• Course Overview
• What is Networking?
• What is interesting about Networks?
  • Hardware
  • Protocols
  • Software
  • Performance
• Clients and servers
• Homework assignment
• Class Evaluation

• MWF 8:30-9:20 in Keller 301
• textbook: Computer Networks, by Peterson and Davie
• 2 midterms, final
• 3 projects
• "optional" homeworks
• grading:
  • 20% projects
  • 20% each mid-term
  • 40% final
• Office hours M 9:30-11 and W 9:30-10:30 in POST 303B.
• http://www.ics.hawaii.edu/~ics651

Notes:

• We are going to mostly stick with the textbook, but we will study some subjects in a sequence different from that used in the book.

• Homework is completely optional, but doing the homeworks is a very good way (perhaps the only effective way) to prepare for the exams.

• I will be happy to review and provide feedback to any homework that's turned in.

• Basics
• Direct Link
• x-kernel
• Packet Switching
• Internetworking
• Transport Protocols
• Congestion Control
• Data Presentation
• High Speed Networks
• SNMP and MIBs

A computer network is a hardware and software system that enables a collection of computers to communicate.

"Computer Networks are able to carry many different types of data and support a wide range of applications"

Networking is the engineering, science and art of designing computer networks.

Notes:

• What is networking

• Answer 1: networking means getting to know people so that I can get a job when I graduate.

• Answer 2: What is a computer network?

• The quote is adapted from p.2 of the textbook. It differentiates between computer networks and other kinds of network, for example telephone networks and CableTV networks.

• Engineering, science and art: engineering because we need to make tradeoffs among competing requirements, science because to do so we need to study and characterize a complex system, and art because sometimes the most aesthetically pleasing designs are also the best.

Although this course will not focus on designing networking hardware, the design and performance analysis of networks and protocols require a high-level understanding of network hardware.

We will look at a variety of point-to-point links, shared media, and token rings.

Notes:

Networking protocols are the focus of this course. We will study in some detail the main protocols of the TCP/IP suite (the Internet protocols), have a chance at designing protocols to solve specific problems, and look at existing protocols to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

We will also review protocol structuring principles such as the OSI 7-layer model.

Networking protocols are implemented in networking software.

We will learn in some detail about the {\bf x-kernel}, a system infrastructure for implementing networking protocols. We will also be looking at other existing implementations and compare them. We will consider practical issues such as structure and performance.

When networks are put into actual use, performance is often an issue. We will consider different measures of performance such as latency, bandwidth, connection setup time, and how to reliably measure these characteristics.

A client is a program that requests a service; a server is a program that provides a service. Clients and servers normally run on different machines, and use computer networks to communicate.

Notes:

A client on one machine can send a request to a server on a different machine. The server will generally respond appropriately.

This is a very generic model, and can encompass all sort of interactions. For example:

• WWW (clients: Netscape, Internet Explorer, Lynx, etc.. Servers: Netscape, Apache, etc)
• Telnet
• FTP
• Network Time Protocol (NTP)
• Network File Server (NFS)
• ...

Notes:

• visit http://www.ics.hawaii.edu/~ics651
• Read sections 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 of the textbook.
• Use UNIX clients to study the Internet network
• Build a client
• Build a server
• Due September 3rd.