DevOps Assignment – Secure, Monitored, and Automated Development Environment

👨‍💻 Team Members

• Rahul (Senior DevOps Engineer, Mentor)
• Sarah (Apache Web Server Developer)
• Mike (Nginx Web Server Developer)
• Vishal Singh (Fresher DevOps Engineer, Contributor)

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📋 Project Overview

This project involves configuring a secure and monitored development environment with user management, system monitoring, and automated backups for Apache and Nginx servers. Tasks were performed under the guidance of a senior DevOps engineer to support Sarah and Mike, two new developers at TechCorp.

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✅ Task 1: System Monitoring Setup

🎯 Objective

To set up basic system monitoring to track CPU, memory, disk usage, and identify resource-intensive processes on a development server using Linux (Ubuntu).

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🧰 Tools Used

• htop – Interactive process viewer
• nmon – System performance monitor
• df – Reports disk space usage
• du – Shows disk usage by directory
• ps – Displays running processes

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1. Creating directory

🔧 Commands Used

mkdir devops-assignment

Output

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2. Install Monitoring Tools

🔧 Commands Used

sudo apt update -y
sudo apt install htop nmon -y

✅ To verify installation:

htop
nmon

Output

These tools provide real-time monitoring of system metrics.

3. Check Disk Usage

• These commands check how much space is being used on your system and in each user’s home directory.

🔧 Commands Used

sudo df -h > disk_usage.log
sudo du -sh /home/* >> disk_usage.log

📘 Explanation

• df -h: Displays total, used, and available disk space for all mounted filesystems in a human-readable format (GB, MB).
• du -sh /home/*: Shows the size of each user's home directory, summarizing space used.
• > and >>: Used to redirect and append the output to disk_usage.log.

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4. Check Top Processes by Memory and CPU

🔧 Commands Used

sudo ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -n 6 > top_processes.log
sudo ps aux --sort=-%cpu | head -n 6 >> top_processes.log

📘 Explanation

• ps aux: Lists all running processes.
• --sort=-%mem: Sorts by memory usage (descending).
• --sort=-%cpu: Sorts by CPU usage (descending).
• head -n 6: Shows top 5 processes plus header.
• > and >>: Redirects output to top_processes.log.

Output

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5. Process Monitoring Implementation

We implemented process monitoring by:

• Using ps aux to extract top memory and CPU consuming processes.
• Saving results in top_processes.log for review.
• Using htop for interactive, real-time process monitoring.

This setup helps in identifying system bottlenecks and optimizing application performance.

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6. Reporting Structure

To maintain a clear audit trail and allow future diagnostics, all monitoring outputs were redirected to log files within the working directory.

📁 Location:

• All logs are saved in the ~/devops-assignment folder.

📄 Log Files Created:

/devops-assignment/
├── disk_usage.log
└── top_processes.log

🔍 Purpose:

• Enables system admins and developers to review usage trends
• Detects resource bottlenecks
• Supports future capacity planning

These files form the base of a basic reporting structure, essential for any well-managed Linux environment.

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✅ Task 2 – User Management and Access Control

🎯 Objective

To create and manage user accounts for new developers (Sarah and Mike), ensuring each has a secure, isolated working directory. Enforce password policies to meet organizational security standards.

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🧑‍💻 Users to Create

• Sarah
• Mike

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🔧 Commands Used

1. Create Users

sudo adduser sarah
sudo adduser mike

Output

• Prompts for passwords and user details.
• Automatically creates /home/Sarah and /home/mike.

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2. Create and Secure Workspace Directories

sudo mkdir -p /home/Sarah/workspace
sudo chown Sarah:Sarah /home/Sarah/workspace
sudo chmod 700 /home/Sarah/workspace

sudo mkdir -p /home/mike/workspace
sudo chown mike:mike /home/mike/workspace
sudo chmod 700 /home/mike/workspace

📌 Explanation:

• mkdir -p: Creates directory if it doesn’t exist.
• chown: Gives ownership to the user.
• chmod 700: Only the owner has full access; others have none.

✅ To verify

sudo ls -ld /home/sarah/workspace
sudo ls -ld /home/mike/workspace

Output

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3. Password Policy Enforcement

1. Install Password Policy Module

sudo apt install libpam-pwquality -y

Output

2. Enforce Expiry in /etc/login.defs

sudo nano /etc/login.defs

Update or ensure the following:

PASS_MAX_DAYS   30
PASS_MIN_DAYS   0
PASS_WARN_AGE   7

Output

3. Optional: Set Expiry Manually

sudo chage -M 30 sarah
sudo chage -M 30 mike

Output

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📂 Directory Layout

/home/
├── Sarah/
│   └── workspace/
└── Mike/
    └── workspace/

Output

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✅ Task 3: Backup Configuration for Web Servers

🎯 Objective

Configure automated backups for web server configurations and document root folders for two developers, Sarah (Apache) and Mike (Nginx). The goal is to ensure data safety, integrity, and disaster recovery readiness.

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🧑‍💻 User Roles & Responsibility

🧑‍💻 Sarah

• User - sarah
• Web Server - Apache
• Config Directory - /etc/apache2/
• Document - /var/www/html/

🧑‍💻 Mike

• User - mike
• Web Server - Nginx
• Config Directory - /etc/nginx/
• Document - /usr/share/nginx/html/

Note: In the assignment mentions /etc/httpd/, which is valid for CentOS/RedHat. But, this setup uses Ubuntu, the correct Apache config path is /etc/apache2/.

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📂 Folder Structure and Location

Each user has their own backup folder:

• Sarah: /home/sarah/backup/
• Mike: /home/mike/backup/

Inside each folder is a shell script that automates the backup process.

Output

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🛠️ Step-by-Step Setup

✅ 1. Create Backup Directory for Each User

As a Users

mkdir -p ~/backup (Sarah)
mkdir -p ~/backup (Mike)
sudo chown -R sarah:sarah /home/sarah/backup
sudo chown -R mike:mike /home/mike/backup

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✅ 2. Create Backup Scripts

🔧 Sarah: /home/sarah/backup/apache_backup.sh

#!/bin/bash
DATE=$(date +%F)
mkdir -p ~/backup/output
tar -czf ~/backup/output/apache_backup_$DATE.tar.gz /etc/apache2/ /var/www/html/
tar -tzf ~/backup/output/apache_backup_$DATE.tar.gz > ~/backup/output/apache_verify_$DATE.log

Make it executable:

chmod +x /home/sarah/backup/apache_backup.sh

Output

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🔧 Mike: /home/mike/backup/nginx_backup.sh

#!/bin/bash
DATE=$(date +%F)
mkdir -p ~/backup/output
tar -czf ~/backup/output/nginx_backup_$DATE.tar.gz /etc/nginx/ /usr/share/nginx/html/
tar -tzf ~/backup/output/nginx_backup_$DATE.tar.gz > ~/backup/output/nginx_verify_$DATE.log

Make it executable:

chmod +x /home/mike/backup/nginx_backup.sh

Output

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✅ 3. Manual Testing of Scripts

Run manually to ensure they work:

Sarah:

su - sarah
cd ~/backup
./apache_backup.sh

Mike:

su - mike
cd ~/backup
./nginx_backup.sh

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✅ 4. Output Verification

Check the generated files:

ls ~/backup/output

Output for Sarah:

apache_backup_2025-05-13.tar.gz
apache_verify_2025-05-13.log

Output for Mike:

nginx_backup_2025-05-13.tar.gz
nginx_verify_2025-05-13.log

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✅ 5. View Verification Log Content

To see if the backup worked:

cat ~/backup/output/apache_verify_2025-05-13.log | head
cat ~/backup/output/nginx_verify_2025-05-13.log | head

Example Output:

etc/apache2/
etc/apache2/apache2.conf
var/www/html/index.html

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🕒 Cron Job Scheduling

🧑‍💻 Sarah

crontab -e

Add:

0 0 * * 2 /home/sarah/backup/apache_backup.sh

🧑‍💻 Mike

crontab -e

Add:

0 0 * * 2 /home/mike/backup/nginx_backup.sh

This schedules the backup to run automatically every Tuesday at 12:00 AM.

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✅ How to Check If Cron Job Is Set

crontab -l

Expected Output:

0 0 * * 2 /home/sarah/backup/apache_backup.sh

Output

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🚀 GitHub Submission Instructions (with Token Authentication)

This guide explains the exact steps used to push your local DevOps assignment folder to GitHub, including setting up authentication using a Personal Access Token (PAT).

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✅ Step-by-Step Git Commands with Explanation

1. Initialize Git in Your Project Folder

git init

Initializes an empty Git repository inside your current directory.

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2. Add the Remote GitHub Repository

git remote add origin https://github.com/VishalSingh1996/devops-backup-assignment.git

Connects your local project to your GitHub repository.

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3. Add All Project Files for Commit

git add .

Stages all files in the current directory for the commit.

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4. Commit the Files with a Message

git commit -m "Added logs and user backup scripts"

Creates a snapshot of the current project state with a description.

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5. First Attempt to Push to GitHub

git push -u origin main

This may fail if the remote repo already has commits (like an auto-created README).

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6. Pull Remote Changes (If Push Fails)

git pull

Brings down the remote repository’s existing commits into your local project.

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7. Set Upstream Branch to Track Remote

git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/main main

Tells Git to track the main branch on GitHub for future pulls/pushes.

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8. Try to Push Again

git push

This may fail again if your branch is behind.

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9. Pull Again with Rebase (to avoid conflicts)

git pull --rebase origin main

Safely pulls in changes by replaying your commits on top of the updated remote branch.

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10. Final Push

git push

Now your code is successfully uploaded to GitHub.

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🔐 Using a Personal Access Token (PAT)

GitHub no longer accepts passwords for pushing to repos. Use a token instead:

🔧 How to Create a Token

1. Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer settings
2. Click Personal Access Tokens → Tokens (classic)
3. Click "Generate new token"
4. Check repo scope
5. Set expiration and click Generate token
6. Copy the token (you won't see it again)

📌 When Git asks for credentials:

Username: VishalSingh1996
Password: [paste your GitHub token here]

To avoid repeating this:

git config --global credential.helper store

This saves the token for future pushes.

Images of git-output

Error facing in this

Solved issue

Thank you!

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