CS4270: Internet Lab
College of Computing, Georgia Tech
Spring 2007
Course Objectives
The main objective of this course is to offer students hands-on experience
with networking technologies (routers, switches, hubs), networking protocols
(RIP, OSPF, BGP, DHCP, NAT, DNS, TCP, UDP, SNMP, IP multicast),
and popular network tools (tcpdump, netstat, ping, traceroute).
Additionally, the course covers the main Internet protocols in much greater
technical depth than a basic networking course.
Instructor
Teaching Assistant
Kevin Webb
Office hours: email for appointment
Email: kwebb at gatech dot edu
Table of Contents
- Lectures: MWF 1:05 - 1:55
- Classroom: CCB-52
- Laboratory: CCB-104B (need Buzzcard to enter)
- Prerequisite: CS3251 or equivalent
- Mailing list: cs4270_spring07 AT cc (you should be automatically
subscribed)
- Midterm: Feb 28 (Wedn, in class)
- Final: Apr 27 (Fri, in class)
- The final exam will take place on April 27, last day of classes.
- Please note: this is a new course, but due to administrative
reasons we have to use an older course title and number
(the official course title is "Data Communications Lab").
- The lab reports are due one week after you have that lab.
We will use the following two textbooks. The first (referred to as the
"lab manual") describes the lab exercises. The second (referred to
as the "textbook") is a quite technical description of the key Internet
protocols and technologies that we will cover in the lectures.
Other good references:
- Week-1:
Course overview, review of key networking concepts
Readings: Textbook (chapter-1), Manual (lab-1)
- Week-2:
IP addresses, data link protocols, and ARP
Readings: Textbook (2.1 to 2.4, 3.1, and 3.4), Manual (lab-2)
Lab assignment: Introduction to the Internet lab (lab-1)
- Week-3:
The IP and ICMP protocols, and IP forwarding
Readings: Textbook (3.1, 3.2)
Lab assignment: Single segment IP networks (lab-2)
- Week-4:
The Internet and its routing architecture
Readings: ``IP router architectures, an overview'' by Aweya, Manual (lab-3)
Lab assignment: Single segment IP networks (lab-2, cont')
- Week-5:
Dynamic routing protocols: RIP and OSPF
Readings: Textbook (5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.6)
Additional slides on OSPF from Garcia and Widjaja
Lab assignment: Static routing (lab-3)
- Week-6:
Interdomain routing: BGP
Readings: BGP Routing Policies in
ISP Networks by Ceasar and Rexford (survey paper), Manual (lab-4)
Lab assignment: Static routing (lab-3, cont')
- Week-7:
Midterm week
Readings: Textbook (5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12)
Lab assignment: Dynamic routing protocols (lab-4, RIP and OSPF)
- Week-8:
Transport protocols: UDP and TCP
Readings: Textbook (4.1, 4.2, 4.3)
Lab assignment: Dynamic routing protocols (lab-4, OSPF and BGP)
- Week-9:
TCP flow, error and congestion control
Readings: Textbook 4.4
Lab assignment: Transport protocols (lab-5)
- Week-10:
LAN switching, bridges and VLANs
Readings: Lab-6 chapter
Lab assignment: Transport protocols (lab-5, cont')
- Week-11:
DHCP and NATs
Readings: Chapter-3: 3.1.7 (NATs) and 3.7 (DHCP)
Extra Reading: Characterization and Measurement of TCP Traversal Through NATs and Firewalls by Saikat Guha and Paul Francis
Lab assignment: Transport protocols (lab-5, cont')
- Week-12:
The Domain Name System (DNS)
Readings: Chapter-12: 12.1, 12.2, 12.3
Lab assignment: LAN switching (lab-6)
- Week-13:
The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Readings: Chapter-17
Lab assignment: NATs and DHCP (lab-7)
- Week-14:
Wireless LANs and IEEE 802.11
Readings: Chapter-10
Lab assignment: DNS (lab-8)
The lab exercises are described in the Lab Manual. Each exercise
has a "prelab" section that you will need to study before coming to
the lab. Also, each exercise has a number a questions that you
will answer during the lab session. A report that includes
your answers will be due one week after your group was assigned
to complete that lab exercise.
The lab exercises will be done by groups of two students.
The lab reports, however, will be written on an individual basis.
Each group will have access to the lab for a specific day
of the week, either in the "morning time slot" (until 2pm) or
in the "evening time slot" (after 3pm). The lab will be open
in the weekends in case you need some extra time.
Each group will pick a time slot on the class of Friday, January 12
(make sure that you attend that class).
The lab schedule will be posted at this web page in the second
week of classes.
It is very important that you clean up the lab after your time
slot. Additionally, you should unplug all network cables and
return them to the cable box, undo any changes you made in
host or router configuration files, and report any potential problems
with the equipment to the instructor (and to the next group).
- Lab reports: 50%
- Midterm: 20%
- Final: 20%
- Class participation: 10%
- All work for this class, except the lab exercises and reports,
is to be done individually.
You are strongly urged to familiarize yourselves with the
GT Student Honor Code
rules. Specifically, the following is not allowed:
- Copying, with or without modification, someone else's work when this work is
not meant to be publicly accessible (e.g., a classmate's program or solution).
- Submission of material that is wholly or substantially identical to that
created or published by another person or persons, without adequate credit
notations indicating authorship (plagiarism).
You are encouraged to discuss problems and papers with others as long as this
does not involve copying of code or solutions. Any public material that you
use (open-source software, help from a text, or substantial help from a
friend, etc...) should be acknowledged explicitly in anything you submit to us.
If you have any doubt about whether something is legal or not please do
check with the class Instructor or the TA.
- Absolutely no late homeworks, assignments, or projects will be accepted.
The deadline for each homework/assignment/project will be specified at the
corresponding handout.