Capstone Implementation Weekly Reflection - micahgrinnell/CC-Capstone-Project GitHub Wiki
Week 2 Reflection (02/07/21)
During this week, I, unfortunately, did not complete everything I wanted to. Although I left it out of my written tasks, I organized my workspace and capstone hardware by managing my cables and setting up a designated work area in my apartment room. I am planning on obtaining some sort of organization rack for my hardware so the cables and systems don't get tangled and end up confusing me. It is very frustrating and difficult for me to work efficiently if my area is cluttered and disorganized.
I did more research on pfSense and its uses by watching some educational videos on Youtube and I've begun to plan out how I will perform testing. This upcoming week I will test and write scripts for pfSense and begin to flesh out the appropriate area on my Github.
These first couple of weeks of school have been busy as I've been getting back into the grind, but now I feel as though I can finally start to take off on this project. For this next week, I am going to try to complete AT LEAST 1 hour of work every day on my capstone so that I don't have these long days of homework.
Week 3 Reflection (02/14/21)
Well, my plan for working a little bit every day didn't pan out as I had hoped. I am going to talk to my doctor about changing my Adderall prescription so that I can take a little every day rather than have one day dedicated to it. I am finishing up my pfSense page this week so all that's left is to write the scripts. My plan is to write down everything I want the scripts to do and then work from that so I can keep the scope in check.
I am compiling my research from the design stage into a more finalized page so that my thoughts and ideas can be organized and easy to absorb. As of right now I am not sure if I will be sticking to a Github page as my final layout or if I want to go a different route. At this time, Github still seems to be the best option for both wiki writing and organizing files.
Next week will be my finalization of pfSense documentation and scripts. After that, I will transition to Untangle research and testing, which I look forward to. I have to check in with Devin about whether or not obtaining the six port device will be an option. This I will do tomorrow at our meeting.
Week 4 Reflection (02/21/21)
This week I had a meeting with Devin about my progress and any changes I should make this upcoming week. We discussed a potential use for Ansible through pfSense which I will look into more this week. I will try to work on some Ansible Templates so that they can be uploaded onto Github. We also decided I should articulate my specific network architecture so that it is a static variable in my testing of operating systems.
I will also be making videos for each operating system to better show how they're configured, benefits, etc. Another thing we discussed was the potential use of an older foster PC or one of my own to use as a temporary 6 port server so that I can run different NOS. This is something I will have to look more into.
As for now, I will continue to work on the pfSense work this week and then transition to the next operating system next week.
Week 5 Reflection (02/28/21)
This week I finalized my Github documentation for pfSense as well as worked on additional documentation. I added an installation guide as well as an Ansible guide, but I am still completing that one at the time of writing this. I worked on some basic Ansible playbooks using a collection called pfsensible, but ran into errors. My guess is that it either has to do with the collection itself, or the running of ubuntu on Windows.
Next, I will transition into openWRT, and I hope there are more automation options available to me. Before I start that sprint, however, I want to get at least one ansible playbook working. If it takes too long, I will move on.
Week 6 Reflection (03/07/21)
Turns out openWRT doesn't have much support for the Protectli device I have, so I will pivot to Untangle this sprint.
I didn't do much substantial work this week, just did some preliminary Untangle research. I tried looking for automation support but didn't have any luck. Instead, I decided to focus next week on researching scripting techniques with NGFW. I also installed it onto my USB drive but didn't install it onto the Protectli device yet.
Week 7 Reflection (03/14/21)
For week 7, I mostly did automation research for Untangle but didn't have much success in finding 'easy' solutions. NGFW devs put a test directory for python scripting deep in the NGFW files, but there is no supporting documentation. After much researching on the Untangle forums, Github, and Stack Overflow I found little to no substantial scripting support.
This week I also installed and manually configured NGFW onto my Protectli device and wrote some basic documentation. Next week I will beef up my installation and GUI configuration documentation and post it to my Github page.
Week 8 Reflection (03/21/21)
This week I found a possible scripting solution for Untangle using Powershell. Rather than directly manipulating the device, my script aims to create configuration documents that can be uploaded to the GUI. While this technique is not ideal, it is better than failing to find any automation solutions for Untangle. Besides, I have high hopes for how this script will function.
Finished my first draft for the installation and configuration documentation to be put on my page.
Week 9 Reflection (03/28/21)
For the final week of this sprint, I posted my first draft documentation for installation, GUI configuration, and scripting using Powershell. The script works well after some testing and shows promise for expandability into other functions. I finalized my Untangle page and added any more detail that was required.
This week I also presented my progress to the class and professor and received no questions.