Cost a workload
Work out what a small web shop costs to run on its own servers and in the cloud, over three years, in a spreadsheet.
Open the project: Cost a workloadProjects
11 hands-on projects, grouped by skill. Each one runs on your own computer, with no cloud account needed.
Cloud computing
Do the Cloud computing lessons first, then these projects.
Plan a move to the cloud
Take a company's servers and write a one-page plan: what moves, which service model, how many zones, and who secures what.
Open the project: Plan a move to the cloudLinux
Do the Linux lessons first, then these projects.
Set up a new machine
Create users and groups, lock down a shared directory, and install and run a service that starts on boot.
Open the project: Set up a new machineRead the logs
Take a web server log and answer questions with a pipeline: the busiest hour, the most common errors, the top visitors.
Open the project: Read the logsNetworking
Do the Networking lessons first, then these projects.
Fix the broken server
A lab network where a web service cannot be reached. Find each fault, layer by layer, and fix it.
Open the project: Fix the broken serverBuild a small web stack
Two application servers behind an nginx load balancer with HTTPS from your own certificate authority and a name in the lab's DNS.
Open the project: Build a small web stackDiagnose traffic with tcpdump
Capture a request from start to finish and explain every packet: the TCP handshake, TLS and HTTP.
Open the project: Diagnose traffic with tcpdumpShell scripting
Do the Shell scripting lessons first, then these projects.
Automate a backup
Write a script that archives a directory, keeps the last seven copies, runs every night and logs what it did.
Open the project: Automate a backupHealth check
A script that checks disk, memory, load and services, writes a report, and exits with a status a monitor can act on.
Open the project: Health checkBulk users from a file
Create and update user accounts from a CSV file, with validation, a dry-run mode and a summary, safe to run again.
Open the project: Bulk users from a fileDeploy script
Release a new version of a site into a timestamped directory, switch to it with a symlink, check it, and roll back on failure.
Open the project: Deploy script