ICT246 Operating Systems Tutor-Marked Assignment July 2025 Presentation

TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA)

This assignment is worth 18% of the final mark for ICT246 Operating Systems.

The cut-off date for this assignment is on Wednesday, 08 October 2025, 2355 hours.

Note to Students:

You are to include the following particulars in your submission: Course Code, Title of the TMA, SUSS PI No., Your Name, and Submission Date.

Question 1 (20 marks)

Part (a)

Select a Linux operating system (OS) distribution and write the following:

• Explain the core functions (NOT features).
• Describe the pros and cons.
• Describe your experiences of using it, together with 3 or 4 screenshots.

Appropriate citations must be provided. The length of the write-up needs to be 350 to 450 words, excluding citations.

Note: You are NOT allowed to choose Debian/Ubuntu/Android, and NO marks will be awarded if you choose Debian/Ubuntu/Android. In addition, use your own words and not to copy word for word from the citations provided.

(15 marks)

Part (b)

Select a docker image and write on the unique features of this docker image. Appropriate screenshots need to be given.

(5 marks)

Question 2 (10 marks)

File management is one of the core functions of an Operating System (OS), and file allocation methods are part of file management.

Demonstrate index allocation methods by sketching a diagram that includes the following: File Allocation Table and the actual location of the files in the index blocks for three files. The three files are:

• “Suss1.txt” index block is at block 10, file length is 6, and it has two start blocks
• “Suss2.txt” index block is at block 23, file length is 3, and it has two start blocks
• “Suss3.txt” index block is at block 0, file length is 2, and it has one start block

Currently blocks 11 to 21 are occupied by other files.

(10 marks)

Question 3 (30 marks)

Demonstrate the creation and usage of virtual machine using Ubuntu OS.

SmallAnimals Pte Ltd, a chain of pet stores, bought a server with 10 hard drives, each of which can hold 6 TB of data. The server is pre-installed with Ubuntu OS 25.04, and it has an operational life of 3 years.

The requirements for the storage space are stated as follow:

• A storage capacity of 11 TB is required to maintain vital operational records. Redundancy is essential to ensure that in the event of one hard drive failures, no data is lost.
• The marketing department requires 3 TB of storage to accommodate various marketing materials, including promotional videos and stories of pets for the chain. To prevent data loss, implementing redundancy is essential.
• A storage area for staff to share non-critical content. It is projected that this space will require 9.9 TB in the first year, and that amount will increase by 10% (from first year) in the second year and 20% (from second year) in the third year. There is no requirement on redundancy although performance is important.
• Each of the 5 stores requires 1.5 TB of storage to maintain materials related to pets and store-specific customer transactions. To safeguard data integrity, redundancy is necessary.

Note that, aside from the Ubuntu OS which is pre-installed on two hard drives (/dev/sda and /dev/sdb) in a mirrored configuration, you must use ZFS to configure the remaining eight hard drives. You are NOT allowed to purchase additional hard drives or utilize the OS drives.

Part (a)

Illustrate and justify what RAID system(s) to use for the above scenario.

Calculate (with working) and describe how you will organize and use the 8 hard drives. Explain and sketch a diagram with the appropriate labelling, such as the name(s) of the pool, the file system(s), and the hard drive(s) used (/dev/sdc, /dev/sdd, etc.).

Note that besides the diagram which is an image, your calculation and explanation must be in editable text so that the Turnitin plagiarism checker can be effective. Marks will be deducted if you do not follow this instruction.

(15 marks)

Part (b)

Install additional hard drives in your Ubuntu virtual machine and simulate the scenario using ZFS with relevant pools and reservations. You must use ZFS and NOT other tools such as LVM, parted, etc.

Demonstrate and show the whole process with clear explanations and necessary screenshots.

Note that you can create a scale down storage size for each hard drive such as 6 GB instead of 6 TB if your hypervisor does not allow you to create 6 TB hard drive. You can use Ubuntu Desktop instead of Ubuntu Server for this task.

(15 marks)

Question 4 (40 marks)

In this task, you need to implement system security and access control in Linux operating system.

Using Ubuntu OS, write and implement ONE (1) bash shell script (submit only one script for whole Question 4). The script needs to execute on a file that have the same format as /etc/passwd file, and NOT on the original /etc/passwd file. That means some commands cannot be used in your script, such as id, getent, pwck, useradd, etc. Marks will be severely deducted if your script uses any commands that work on the original /etc/passwd file. The script must be executed with no arguments, and it can be executed in any folder. However, you can assume that your script will not be executed in the /etc folder.

Refer to the following link for the correct format of the file https://linuxize.com/post/etc-passwd-file/

(assume that besides the GECOS field, all the other fields are mandatory)

Warning: Do NOT execute your script in the /etc folder as it may corrupt the /etc/passwd file. You can create a checkpoint (snapshot) if you are worried about corrupting Ubuntu OS.

Part (a)

1. The script will prompt a user to enter a filename of a file in the current folder (the file format is the same as /etc/passwd file).
2. It will prompt the user to enter the filename again if the file does not exist in the current folder. This will continue until the user enter a filename of a file that exist in the current folder.
3. If the file exists in the current folder, it will proceed to check the content of the file and display ONLY the following information on the screen:
   • username of the user accounts (assume that the user account is having a shell of /bin/bash or /bin/sh)
   • number of user accounts
   • the largest user id (UID) among all the user accounts
4. The script will then display the following information according to whether the group others can read the file.
   • If the group others cannot read the file, change the permission of the file to owner can read, write and execute, group can read and write, and others can only read.
   • If the group others can read the file, change the owner and group of the file to userSUSS (assume that userSUSS is an existing user and group in Ubuntu).

(Note: do NOT create user userSUSS and group userSUSS in your script.)

(15 marks)

Part (b)

Format of the file needs to be validated. If the format is not correct, an error message will prompt, and the script will terminate.

Note that you ONLY check the format of the file that the user enters in part (a), and not the actual /etc/passwd file. Thus, do NOT check whether the GID is in the /etc/group file, etc.

NO marks will be awarded if you do NOT follow the above instruction.

(10 marks)

Part (c)

A documentation (with appropriate screenshots and explanations) must be produced on the execution of the bash shell script with different conditions to thoroughly test the script including but not limited to file does not exist in the current folder, group others cannot read the file, wrong formats of file. Necessary checking must be performed to show the outcomes are correct, including but not limited to checking that the permissions of the file has changed.

Appropriate comments must be added in the script to make it easier to understand.

(15 marks)

IMPORTANT:

• Your bash shell script must be in text format within the TMA WORD document. Image of the bash shell script is NOT.
• Embed a notepad file (or WORD file if you are using Mac OS) of the script in the TMA WORD document. Ensure that the embedded file is shown clearly (an example is shown below). Link or URL (e.g. Google Docs) that points to an online source is NOT.

TMAscript.txt

Note that your script must be able to execute in any folder, and marks will be severely deducted if you hardcode any filepath in your code.

A zero for Question 4 will be given for the following:

• You are not using bash shell script, or your bash shell script cannot be executed in the Azure Ubuntu virtual machine as instructed by the instructor.
• The instructor cannot copy the bash shell script from your TMA WORD document to test. That is, you paste the bash shell script in TMA WORD document as an image, and your embedded script in notepad file (or WORD file) is corrupted.
• You did not include the bash shell script in TMA WORD document, and you only include a link or URL which is not allowed.

50% of the marks will be deducted for the following:

• Your bash shell script does NOT work according to your documentation produced in part (c).
• You did not include part (c).
• You did not include the bash shell script in text format within the TMA WORD document such that the script evades the Turnitin plagiarism checker. That is, you embed a notepad file (or WORD file) but you did not include the bash shell script in text format within the TMA WORD document.

—- END OF ASSIGNMENT —-

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