George Mason University
School of Information Technology and Engineering
Course Description Spring 2008
IT 657 Advanced Network Science
updated 1-6-08

Distributed education available in the classroom and also delivered to the desktop at home and office via Internet.

IT657 Spring 2008 Monday 19:20-22:00 Room 126 Building Science & Technology I

Professor J. Mark Pullen
ST2 Room 403; Office hours 4-6PM Monday and by appointment
Address: Computer Science, MS4A5, George Mason University, Fairfax VA 22030
Contact by email: mpullen@gmu.edu phone: 703-993-1538 fax: 703-993-3692

Overview: this course provides a survey of three important networking technologies in significantly more detail than introductory courses but in less detail than a full course would give each one.

Prerequisites: bachelor's degree and working experience in any branch of engineering, mathematics, or physical science discipline, plus introductory level knowledge of networks from undergraduate or graduate course or work experience. Students are expected to have a working knowledge of engineering mathematics including statistics/probability. Students who have not been admitted to a GMU graduate program may enroll in non-degree status using a form at http://admissions.gmu.edu/grad/apps/ITE_ND.pdf.

Delivery: This course is taught simultaneously in the classroom and live over the Internet to students at home or office. Software to receive the class is generated under the GMU Network EducationWare (NEW) project and is available for free download. Network students receive the instructor's voice, slides, and drawing on the whiteboard; students with higher-performance Internet connections also can receive video. The voice and graphics are recorded and can be played back from a server after class. To use the system, you must download the software and test your reception *well before* the first class. See webpage http://netlab.gmu.edu/disted for information and to connect. Use your GMU email username and password. Class sessions will be available synchronously at the time of presentation (generally, 7:20 to 10:00 PM on Mondays) or asynchronously from a recording of the scheduled session, played back via the NEW software.

GRADING POLICY
Grades are proficiency-based. Cutoffs will be in the vicinity of (and no higher than) A-:90% B-:80% C:70%.

TEXTS
1. Smith, The Craft of System Security, Pearson, 2008
2. Mauro and Schmidt, Essential SNMP 2nd Ed, O'Reilly, 2006

ADMINISTRATION
Course notices will be provided via email. Students will be provided with a password for conenction and download of slides Students are responsible to read GMU email regularly. Homework assignments will be posted to and submitted through Moodle at http://netlab.gmu.edu/moodle. Use your GMU email username and password. Slide files will be available on the NEW site 24 hours before they are presented in class. Students are responsible for all material presented in class as outlined in the lecture slides.

Homework for a given class will be posted by lecture time and will be due by lecture time the next week. Late submissions lose 20% per week. After initial submission, you can repeat the homework up to the exam or project submission for that block, and receive the highest score of your submissions (less any points for late initial submission.)

Exams: SEC and MOB blocks will have exams outside of class hours on a flexible schedule, in keeping with the delivery medium. MGT has a project rather than an exam. The project involves use of free network management software. It requires about 10 hours and is graded based on two presentations (5-minte and a 15-minute) made in class or over the Internet via NEW.

SYLLABUS (subject to revision)

SEC: Network Security (readings in Smith text will be posted by the first class)
1. (28 Jan) security objective, threats and techniques; network firewalls: packet filtering and proxies
2. (4 Feb) firewall architectures; firewall limitations; secret key and public key cryptosystems
3. (11 Feb) cryptographic services and building blocks; authentication and key distribution protocols
4. (18 Feb) cryptography in network protocols; IPSEC; SSL; secure RPC
5. (25 Feb) securing the networking infrastructure: secure DNS and routing protocols

MOB: Mobile and Wireless Telecommunications (no text- references will be provided)
1. (3 Mar) fundamentals of radio transmission; the wireless communication channel (terrestrial and satellite); digital modulation for wireless communications, digital receiver principles
2. (17 Mar) cellular and satellite communication networks; multiple access methods; mobility management
(GMU Spring Break is 9 to 15 Mar)
3. (24 Mar) wireless LANs, existing and emerging standards, IEEE 802.11
4. (31 Mar) mobility support in wide area networks, CDPD
5. (7 Apr) Mobile IP; case study

MGT: Network Management (reading in Mauro text will be provided by 7 Apr)
1. (14 Apr) introduction to network management; network management functions
2. (21 Apr) standards bodies; network monitoring; SNMP network management concepts; MIBs (project proposal made during class)
(28 Apr no class)
3. (5 May) ASN.1; RMON; SNMP v2 and v3; CMIP; security issues; project summary due
4. (12 May) project presentations and reports in place of final exam i