Web proxy service (Jan.10): We deployed a captive portal using a web caching proxy server for the entire IIT.
Considering the issue that the simple auhtentication used by squid, which was in place earlier, is vulnerable to password sniffing (thanks to the awareness caused by my project Secure ARP ;) ), we moved to an ingenious proxy service recently.
The authentication is performed using a captive portal style, where the unauthenticated users are redirected to a secure (https) page. The authentication now happens over a secure https tunnel, and the simple password sniffing is no longer a problem. At the backend, we use squid.
The service is currently deployed on 5 proxy servers, which are serving around 8000 users of IIT.
Pintos (Aug-Nov.09): Hands on with the Instructional Operating System Pintos developed by Stanford University.
Secure ARP (May-Jul.09): Prof. Huzur Saran We proposed a cryptographic solution for the mitigation of ARP cache poisoning in the Local Area Networks by using a trusted server for key distribution. Unlike other similar solutions, the currnet protocol is well suited for dynamic environmets such as wifi hotspots, IIT's own network, etc and is backward compatible with the current ARP.
A proof of concept implementation for the linux kernel was also done.
The project was awarded Summer UnderGraduate Reasearch Award-09 (SURA), and was funded by IRD, IITD.
A statless firewall in hardware (April-May.09): Prof. M. Balakrishnan We built a statless packet filtering firewall on Xilinx FPGA board. The user can enter the filtering rules through an interface. The rules included ingress and egress addresses and ports. The FPGA board communicated with a nrmal PC via serial interface.
The design was done using Schematics and VHDL.
Comparative Performance Analysis of DataSeries and MySQL (Dec.08) : Prof. Anirban Mahanti This project is a comparative performance analysis of open source DataSeries software (http://tesla.hpl.hp.com/opensource/) developed by HP Labs, with MySQL. DataSeries is a flexible data format for structured serial data, a MySQL like front-end for which was developed earlier. The performance analysis is done by running different queries on the World Cup 98 Web site access logs, and a comparison of both the softwares is done.
This project was suggested by Martin Arlitt, senior researcher at HP Labs, Palo Alto, USA.
Tiny Web-Server/Browser(Jan.09) : This is a Yahoo Messenger plugin developed as part of Yahoo's HackU, the Open Hack Day at IIT Delhi. This plugin can function as a tiny web server or a browser. The motivation was to be able to access web-pages from web servers which are protected by a firewall from anywhere in the world.
This is a chat plugin, which can be activated when two persons A and B are chatting. Suppose A is behind a firewall, and B wants to access a web page visible only to A. They can activate the plugin, and A's messenger can act as a server, while B's messenger can act as a web browser to fetch those web pages.
The browser is written in javascript, supported by Yahoo Messenger's API.
*Support for large web pages now available. TODO : Parsing of html links, support for GET and POST queries in forms.
The plugin can be downloaded from here. Follow the instructions provided in the 'Getting started' section in the documentation at Yahoo's Developer network for installation instructions.
An Online Multiplayer Gaming Service (Oct-Nov.08) : Prof. Anirban Mahanti The aim of this project was to develop an online multiplayer gaming service, by combining a set of useful functionalities, such as VOIP services, web interface, etc. and its deployment in a virtualised environment.
We selected the open source game Assault-cube, open source VOIP software Mumble and Murmur for VOIP support, and the CMS Joomla! for this purpose. The virtualisation was done by creating a VMware image.
We achieved the following :
A web site for user registeration, where players could register themselves, and get familiar with other players using the community feature of Joomla!
An integration of both the game and the VOIP software, to implement the voice chat features.
Username-password verification of the players before entering a multiplayer session.
Live updation of scores of players on the web site.
The whole disc image is available on request (through snail mail).
This project was suggested by Martin Arlitt, senior researcher at HP Labs, Palo Alto, USA.
An Online Travel Facilitation Service (Sep-Oct.08) : Prof. Anirban Mahanti The aim of this project was to develop an online travel facilitation service, to help travellers identify the places of interest, by showcasing them the images of their interest.
Google Maps API and Flickr API was used to implement this functionality. The visitor is shown the places of interest on Google Maps, according to his/her interest. On clicking any place in the map, the images of that particular place are queried from Flickr and presented to the user.
A Morse Code Decoder (Nov.08) : Prof. Shouri Chatterjee We built a morse code decoder, with the push buttons as the user input, and an LCD screen for displaying the characters. All the english alhabets were decoded. The implementation was done on Xilinx FPGA board, using schematic models and Verilog.
MIPS-32 model (Nov.08) : Prof. Anshul Kumar We implemented a subset of MIPS-32 architecture instructions to be displayed on Logisim. The input was given into the register file, and the state changes in the registers were displayed.