CS 555: Computer Networks

Fall 2002

Class meeting time: TR 9:30 - 11AM in CAS B12.

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: 2:30 - 4.

Teaching Fellow : Xin Qi
Office: PSY 228C, Phone: 358-2362.
Email: xqi@cs.bu.edu

Office Hours: Mon: 3 - 5, Wed: 1 - 2.

Lab Hours (only when programming assignments are due): Wed: 4 - 6 (in the Undergraduate Programming Lab).

Grader: Tianye Zhang (tyzhang@cs.bu.edu). Tianye will be available Mondays 3-4 in PSY 228C to discuss grading errors.

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

CS 555 is now 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 (not required) 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 and MA 294 are essential prerequisites for taking CS 555, while CS 330 is also a strongly recommended co-requisite. Please consult the instructor if you are at all uncertain about your preparation.

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

Handouts:

8/28: Syllabus (ps, pdf).
9/9: Homework 1 (ps, pdf). Due 9/17.
9/17: Homework 1 Solutions (ps, pdf). The mean on HW1 was 28.5/40.
9/23: Homework 2 (ps, pdf). Due 10/1.
10/1: Homework 2 Solutions (Q1 in ps, Q1 in pdf,) (Q2-4 in ps, Q2-4 in pdf). The mean on HW2 was 32.7/40.
10/4: Programming Assignment 1. Due 10/24 at 11:59PM.
10/17: Homework 3 (ps, pdf). Due 10/29.
10/17: The TCP specification (RFC 793) needed to help answer Q1 of HW3.
No need to print this out or read this (very long) document in its entirety.
10/21: A sample midterm (last year's) is now available (ps, pdf). Exam on 10/31.
10/29: Homework 3 Solutions (ps, pdf). The mean on HW3 was 26.5/40.
10/29: Midterm. The mean was 62/100.
11/4: Errata to Homework 3 Solutions (ps, pdf) fixes some nuances in the answer to Question 1.
11/11: Programming Assignment 2. Due 12/5 at 11:59PM.
11/12: Homework 4 (ps, pdf). Due 11/19.
11/19: Homework 4 Solutions (ps, pdf). The mean on HW4 was 28.7/40.
11/12: Homework 5 (ps, pdf). Due 12/10.
12/9: A sample final (last year's) is now available (ps, pdf). Exam on 12/14.
12/10: Homework 5 Solutions (ps, pdf).