CS555 Computer Communications and Networking

Tuesday 7:20 - 10:00 PM, Robinson Hall B208

Instructor: Dr. Songqing Chen
Office: 5319 Engineering Building
Phone: 703-993-3176
E-mail: sqchen AT cs dot gmu dot edu
Office Hours: Wednesday 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., or by appointment
Course Homepage: http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~sqchen/courses/CS555S11

OVERVIEW

The course will present data communications fundamentals and computer networking methods, using the ISO 7-layer reference model to organize the study. Attention will be focused on the protocols of the physical, data link control, network, and transport layers, for local and wide area networks. Emphasis will be given to the Internet Protocol Suite. Some advanced topics, such as network security, wireless and mobile computing networks, will also be covered. Students will program simplified versions of the protocols as a part of the course project. Students will also program simplified applications using socket programming in the course project.

PREREQUISITES

Grade of C or better in CS 310 and 367, and STAT 344, ability to program in C/C++.

TEXTBOOKS

TENTATIVE TOPICS

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS AND PROJECTS

Homework assignments are on a semi-regular basis. Projects are based on a network simulator and socket programming. The network simulator, Network Workbench (NW), enables the study and implementation of various networking protocols in a virtual reality, where network devices (namely, routers and switches) are simulated and your protocol implementations can be tested and debugged. The socket programming projects enable the implementation of network communications in a reality. Socket programming projects will focus on the communications between machines. You must be familiar with socket programming in order to complete the projects.

The official platform for projects is site-unix, meaning that the TA will grade your projects on that platform. Currently, it points to zeus.ite.gmu.edu. On site-unix, the current version of NW, nw42, can be found at /usr/local/nw42. (Note that, for security reasons, you can login into site-unix from osf1 if you cannot login directly.) To install nw42 in your home directory, follow the instructions in /usr/local/nw42/Linux-setup.txt. Alternatively, you can install NW on your PC from netlab.gmu.edu/NW. Note that site-unix is the only official platform. You are responsible for resolving any compatibility issues before submitting (although we expect few such problems).

NOTE

GRADING POLICY

Your grade will be calcuated as follows:

No credit if your project does not compile. Late assignments/projects lose 20% credit and will not be accepted 3 days after due, unless under prearranged conditions.

No early exams will be given. Missed/make-up exams are strongly discouraged and must be arranged with the instructor at least one week BEFORE the exam date with an official and verifiable excuse.

MISC

GMU Academic Calendar

Honor Code

Disability Resource Center

Dr. Songqing Chen, Dept. of Computer Science, George Mason University