passes only permit us to access the floor that our infrastructure placed.
All the equipment that sent to data centre for installation need to be declared at the
security counter. A form need to be filled in by the engineer to inform the network
operation centre the details about the equipment and the server rack that the equipment
will be installed. Same goes to the removal of equipment from the server rack, a
declaration form need to be filled to inform the authority about the removal.
Other than that, there are several rules that need to follow inside the data centre. No
drinks are allowed inside the data centre. Visitor are required to wear shoes all the time
inside data centre. Visitors are not allowed to take picture inside the data centre.
Besides the rules mentioned above, I also learned a lot on hardware/component
installation. It includes the knowledge on identify and differentiate different kind of
hardware, identify the model of each component and correct way to install the component
into the server.
The troubleshooting skills also being thought by the engineer when problems occur
on booting up the server and failure on software/firmware upgrade. The skills learned
cover on different type of server where each type of server have different approach.
I also given the opportunity to do research on new technology, and perform testing
on server and switches. This allow me keep up to date about the current technology and
current trend in IT industry.
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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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