Professor J. Mark Pullen
ST2 Room 403 (mail drop ST2-430)
Office hours 1400-1800 Monday and by appointment (including evenings/weekends)
Preferred contact email: mpullen@gmu.edu
Phone: 703-993-1538
 

DESCRIPTION

The course will present techniques and systems for communication of data between computational devices and the layers of the Internet Protocol Suite. Topics include the role of various media and software components, local and wide area network protocols, network design, performance and cost considerations, and emerging advanced commercial technologies. Emphasis is on the TCP/IP family of protocols. The ISO 7-layer reference model to organize the study. Students will program simplified versions of the protocols as part of the course project.

Prerequisites: CS571 and STAT344 or equivalent; ability to program in C/C++. Students will be required to confrm in writing that they meet the prerequisites.

Project: We will use the Network Workbench (NW), software developed at GMU that simulates a protocol stack and displays the results, using a text interface. Students will create modules for Internet stack layers and run them in the NW environment. NW will be available via IT&E computing labs in ST2-18, 133, and 137 and by dial-in. A version that runs under Borland C++ Builder (version 5) and Microsoft Visual C++ (version 6) also is available. Well documented code must be submitted by email to the TA for grading via an upload webpage at http://cs.gmu.edu/course-upload. Additional projects are available for extra credit. The CS656 Project TA is Rong Wang, email rwang@cs.gmu.edu, office hours 1800 to 1900 Monday and Wednesday in room 365 S&T2. She also is available by appointment at other times (send email at least 24 hours in advance to set up appointment).

The project is documented in one of the required texts. Copies of class slides, software and documentation for the project are included with this text on CDROM. Additional project information will be found at http://netlab.gmu.edu/NW.

Students are responsible for assigned readings and all material outlined in lecture slides.
 

GRADING POLICY

Midterm exam 30%, Project 35%, Final exam 35%.

Project credit breakout: DLC1, DLC2, DLC3, LAN1, WAN2, TRN1 and INT3 five points each; extra credit LAN2, WAN3, WAN4, INT1, and INT2 two points each.

Missed exams must be arranged with the instructor BEFORE the exam date.

Assignments are due by 16:30 on assigned date. Late assignments lose 10% per class credit.

All students are expected to abide by the Honor Code as stated in the GMU catalog and elaborated for Computer Science.

Grading is proficiency-based (no curve), cutoffs will be in the vicinity of (but not higher than) A  93; A- 90; B+ 87; B 80; C 70.

Extra credit is available by doing extra projects, however no student who fails the final exam will receive a grade higher than C, regardless of extra credit earned.
 

SYLLABUS (subject to revision)
date and topic/readings in Stallings text/project assignment

8-26 Course introduction; network concepts; 7-layer and 5-layer models / Chapters 1 & 2 / NW Setup introduced

9-2 Holiday; no class

9-9 Physical layer: transmission media, coding / Chapters 3 & 4 / Project DLC1: Framing introduced

9-16 Analog/digital transmission, serial/parallel interfaces, multiplexing, CRC / Chapters 5, 6 & 8 / Project DLC2: CRC introduced

9-23 Data compression, security principles, integrity, appropriate use / Section 7.2, Chapter 18 / Project DLC1 due

9-30 Data link control; discrete event simulation / Chapter 7 / Project DLC 3: ARQ introduced

10-7 Local area networks / Chapters 13 & 14 / Project LAN1: CSMA/CD LAN introduced; Project DLC2 due

10-15 Mid-term exam / NOTE: this session is on Tuesday due to Columbus Day holiday

10-21 Network Layer: WANs, X.25, routing / Chapters 9 & 10

10-28 no class (instructor out of town); work on project

11-4 Internet Architecture (IPv4) / Chapters 15 (except 15.5) & 16 / Project WAN 2: Forwarding and Optimization introduced; Project DLC3 due

11-11 Queueing basics; transport layer: TCP and UDP / Chapter 17 / Project TRN1: Reliable Transport introduced

11-18 Multicast, multimedia and ATM networking / Section 15.5, Chapter 11 / Project INT3: Integrated Stack introduced; Project LAN1 due

11-25 Network Security and Network Management / Chapter 18 / Project TRN1 due; extra credit project LAN2 due

12-2 Higher layer protocols / Chapter 19 / Project WAN2 due

12-9 reading day; Project INT3 due; all extra credit projects due

12-16 Final exam (comprehensive) / Chapters 1 to 19 (except 12) / Exam location TBA
 

READINGS

Required textbook: Stallings, Data and Computer Communications, 6th Ed., Prentice Hall, 2000
Required project book: Pullen, Understanding Internet Protocols, Wiley, 2000

References (available in library):
1. Comer, Internetworking with TCP/IP, Vol. I, 3^rd Ed., Prentice-Hall, 1996
2. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, 3rd Ed., Prentice-Hall, 1996

Course communication: we will use email extensively. Students are responsible to read email daily. Announcements will be sent to the class email list, which consists of GMU email accounts. If you want to receive your class email at a different address, send email to the instructor requesting this.

Internet-based course delivery: classes will be available on computer desktops at home or office by using dial-up through GMU Internet facilities. System requirements are a multimedia Pentium computer with Microsoft Windows 98 or later, a Java-capable Web browser, and Ghostview 6.01, with a 56kbps modem. Instructor's voice, slides, and slide annotations are delivered to the student's desktop; students can ask questions via text or spoken input. Classes are recorded as delivered and can be played back through the same setup. A password is required to access online delivery and playback of classes. Go to http://netlab.gmu.edu/disted to obtain a password and test Internet class reception. You must test your connection by playing back the test session before attempting to participate in a class. All classes may be taken over the network, however students must appear in person for exams.