Possible paper topics (From Dr. Jim Uhl)
Here is a brief list of possible paper topics. Note that these
are just suggestions, and that you are free to suggest your own
topics. Note that I have the final say on all topic choices.
More information on how to get a topic approved will be given in
class.
NOTE: Some of these topics will be discussed in class.
If you choose a topic covered in class, to receive credit, your
paper must give considerably more detail than presented
in class. In cases where you are unsure, please discuss your
choice with the instructor. Also, the specific examples given
are intended as a starting point, not as a limitation to your
investigations.
- considerations for replacing IDE disks with SCSI disks
- free UNIX and UNIX-like systems (e.g., FreeBSD, NetBSD,
OpenBSD, GNU/Linux)
- GNU/Linux distributions (e.g., Debian,
Mandriva, Red Hat, Slackware, SUSE,
YellowDog)
- web servers
- mail transport agents (e.g., sendmail, exim, Exchange server)
- mail user agents (e.g., pine, elm)
- journalling file systems (e.g., ReiserFS, ext3)
- home network security monitoring
- network security-breach forensics
- user name services (e.g., NIS, LDAP)
- backup solutions
- print servers and tools (daemons, filters, etc.)
- ethernet hardware (e.g., hubs, switches, gateways, routers,
firewalls)
- wireless: network and security issues
- network hardware: wireless vs. wired
- version control (e.g., SCCS, RCS, CVS, Subversion, git,
Mercurial)
- upgrading an old computer network
- efficient Installation of the same OS on a set of identical-hardware machines
- choosing machines for a cluster
- virtualization Virtues in a Home Network
- virtualization Virtues in a Network at an ISP
- SELinux
- AppArmor
- Snort
- Nagios
- Xen Virtualization and VMWare compared