CS 555: Computer Networks

Fall 2001

Class meeting time: TR 9:30 - 11AM in SCI 115.

Instructor: John Byers

MCS 280
Phone: 617-353-8925
Dept. of Computer Science
Email: byers@cs.bu.edu
Boston University
Fax: 617-353-6457

Office Hours: Tues: 11 - 12:30, Thurs: 3 - 4:30

Teaching Fellow : Anukool Lakhina
Office (NEW): 64 Cummington Street, Room 222C.
Email: anukool@cs.bu.edu

Office Hours: Mon: 2 - 4, Wed: 2 - 3.

Lab Hours (only when programming assignments are due): Wed: 5 - 7 (in the Undergraduate Programming Lab).

Grader: Manish Raj Sharma

Course Overview: This course serves as a graduate introduction to computer networks and is suitable for beginning graduate students and seniors. The course will investigate the design of computer networks and network protocols, from both a conceptual and a design standpoint. The primary focus of the course will be on the software used behind the scenes to build scalable, general-purpose data networks. Expect us to cover the overwhelming majority of the topics in the Peterson and Davie text. Major topics of this course will include:

Protocol layering
Internet design principles and methodology
TCP/IP implementation
Naming and addressing
Unicast and multicast routing
Congestion control and flow control
Rate allocation policies, i.e. fairness, QoS
Advanced network protocols

Starting as of last year, CS 555 is the first course in a two-semester networking sequence. The second course in the sequence, CS 556, will cover advanced topics in greater depth and will provide more hands-on experience with network programming, both at endhosts and at network routers.

Textbook: The technical, in-depth coverage of network protocols provided by L. Peterson and B. Davie, Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, 2nd Edition , Morgan Kaufmann, 1999, makes it a required text. Please be sure to purchase the new second edition with the blue cover rather than the brown-covered first edition. Another useful text which provides a broader introduction with clear, but sometimes less technical descriptions of the course topics, is S. Keshav, An Engineering Approach to Computer Networking, Addison-Wesley, 1997.

Prerequisites: CS 350, CS 330 and MA 294 are essential prerequisites for taking CS 555; please consult the instructor if you are uncertain about your preparation.

The following class schedule is updated on a regular basis to reflect what we have covered so far.

Handouts:

9/4: Syllabus (ps, pdf).
9/10: Homework 1 (ps, pdf). Due in class on 9/18.
9/18: Homework 1 Solutions (ps, pdf).
9/20: Homework 2 (ps, pdf). Due in class on Tuesday, 10/2.
10/1: Programming Assignment #1 Due 11:59PM, Thursday 10/25.
10/2: Homework 2 Solutions (Q1 in ps, Q1 in pdf,) (Q2-4 in ps, Q2-4 in pdf)
10/4: Homework 1 returned. Mean = 26/40.
10/16: Homework 2 returned. Mean = 34/40.
10/17: Homework 3 (ps, pdf). Due in class on Tuesday, 10/30.
10/28: Midterm notes and sample exam.
10/30: Homework 3 Solutions (ps, pdf). Note: Solutions to Q2 and Q3b have undergone some revisions.
11/12: Homework 4 (ps, pdf). Due in class on Tuesday, 11/20, with a one-day extension available.
11/12: Programming Assignment #2. Due 11:59PM, Thursday 12/6.
11/13: Homework 3 returned. Mean = 27/40.
11/20: Programming Assignment 1 returned. Mean = 63/100 (and likely to go up a bit).
11/21: Homework 4 Solutions (ps, pdf).
11/29: Homework 5 (ps, pdf). Due in my office on Wednesday, 12/12 before 5PM.
12/12: Homework 5 Solutions (ps, pdf).
12/13: Sample Final Questions (ps, pdf).