CS656 Data Communications and Networking, Fall 2003

Thursday, 7:20pm to 10:00pm

Section 001: ST 126

Section 002: Internet Course Delivery

Prof. Yih (Ian) Huang
Office: S&T II, Rm. 443
email: huangyih@cs.gmu.edu
Office Hours: Wed. 1:00pm - 3:00pm and by appointment

Course homepage: http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~huangyih/656

DESCRIPTION

The course will present data communications fundamentals and computer networking methods, using the ISO 7-layer reference model to organize the study. Attention will be focused on the protocols of the physical, data link control, network, and transport layers, for local and wide area networks. Emphasis will be given to the Internet Protocol Suite. Students will program simplified versions of the protocols as part of the course project.

Prerequisites

CS571, STAT 344, ability to program in C/C++.

Project

We will use a network simulator, Network Workbench (NW), for course projects. This simulator enables the study and implementation of various networking protocols in a "virtual reality," where network devices (namely routers and switches) are simulated and your protocol implementations can be tested and debugged. The official platform is site-unix (meaning that the TA will grade your projects on that platform). On site-unix, the current version of NW, nw42, can be found at /home/courses/csnets/nw42. (Note that, for security reasons, you can login into site-unix only from osf1.) To install nw42 in your home director, follow the instructions in /home/courses/csnets/nw42/Sun-setup.txt.

Alternatively, you can install NW on your PC from netlab.gmu.edu/NW. Note that site-unix is the only official platform. You are responsible for resolving any compatibility issues before submitting to site-unix (although we expect few such problems).

Grading Policy

Midterm exam 25%, Homework 10%, Project 25%, Final 40%. Missed exams must be arranged with the instructor BEFORE the exam date. Assignments are due at 7:20PM on the assigned date. Late assignments/projects lose 20% credit within 7 days after deadlines and will not be accepted one week after due, unless under prearranged conditions. 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 > 95%, A- > 90%, B+ > 85%, B > 80%, C > 70%, and D > 60%.

Textbooks

Course notices and assignments will be provided via email. Students are responsible to have a GMU email account and check that account periodically. Course materials (for example, copies of slides) will be available on the course homepage 24 hours before they are presented in class. Students are responsible for assigned readings and all material outlined in lecture slides.

Important Dates

Class Recording and Internet Delivery

For the NET section (Section 002), the distance education software we will be using again this year is called Network EducationWare (NEW). It consists of a collection of open source tools, integrated using software developed at GMU. You can learn more at http://netlab.gmu.edu/NEW. At present the NEW client runs only on Windows computers (Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP). It provides the instructor's voice and graphics in real time, and has an option for video if you have high-capacity Internet service such as cable modem or DSL. If you have a microphone that works with your computer's sound setup you can ask spoken questions during class, even with only a dialup connection.

Please note that we are moving to NEW version 3 this year. You will need to install the software even if you have the previous version installed.

Before you attend a class over the network, you will need to install the NEW client software and check that (1) it works on your computer and (2) your Internet connection is good enough to support real time class delivery. To be good enough, it does not have to be high capacity; 56k modem service is good enough. But it must not be overloaded at class time or the sound delivery will be unacceptable. Because the Internet carries more load in afternoon and early evening, you need to test at those hours. If the sound quality is poor, you have the option to use a dial-up connection to GMU (703-426-2468) with your GMU username and password (as used on OSF1). The software is available (including a recorded introduction that runs on the client and can be used to test your Internet connection). If you have trouble with the installation, look on the webpage http://netlab.gmu.edu/disted under "Help/FAQs". You also will find a button on that page to get the password you will need with the NEW system. The password will then be sent to your GMU email account.

Section 001 students are also encouraged to intall NEW and obtain passwords, giving you accesses to class recordings.

Importance Notice: NET section students must attend midterm and final exams on campus.

Force Add Policy

All force-add requests are considered at the end of the Sept. 3rd class. Decisions will take into account vacancies at that time and your position in the waiting list.

Yih (Ian) Huang
Dept. of Computer Science
Office: ST2 Room 443
Email: huangyih@cs.gmu.edu