ITECH 2201 Cloud Computing

School of Science, Information Technology & Engineering

Week 4 Tutorials

In last week tutorial you have created the following:

1. A machine with CPU, RAM and Hard disk space.

2. An operating system
3. IP (or domain name) address to access the Web server

In this week you will install the web server in the created instance. Step-by-step instructions are given
below to install the web server. As you walk through the steps you are required to answer few questions that
follow the step, which test your understanding about Nectar cloud. If you need help ask your tutor.

Instance Details

1. Before installing the web server, it is important to know the intricacies about the instance you have
created.

Click the “Instance Name” MyFirstInstance as shown below:

You get to see the “Instance Overview” of your instance – based on the displayed details answer the
following questions.

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 a. What is the Flavor of you instance? How many flavors are available from Nectar? – You can
get your answer from http://support.rc.nectar.org.au/docs/resources-available
 m1.small: 1 core, 4GB RAM, 30GB secondary disk
 m1.medium: 2 cores, 8GB RAM, 60GB secondary disk
 m1.large: 4 cores, 16GB RAM, 120GB secondary disk
 m1.xlarge: 8 cores, 32GB RAM, 240GB secondary disk
 m1.xxlarge: 16 cores, 64GB RAM, 480GB secondary disk

b. What is the maximum size Flavor you can have as your instance and how many?
ANS:

c. What is ephemeral disk? What is the size of your ephemeral disk? – You can get your
answer from http://support.rc.nectar.org.au/docs/storage
ANS: Data on the secondary drive does not get saved in a snapshot, and requires other
techniques to make a backup. Other forms of storage can be used such as the Object Store
within the Research Cloud or external locations.

d. What is the name of your image? What is the CPU used in your image? – You can get your
answer from https://wiki.rc.nectar.org.au/wiki/Image_Catalog
ANS: name: NeCTAR Ubuntu 12.04.4 (Precise)
Cpu: amd64

e. What information you see under “Security Groups”? What does it mean?
ANS: default means no rules find

Instance Console

2. Click the “Instance Name” MyFirstInstance as shown below:

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 You get to see the “Instance Overview” of your instance as below, now select “Console” tab and
click the link “Click here to show only console” as shown below :

It takes some time (few minutes) to see the console – it is similar to booting/starting a PC.
Therefore, wait until you see the following screed shot:

If it takes longer than expected – you can force reboot by clicking “Send CtrlAltDel”.

a. What is the username for your image? – See your answer for question “d” in step 1 in this
tutorial you can also get the username from the same link.
Ans: : NeCTAR Ubuntu 12.04.4 (Precise)

Once you see the above screen type the username as given in
https://wiki.rc.nectar.org.au/wiki/Image_Catalog for your image.

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 3. To install the web server do the following from the prompt :
Type the following commands at the command prompt (where the cursor blinks) – PLEASE NOTE
ubuntu is case sensitive you have to type the command as such.

sudo apt-get update

 The above command is used to update the image with any latest updates – whenever you are
prompted with “Y or n” just type “Y” and proceed. Once finished the cursor will be in the
command prompt again.

sudo apt-get install apache2

 The above command will install the apache webserver – whenever you are prompted with “Y
or n” just type “Y” and proceed. Once finished the cursor will be in the command prompt
again.

We have to check whether the install web server is running successfully, to do that type the
following command:

sudo apt-get install curl

 The above command installs curl – a powerful tool to transfer data from or to a server.

curl http://127.0.0.1

 The above command validates whether the server is running by sending http request to the
IP address 127.0.0.1.

If you see the following output – it means your server is running and certainly you have installed a
web server successfully. The displayed output is a simple html file from the web server.

Do a bit of internet search and answer the following question

a. Briefly explain the meaning of IP address 127.0.0.1.

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 ANS: 127.0.0.1 is the loopback Internet protocol (IP) address also referred to as the
“localhost.” The address is used to establish an IP connection to the same machine or
computer being used by the end-user. The same convention is defined for computer’s that
support IPv6 addressing using the connotation of ::1. Establishing a connection using the
address 127.0.0.1 is the most common practice; however, using any IP address in the range
of 127.*.*.* will function in the same or similar manner. The loopback construct gives a
computer or device capable of networking the capability to validate or establish the IP stack
on the machine.

Now, we have to check whether we can access the same web page from the web server through our
browser. Open any browser and type the IP address of your instance. Please note all the domain
names (gmail.com, yahoo.com etc.) simply represent the IP address of the web server. So, by typing
IP address of the instance in the browser you should be able see the web page it serves.

b. Do you able to see any web page? If not, what could be the issue? Explain.
Hint: What protocol we need to use in order to browse the web page? And also, check the
“Security Groups” from “Instance Overview” (check your answer for “e” in step 1). You
should be able to fix this easily.

Once fixed you should be able to see the following output:

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 Basically, what you have done is, you have installed a virtual web server using the PaaS (Image)
facilities provided by Nectar. In next week tutorial, you will make use of this web server and publish
your own webpage.

Complete the above questions and upload your work on Moodle. Please note your lecture quiz and
the final exam will have questions from the tutorials well. You are encouraged to discuss your
answer with your Tutor before uploading your work.

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