Computer Networks

Aim

After the course, you are expected to be able to:

• Explain, describe, and analyze a typical network architecture, including the importance of network layers and encapsulation
• Explain the different basic types of protocols, communication channels, and network types
• Design, implement, verify, and test your own protocols
• Explain fundamental performance tradeoffs, including showing an understanding of where delays can occur in a network, what different types of delay that exist, the impact of packet losses and jitter on various protocols
• Describe and analyze the most common application architectures in the Internet, how the most important application-layer protocols work, the service they provide, as well as have the ability to design and implement their own application-layer protocols
• Analyze and explain important design considerations at the transport layer, including hands-on knowledge of how flow control and congestion control works, and how reliable data transfer is implemented
• Motivate and explain how routing and forwarding is implemented on the Internet, including the design and implementation of network-layer protocols
• Describe and explain different link-layer technologies and how they work
• Network security: Exemplify how different types of security services can be implemented in different layers with the help of different standards
• Wireless and mobile networks: Analyze and exemplify some of the unique challenges as we are moving towards increasingly mobile users
• Multimedia networking: Explain and discuss the fundamentals of how multimedia services are provided over the Internet

Content

Protocol terminology, language, and specification. The protocol layering concept. Reference models for network architectures. Application areas for computer networks and examples of commercial network services. Network types and components (router, switch, repeater, hub). Communicaton modes and channels. Access network technology. Different types of MAC protocols. The collision domain concept. The sliding window protocol. Error detection. Local area networks (IEEE 802.3). Wireless networks (Bluetooth, WiFi and WiMax). Extending LANs. Internet and standardisation. The TCP/IP protocol family. Distance vector and link state routing. ICMP. ARP. NAT. Naming, addressing, and routing on the Internet. TCP timers, flow control, and congestion control. TCP reliable delivery. Three-way handshake. IPv6. Mobile IP. QoS network parameters and frameworks. Network performance issues. Internet applications (DNS, e-mail, ftp, the web, filesharing, IP telephony, and SNMP). IP telephony. Network security applications (IPsec, SSL/TLS, PGP). Key management. WPA2. P2P networks. Bittorrent, the DHT data structure and Skype. Internet history. Internet design principles. LAN background. Development trends. SDN.