Brief version

The course begins with two lectures, where we would like you to attend. See more from Lectures below and from the identically named page in the left column.

In order to pass this course, you have to do a pre-selected set (see Course assignments below)  of networking/security assignments and present your knowledge and understanding in a face-to-face demo with a course assistant. The amount of credits (5cr or 10cr) depends on how many assignments you complete.

To help you in your course work, the assistants provide reception times a week before the demo week. You can come there to ask questions about the current assignment.

The course assignments are scheduled strictly. The receptions and demos for an assignment can only be attended on certain weeks. Overview of the time table can be seen on the Course schedule page (left column). To reserve a reception or a demo slot, you have to use our reservation system and agree a time with a course assistant there (see Receptions and demos).

Assignment grading is based solely on the demos, and the total course grade is based on the assignment grades (see Grading).

The course provides you three virtual servers for doing the assignments. In order for you to get control of the machines, you have to register to the course in Oodi (see Registration). Make sure you have a WORKING email address in your personal details in Oodi!

If you have any questions about the course, see Contacting the course staff below.

For information of our view on group work and collaboration, see the Course policies subpage.

Lectures

There will be two lectures given in the beginning of the course. The first one focuses on course practicalities and also gives a preview to the assignments. The second lecture is about working with Linux command line and some necessary networking tools you might need during the course. We hope you will attend at least the first lecture. Come to the second one if you are not completely fluent with CLI and Linux networking, you might learn something useful and make this course easier for yourself.

For the lecture schedule, see the Lectures page from the left. 

Course assignments

The assignments of this course deal mainly with networking and security topics and they have been divided to two different paths (A and B). Both paths contain assignments in both main topics. The assignment instructions can be seen in their own subpages (left column).

In order to complete the course with five credits, you have to complete one of the paths (assignments Ax or Bx). The first five assignments are mandatory, and the sixth is a bonus assignment for those who either have failed one of the mandatory assignments or want a better grade.

For the ten credits, you have to complete both paths (A and B), and you can patch/enhance your course performance with one of the extra assignments (you cannot do both, however). The first assignment is shared by both paths.

The assignments you complete this year are also valid on the next years course. Contact the course staff if you have completed assignments from the previous year, and we will see what assignments you should do this year to pass the course. 

Receptions and demos

During the course we will follow a strict schedule that specifies the weeks when specific assignment demos can be given to course assistants (see Course schedule). In order to get points from an assignment, you have to give a demo of it. Therefore, the demo is effectively an oral exam for each assignment, where you will show your knowledge and skills, and the course assistant will measure your understanding by asking questions.

Do not be too afraid or stressed out by the demo sessions. The first assignment is intentionally easy and part of its idea is to practice for the demo sessions.

To ease your work, the course assistant provide receptions a week before the demo week. There you can ask your questions about the next week's assignments.

In order to ensure effective use of both the assistant's and your time, we use a reservation system for both the receptions and demos. The course assistants mark their possible time slots there, and you can then select the slot most suitable for yourself. The reservation is binding and cannot be modified after the reservation deadline (previous day 18:00).

Grading

The grading of a specific assignment is displayed in each assignment's subpage. The points will come solely from the demo. The assignment is failed if you get under 30% of the maximum points. To complete a path, you need to pass 5 out of 6 assignments (including the extra assignment).

The total course grade is based on the assignment points. In order to get calculate the total grade, the assignment points are scaled. 

For the 5cr version, all assignment points are scaled to [0,100] and are summed together. The grade limits are:

For the 10cr version, the points from the first and the extra assignment are both scaled to [0,200] points, others to [0,100] points, then summed together and the grade limits are:

The course staff reserves a right to lower these limits during the course if it seems appropriate. Note: You have to do the extra assignment if you want a 5.

Registration

To give you access to course resources (virtual servers, access to reservation system etc.), we require you to register to this course in Oodi before the DL (15.9. this year). Also, select the path you want during the registration (if 10cr, just select both paths. The description says 5cr but we will work this out later). This allows us to point staff resources where they are needed. Make sure you have a WORKING email address in your personal details in Oodi, since we will use that to contact you.

Contacting the course staff

To contact the course staff, you can use the course staff mailing list:

t-110.5102 (at) list.aalto.fi

• If your question is about a specific assignment, include the assignment code (Ax or Bx) to the message subject.
• On personal matters, include your student number in the message.