Browsing by Author "Pathirana, T."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Cost Effective High Availability Transparent Web Caching with Content Filtering for University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Computing and Technology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Pathirana, T.; Fernando, S.; Gunasekara, H.
The rapid growth of Internet usage at University of Kelaniya with the concept of “Bring Your Own Device” have increased issues with traditional proxy systems. The key problem is to introduce a suitable web caching system with content filtering which will enable end users to access internet without setting up proxy server details on their devices. On this study it is intended to analyse the network flow of University of Kelaniya and introduce a transparent system which will cache and filter the content according to university’s existing policies. The implementation should be a cost effective and a high availability caching mechanism which will allow users to browse internet without changing their browser settings. This will introduce a free and open source proxy system “Squid” and a content filtering system, “DansGuardian” on two dual NIC Linux boxes based on Ubuntu operating system and will be placed between Local Area Network and the firewall. Squid is a FOSS proxy widely used in the community as a traditional proxy provider. In this scenario squid will be configured as a transparent proxy which will listen on port 3128, using Linux IP tables all http traffic coming to LAN side interface will be redirected to port 8080. Default gateway for the servers will be the firewall while all internal subnets will be routed to LAN L3 devices by the servers. Between L3 device and servers, load balancing will be done based on port grouping. Before forwarding cached traffic according to squid rules, they will be checked against the content filtering policies of DansGuardian which listens on port 8080. Once content filtering is done it will be sent to the requester. End users are configured with DHCP and with No-Proxy browser settings and therefore they may not notice any traditional proxy as all caching and filtering will be transparent to the users. After testing and fine tuning wireless users for 2 months, the system was integrated for the whole network. As an influencer for BYOD, removing existing proxy settings enabled any authorized user to access the Internet through the local network. Number of detected end computers were drastically rising and therefore high bandwidth necessity was also going up. Analysing loading times and bandwidth peaks, it was confirmed that the system was stable. This made the subscribed Internet use rise up to 100% on peak times and more than 50% on off peak compared to 80% and 10% record for the traditional proxy. User comments were also positive than for the previous system as now they can bring their devices and do the browsing without consulting IT helpdesk for the proxy settings. Implementation of the transparent proxy in University of Kelaniya was the first long term transparent proxy installations in a Sri Lankan University which influenced other institutes to adopt the concept. Only downfall was this implemented system cannot detect or cache https traffic which were encrypted. Web caching and content filtering is crucial when it comes to network bandwidth considerations. In a university it has to be done with saving advantages for Education. The implemented system is a cost effective and reliable solution to address the problem on government and educational background. This will allow any authorized user to access network with their own device without any major changes.
Implementation of VoIP in University of Kelaniya
(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Pathirana, T.; Solangaarachchi, I.; Weerasinghe, D.
In many enterprise level environment, it was a habit to inherit Private Branch Exchanges or PBX to reduce telephone costs by not using public switched telephone networks (PSTN) for internal voice calls. Earlier days traditional POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) PBX severed this purpose. In modern technical era, calling through Internet or Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony or Voice-over IP (VoIP) is a technology that allows delivery of audio and other multimedia content over the Internet. With the advances of Internet and VoIP systems, many enterprises are migrating from POTS PBX to VoIP PBX as those systems promises high quality voice transferring plus many added services like video conferencing, MMS, Chat, easy billing, monitoring, etc. With new additions of multi-story buildings and with the high data speed network implementations it was a mere truth that incorporating VoIP will further reduce costs in implementing and maintaining voice call systems. This paper describes the implementation of a VoIP based communication solution designed for University of Kelaniya. It is quite evident that larger portion in university budget is accounted as the PBX maintaining charges. But with introduction of VoIP, we can use the existing Local Area Network and the single network connection terminating at the user premises for connecting both telephone handset and the computer. Therefore, avoids the cost for cabling of new connections and maintenance. Additionally, the quality of the calls would be significantly elevated. As the main component of this proposed system, an free and open source Asterisk based SIP system was compiled on an existing Ubuntu server, here SIP or Session Initiation Protocol refers to a signaling protocol designed to create, modify and terminate a multimedia session over the internet protocol. Basic requirement to initiate SIP PBX is to identify a suitable numbering plan which can be used with future provisioning, therefore a four-digit number system was utilized for the task. Also the customization of Asterisk according to University needs, implementation of Interactive Voice Responses and user metering was done. Then the system was connected to the traditional PBX through an E1 trunk so that it will enable users to call within two systems. Softphones were used between IT staff, as they allowed roaming capability if used in a wireless network. Hard wired phones were also used for testing. After the implementation the only costs accounted were, for the new hard phones and E1 trunk. In its implementation we had to focus on performance, quality of service, reliability and availability, scalability, obsolescence and service life, security and regulatory issues, electricity and backup power, network traffic and bandwidth. When looking at the financial benefits to university, maintaining traditional PBX cost more than using this stated system as it totally depends on the existing LAN. Because of the maintenance is done by the university IT staff as their daily duty, no additional costs will apply for installing, commissioning and maintaining of VoIP system. Even though the initial costs will be high, it is an added advantage that VoIP users are able to call freely within the National Research and Education Network if they are connected in such a method. But all outgoing calls to the PSTN will still be billed as we are legally bound not to route voice calls through commodity Internet.
Perspectives from China, India and Sri Lanka on the drivers and potential solutions to overuse and overdiagnosis
(BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2023) Pathirana, T.; Wang, Y.; Martiny, F.; Copp, T.; Kumar, R.; Mendis, K.; Tang, J.
No abstract available
Virtualization Security for information Centers
(Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Munasinghe, M.A.K.S.; Pathirana, T.
The use of virtualization technologies comes with many benefits such as agility, flexibility and cost efficiency. Virtualization and its unique architecture have many characteristics and advantages over traditional non-virtualized machines. The virtualization security system excels the traditional normal security. Each users of information centers cannot be provided each physical computers due to some unavoidable reasons and causes. Therefore, a number of individuals have been facing considerable problems and difficulties such as inability of using physical computers, attaching of wrong and unrecognized information to information gateways. The technology is in the process of developing for applications while VMs and checkpoint firewall is in the for front all server loads run and security respectively. This paper attempts to identify the differences, issues, challenges, risks, etc. caused by traditional non-virtualized machines and to illustrate the other side of this. Virtualization security for information Centers have already utilized many of the solution concepts into their products to combat the vulnerabilities that are present. Security in a virtualized information center can also be more fully automated. As a Result of this Administrator is helped to protect the information security policies of the information centers. The purpose of this abstract is to provide a good starting point for spreading better information security behaviors. Hear, I intent to mention the utility of the information adding day by day for the interaction between distribution and management of security architecture. Therefore, users can have a direct access for reliable information they want. Therefore, this research can be considered as a practical solution for the problem of physical technology from the virtualization security options.