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Dr. George N. Rouskas

CSC/ECE 573 — Internet Protocols

Lecture slides, assignments, and solutions are available from the course Moodle space

Lecture videos are available from the EOL site

Summer 2021 Schedule of Lectures

Date Lecture # Topic Assignment Due
May 19 1 Overview, goals, logistics HW1
Project 1		  
May 21 2 Introduction: Internet, network edge, packet vs circuit switching,
network core
Chapter 1.1-1.3		    
May 24 3 Intro (cont’d): delay, loss, throughput, protocol layers, attacks,
history
Chapter 1.4-1.7		    
May 26 4 Application Layer (AL): principles, HTTP
Chapter 2.1, 2.2		    
May 28 5 AL (cont’d): email (SMPT), directory service (DNS)
Chapter 2.3-2.5		 HW2

HW1
May 31 — No class (Memorial Day)    
Jun 2 6 AL (cont’d): peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, content distribution
networks (CDN), socket programming
Chapter 2.5-2.7		    
Jun 4 7 Discussion of Project 1
Transport Layer (TL): overview, multiplexing/demultiplexing, UDP
Chapter 3.1-3.3		    
Jun 7 8 TL (cont’d): reliable data transfer
Chapter 3.4		    
Jun 9 9 TL (cont’d): TCP functionality
Chapter 3.5		 HW3

HW2
Jun 11 10 TL (cont’d): Principles of congestion control, TCP congestion
control
Chapter 3.6,3.7		    
Jun 14 11 Congestion control in high-speed networks    
Jun 16 12 PageRank Project 2

Project 1
Jun 18 — No class (reading day)  

HW3
Jun 21/22 — Midterm exam    
Jun 23 13 Discussion of Project 2
Network Layer-Data Plane (NL-DP): overview, router architecture
Chapter 4.1,4.2		    
Jun 25 — No class (University Holiday)    
Jun 28 14 Discussion of Midterm exam
NL-DP (cont’d): Internet Protocol (IPv4, addressing, DHCP)
Chapter 4.3.1-4.3.3		 HW4  
Jun 30 15 NL-DP (cont’d): NAT, IPv6, SDN
Chapter: 4.3.4-4.3.5,4.4		    
Jul 2 16 Network Layer-Control Plane (NL-CP): link state and distance vector
routing algorithms
Chapter 5.1,5.2		    
Jul 5 — No class (Independence Day observed)    
Jul 7 17 NL-CP (cont’d): OSPF, BGP
Chapter 5.3,5.4		 Lab assignment

Project 2
Jul 9 18 NL-CP (cont’d): SDN control plane, ICMP, SNMP
Chapter 5.5-5.7		    
Jul 12 19 NL-CP (cont’d): Broadcast and multicast routing HW5

HW4
Jul 14 20 Data Link Layer (DLL): services, error detection, multiple access
protocols
Chapter 6.1-6.3		    
Jul 16 21 DLL (cont’d): multiple access protocols, LANs
Chapter 6.3,6.4		    
Jul 19 22 DLL (cont’d): link virtualization, data center networking,
retrospective
Chapter 6.5-6.7
Passive Optical Networks (PON)		    
Jul 21 23 Security: Intro, Principles of cryptography
Chapter 8.1,8.2		  

HW5
Jul 23 24 Security (cont’d): Message integrity, digital signatures, authentication,
securing email
Chapter 8.3-8.5 		   
Jul 26 25 Security (cont’d): SSL, IPsec, VPNs
Chapter 8.6,8.7		    
Jul 28 26 Security (cont’d): firewalls and intrusion detection systems
Chapter 8.9		  

Lab assignment
Jul 30 — No class (reading day)    
Aug 2/3 1-4pm — Final exam    

Syllabus

Prerequisites

Students who wish to take this course must have completed a graduate level course in Computer Networks (CSC/ECE 570 or equivalent).

Students must also have good working knowledge of a high-level programming language such as C, C++, or JAVA. The programming projects can be challenging, hence good programming experience is required.

Objectives

This course deals with the principles and issues underlying the provision of wide area connectivity through the interconnection of autonomous networks. Emphasis will be placed on Internet architecture and protocols as they are today and as they are likely to evolve in the future. Case studies of particular protocols will demonstrate how fundamental principles are applied in practice. They will also provide the opportunity to practice a critical skill: shifting through details for the key idea. The functional requirements of internetworking will be motivated by selected examples of networked client/server applications. The projects are designed to give you first hand experience in building networked applications and/or in analyzing and evaluating the performance of protocols and applications.

At the conclusion of the course you should be able to:

  •  demonstrate understanding of the fundamental problems, tradeoffs, and design issues that arise in internetworking, as well as identify and critically evaluate internet technologies, solution approaches, and design methodologies for future network architectures;
  •  understand the details of several particular protocols, as example implementations of fundamental principles, and digest descriptions of specific protocols, extracting the fundamental concepts;
  •  design and implement complex networked applications, protocols, and algorithms, and use the socket interface;
  •  apply basic concepts to new networking environments; and
  •  engage in original research in the area of computer networks.

I encourage and expect you to participate actively in the learning process. In particular, I welcome your comments and questions as we cover material in class. One-way lectures quickly become boring, both for you and for me. By asking lots of questions your understanding of the material will be deepened significantly, and the course will be much more fun!

Outline

The course will cover the application, transport, network, and data link layers of the Internet protocol stack (layers 5 through 2, in ISO parlance):

  •  application layer (web and HTTP, ftp, mail, DNS, P2P file sharing) and socket programming
  •  transport layer (UDP and TCP), congestion control
  •  network layer (virtual circuits vs. datagrams, router operation and design, Internet Protocol), routing algorithms, routing protocols in the Internet, broadcast and multicast routing
  •  data link layer (error detection and correction, multiple access protocols, addressing, technologies), Ethernet, PPP, hubs and switches, link virtualization

Textbook

Students are required to purchase the following textbook:

  •  J. F. Kurose and K. W. Ross, Computer Networking, 7th ed., Pearson. ISBN: 0-13-359414-9

I also suggest the following two books as reference:

  •  W. R. Stevens, TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol. 1: The Protocols, Addison-Wesley.
  •  W. R. Stevens, UNIX Network Programming, Prentice Hall
  •  D. E. Comer, Internetworking with TCP/IP, Vol. 1: Principles, Protocols, and Architectures, Prentice Hall

I will also make available an extensive set of lecture slides.

Grading

Students are required to complete all assignments and show all work in order to receive full credit. The final grade will be determined using the following weights:

  •  30% — Two programming projects (15% each)
  •  10% — Lab assignment
  •  15% — Homework assignments (of equal weight)
  •  20% — Midterm exam (closed book)
  •  25% — Final exam (comprehensive, closed book)

Policies

Attendance: Attendance is not mandatory but strongly encouraged. Students are responsible for making up any course material they miss.

Assignments: No hard copies of assignments or solutions will be handed out. New assignments and solutions will be announced in class and/or the course mailing list, and will be available on the course web page.

Submission: Students must submit their assignments as PDF or Word files using the submit facility. The deadline for submission is midnight (Eastern time) on the day due. Any deadline extensions are up to the discretion of the instructor, and will be announced to the whole class. Extensions may be provided to individual students only in advance of the submission deadline and only under extenuating circumstances.

Late Submission: No late assignments will be accepted and no partial credit will be given for late assignments without a valid excuse.

Cheating: Homework and projects are individual assignments and students are required to submit their own solutions. All students are bound by the University’s academic integrity policies (refer to the relevant section below).

Teaching Assistant

Nodirbek Korchiev (nkorchi@ncsu.edu) is the TA for this course. His office hours are: TBD

Alternatively, you may contact them to arrange for a meeting or online chat at a mutually convenient time.

Feel free to contact the TAs for any questions about the course.

Office Hours

My office is in Room 2306 of the EB II building.

My office hours are 4:15-5:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Distance students may either call me during those times, or may arrange to stop by or call at a different mutually convenient time.

Academic Integrity

Students are required to respect the NC State academic integrity policies.