Computer Networks, ICS 651

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Instructor: Edo Biagioni, esb@hawaii.edu. See here for office hours.

The administrative information for this course is here.

If you have any questions, please contact the instructor.

Schedule

Presentation notes are in HTML. I usually post notes no later than the day before the lecture. Lecture notes are also in HTML. I expect to record all the lectures and post them online.

This schedule is loosely based on the same course taught in the Fall 2006. If you wish to look ahead, please refer to that courses, since the broad outline is likely to be similar. This year's version of the course does present some new material and de-emphasizes some older material.

The audio for the lectures is being served by a laulima podcast.

Section 1

Introduction, APIs, and Applications


Notes 1.
Assignments (due Sep 1st): read the first section of the notes and the first chapter of the book. Please also read and/or do Homework 1.

Lecture Notes:

• Tue, Aug 25. Course overview, overview of networking, classes of applications.
  Outline
  • introductions
  • course overview
• Thu, Aug 27. Sockets API. A simple packet network.
  Outline
  • Unix Sockets API
  • Winsock API
  • implementation strategies
  • SLIP
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Sep 1. Domain Name System.
  Outline
  • DNS
  • Project 1
  mp3 audio for this lecture. I don't think I explained DNS zones very well. Instead, see the section "Naming in the Internet" in the first section of the notes.

---

Section 2. Internet Protocol. Routing. Protocol Implementation.
Assignments: Please read the second section of the notes and the fourth chapter of the book.
Project 1 assigned, due Sunday September 27th.
• Thu, Sep 3. The IP header.
  Outline
  • IP header
  • packet forwarding
  • IP forwarding
  • IP addressing
  • local configuration
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Sep 8. Routing algorithms
  Outline
  • properties of IP
  • distance-vector routing
  • link-state routing
  • flooding
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Sep 10. ICMP. Fragmentation and Reassembly.
  Outline
  • ICMP
  • fragmentation and reassembly
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Sep 15. IP routing protocols.
  Outline
  • RIP
  • OSPF
  • BGP
  • MPLS
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Sep 17. IPv6, Path MTU discovery, checksums.
  Outline
  • IP version 6
  • Path MTU discovery
  • Internet checksum
  • Layering
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Sep 22. Network devices and device drivers.
  Outline
  • Architecture
  • Network Devices
  • Device Drivers
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Sep 24. IP multicast
  Outline
  • Exam 1 announcement
  • multicast algorithms
  • IP multicast
  • PIM-SM
  • PIM-SSM
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Sep 29. Exam Review.
  Outline
  • packet networking
  • Internet Protocol
  • routing and project1
  • exam
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Oct 1. Exam 1 administered remotely during class time (3pm-4:15pm HST).

---

Section 3. Transport layer, Transmission Control Protocol, Error Detection and Retransmission, Flow and Congestion Control
Assignments: Please read the third section of the notes and the fifth and sixth chapters of the book.
Project 2 assigned, due Friday November 6th.
• Tue, Oct 6. Introduction to TCP.
  Outline
  
  • Overview of TCP
  • TCP connection management
  • TCP 3-way handshake
  • TCP close
  • TCP reset
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Oct 8. Reliable Transmission and Sliding Windows.
  Outline
  
  • Reliable Transmission
  • Sliding Window for Flow Control
  • Bandwidth-Delay product
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Oct 13. TCP streams, TCP header, network monitoring tools.
  Outline
  
  • Bandwidth-Delay product
  • TCP streams and push
  • TCP header
  • tcpdump and wireshark
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Oct 15. Demultiplexing and microprotocols. Congestion Control.
  Outline
  
  • demultiplexing
  • microprotocol implementation
  • congestion collapse
  • congestion control: TCP Reno
  mp3 audio for this lecture. Due to my error, only part of the lecture was recorded.
• Tue, Oct 20. Congestion Control.
  Outline
  
  • TCP Vegas
  • other ways of detecting congestion
  • addressing congestion
  • router intervention
  • Internet Explicit Congestion Notification
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Oct 22. Packet scheduling.
  Outline
  
  • packet scheduling
  • FIFO queueing
  • fair queueing
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Oct 27. Real Time Protocols (not in textbook).
  Outline
  
  • Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP)
  • Real Time Protocol (RTP) and RTP Control Protocol (RTCP)
  • Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP)
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
  See also this article on programming for SCTP.

---

Section 4. Lower Layer, Wireless, Ethernet, Learning Bridges, Switches.
Assignments: Please read the fourth section of the notes and the second and third chapters of the book.
• Thu, Oct 29. Data Link Layer.
  Outline
  
  • Data Link layer
  • Wireless Medium: Broadcast
  • Aloha
  • 802.11
  • Ad-Hoc Wireless networks
  • Mobile Ad-Hoc networks (MANets)
  • Wireless sensor networks
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Nov 3. Ethernet.
  Outline
  
  • Wireless sensor networks
  • Carrier Sense Multiple Access
  • Frame Format
  • Ethernet address
  • Address Resolution Protocol
  • Collision Detection and Random Binary Backoff
  • Then and now: coaxial to hubs, 3Mb/s to Gigabit
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Nov 5. ARP, Ethernet collisions, learning bridges
  Outline
  
  • Address Resolution Protocol
  • Collision detection and random binary backoff
  • Then and now: coaxial to hubs, 3Mb/s to Gigabit
  • Network Interface Cards
  • Learning bridges
  • Designing a small network
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Nov 10. Exam review.
  Outline
  
  • TCP basics
  • congestion control
  • data link layer: wireless and Ethernet
  • project 2 and exam
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Thu, Nov 12. Exam 2, emailed to the class list at 3pm (HST), emailed back to the instructor by 4:15pm.
  Project 3 assigned, due Thursday December 10th.
• Tue, Nov 17. Actual network design.
  Outline
  
  • Designing a small network
  • NAT
  • DHCP
  • SOHO networks
  mp3 audio for this lecture.

  ---

  Section 5. Application Layer.
  Assignment: Please read the eight and ninth chapters of the book.
• Thu, Nov 19. Application Layer
  Outline
  
  • SOHO networks
  • application-level protocol issues
  • HTTP
  mp3 audio for this lecture.
• Tue, Nov 24. HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and Email.
  Outline
  
  • HTTP
  • HTTPS (SSL/TLS)
  • FTP and SMTP
  • Email
• Tue, Dec 1.
• Thu, Dec 3.
• Tue, Dec 8.
• Thu, Dec 10.