Honours project - Point me in the right direction

Hey. I am an Honours student about to attempt my final year project in a 
University in the UK. I am studying Computer Networks and so my project will be 
based in this field.

I'm interested in doing a project that is based on network security, "white hat 
hacking" basically. I'd like to focus on a single server and use this to 
collect data on many aspects of network security. Most likely attempt to bring 
down the server with certain attack methods and collect data on this. Then use 
all this information to develop solutions to create a more efficient and 
resilient server.

I'd like to know if anyone can point me in the right direction. Where should I 
begin? I'm hoping to expand on my current knowledge of networks and going into 
great depth on security so that I may create a sucessful project.

If anyone here can help with ideas for increasing the complexity of the project 
or even tell me what books, research papers, journals and links that I should 
look at this would be most helpful.

Thank You for any assistance.

Asim