ICT171 ASSIGNMENT1 PROJECT PROPOSAL


<h1>ICT171 ASSIGNMENT1 PROJECT PROPOSAL</h1>
<h2>NAME: ALLAN KOECH</h2>
<h2>Student Number: 35043207</h2>
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<h3>Project description</h3>
This project proposes the development of a cloud-based home network management platform hosted on an Amazon EC2 instance. 
The goal of this system is to provide its users with the ability to remotely monitor key aspects of their home network through a secure web interface accessible via a public IP address. 
By deploying the solution on EC2, the project demonstrates the use of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
The EC2 instance will run a Linux-based operating system, such as Ubuntu, to install and configure a web server. 
A lightweight web application will be developed using HTML, CSS, and other optional technologies to present network information in a clear, user-friendly format. 
The dashboard will display real-time or regularly updated data, including connected devices, their online or offline status, bandwidth usage, and latency measurements.
This illustrates how cloud services can be used to monitor network activity and visually display information.

To enable communication between the cloud server and the home network, a secure VPN tunnel may be used. 
This approach avoids the need for port forwarding and ensures compatibility with common residential internet setups that rely on NAT or CGNAT, where inbound connections are often restricted. 
The VPN ensures encrypted, reliable communication between the cloud and home environments.

A small local monitoring device will operate within the home network. 
This device will collect network statistics and periodically send updates to the EC2 server.
The cloud-hosted platform will then process and display this information, providing an accessible and secure monitoring solution.
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<h3>Licence Rationale</h3>
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This project will use the MIT license, a permissive open-source license that allows users to freely use, modify, and distribute software with few restrictions. 
The MIT license was selected due to its ease of use, popularity, and suitability for both educational and developmental purposes.
While giving credit to the original creator, it promotes teamwork. This is consistent with using open-source technology like Linux. 
To guarantee correct attribution, the license will be posted on the project website.
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©2026 Allan Kiprop Koech - SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
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