CPSC 4550: Computer Networks

IA Course

Course Description

The theory, design, engineering, and installation of networks to connect digital computers. The course will prepare students to plan and implement a network. Also includes peer-to-peer networks, the client-server model, network operating systems, and an introduction to wide-area networks. The network and implementation tools may vary to meet current development trends. Prerequisites: CPSC 251 and 305 with grades of C or better.

Textbook

James F. Kurose and Keith W. Ross, Computer Networking, Edition 3, Addison and Wesley, ISBN: 0-312-22735-2Companion Website: http://wps.aw.com/aw_kurose_network_4/

Syllabus: Here

Lecture Notes

• Chapter 1: Computer Networking and and the Internet

  • What is a protocol? access networks, physical media, packet switching, circuit switching, delay, loss, throughput, protocol layers, OSI model, encapsulation, network attacks (malware, botnet, viruses, worms, denial-of-service attacks, packet sniffer, IP spoofing, etc.), history of computer networking and the Internet.

• Chapter 2.  Application Layer  Part 1, Part 2

  • Network application architectures, processes communicating, the Web and HTTP, FTP, SMTP, DNS, peer-to-peer applications, Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs), socket programming. 

• Chapter 3. Transport Layer  Part 1, Part 2

  • Relationship between transport and network layers, multiplexing and demultiplexing, UDP, checksum, principles of reliable data transfer, TCP, flow control, principles of congestion control.  

• Chapter 4. Network Layer  Part 1, Part 2

  • Forwarding and routing, virtual circuit and datagram networks, router, IP protocol, IPv4 addressing, ICMP, IPv6, routing algorithms, the Link-State (LS) routing algorithm, the Distance-Vector (DV) routing algorithm, hierarchical routing, Intra-AS routing (RIP and OSPF), inter-AS routing (BGP), broadcast and multicast routing.  

• Chapter 5. Link Layer: Links, Access Networks, and LANs   Part 1, Part 2

  • Error-detection and correction techniques, parity checks, checksumming methods, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), multiple access links and protocols, channel partitioning protocols, random access protocols, taking-turns protocols, link-layer addressing and ARP, Ethernet, Link-Layer switches, virtual local area networks (VLANs), MPLS, data center networking. 

• Chapter 6. Wireless and Mobile Networks

  • Wireless links and network characteristics, CDMA, 802.11 wireless LANs, Cellular Internet access, Mobility management (addressing, routing to a Mobile node), Mobile IP, GSM. 

• Chapter 7. Multimedia Networking

  • Properties of video, properties of audio, UDP streaming, HTTP streaming, Adaptive streaming and DASH, Content distribution networks, Case studies (Netflix, YouTube, Kankan), Voice-over-IP, jitter, recovering from packet loss, RTP, SIP, Diffserv, QoS, Resource reservation, call admission. 

• Chapter 8. Security in Computer Networks

  • Symmetric key cryptography, public key encryption, massage integrity and digital signatures, hash function, Message authentication code (MAC), end-point authentication, securing E-mail (PGP), security TCP connections (SSL), IPsec, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Securing wiress LANs (WEP), firewalls, intrusion detection systems. 

Labs and Assignments

•     Wireshark Lab: Getting Started
•     Wireshark Lab: HTTP
•     Wireshark Lab: DNS
•     Wireshark Lab: ICMP
•     Wireshark Lab: TCP
•     Wireshark Lab: UDP
•     Wireshare Lab: 802.11
•     OPENET Lab: Introduction
•     OPENET Lab: Network Design
•     OPENET Lab: RIP
•     OPENET Lab: OSPF
•     OPENT Lab: Ethernet
•     Programming: Building a Multi-Threaded Web Server

More IA Study Materials:

 Textbooks

• Comer's Computer Networks and Internets
• Kurose and Ross's Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet

IA Academic Links 

• • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering/Institution of Engineering and Technology
  • ACM Homepage
  • National Information Assurance Training and Education Consortium (NATEC): http://www.niatec.org/
  • CiteSeer.IST: http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/
  • National Vulnerability Database: http://nvd.nist.gov/
  • The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT): http://www.us-cert.gov/
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology: http://csrc.nist.gov/
  • National Security Agency: http://www.nsa.gov/
  • Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm     
  • Protocols from The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
    • Transmission Control Protocol (TCP): http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc793.html
    • User Datagram Protocol (UDP): http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc768
    • Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt
    • HTTP over TLS: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2818.txt
    • Domain Name Service (DNS): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1035.txt
    • File Transfer Protocol (FTP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0959.txt
    • Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0821.txt
    • POP3: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt
    • IMAP: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2060.txt
    • Internet Protocol (IP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0791.txt
    • IPv6: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2460.txt
    • The IP Network Address Translator (NAT): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1631.txt
    • Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc792.txt
    • Internet Routing Protocol Standardization Criteria: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1264
    • Session Initiation Protocol (SIP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2543.txt
    • Open Shortest Path First (OSPF): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2328.txt 
    • Border Gateway Protocol (BGP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1772.txt 
    • RTSP: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2326.txt
    • Ethernet
    • Address Resolution Protocol (ARP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc826.txt
    • The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1661.txt
    • Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM): Shttp://www.techfest.com/networking/atm/atm.htm
    • CSMA/CD: http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/gorry/eg3561/lan-pages/csma-cd.html
    • CSMA/CA: http://www.science.uva.nl/research/air/projects/old_projects/wlan/simulations/Intro_-_WLAN/Intro_-_CSMA_CA/intro_-_csma_ca.html
    • IEEE 802.11: http://www.ieee802.org/11/
    • Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) Key Management Framework: http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-eap-keying-11
    • An Architecture for Differentiated Services (Diffserv): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2475.txt
    • Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2045.txt   
    • Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2205.txt
    • OpenPGP Message Format: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2440.txt
    • TLS: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2246.txt
    • Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol (IPSec): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2401.txt
    •  A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1157.txt
  • UNIX/sockets/C/C++/PERL/JAVA manuals
  • Database Privacy from Microsoft Research: http://research.microsoft.com/research/sv/DatabasePrivacy/

• IA Journals

  • University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) library: http://www.lib.utc.edu/  Note many journals are available in UTC libraries, and some of them are accessible from any computers in UTC. 
  • ACM Transactions on Information and System Security (TISSEC): http://tissec.acm.org/ (On-line journal is accessible from any computer in UTC)
  • IEEE security & privacy (available in UTC library): http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=8013 
  • The Virus Bulletin: http://www.virusbtn.com/index
  • IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (available in UTC library): 
  • IEEE communications magazine (available in UTC library)
  • IEEE distributed systems online (available in UTC library)
  • IEEE eTransactions on network and service management (available in UTC library)
  • IEEE internet computing (available in UTC library)
  • IEEE network (0890-8044)(available in UTC library)
  • IEEE parallel & distributed technology (available in UTC library)
  • IEEE personal communications (available in UTC library)
  • Journal of Cryptography: http://www.springer.com/west/home/computer/lncs?SGWID=4-164-70-1009426-0&referer=www.springeronline.com&SHORTCUT=www.springer.com/sgw/cda/frontpage/0,11855,4-164-70-1009426-0,00.html
  • International Journal of Information and Computer Security: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalCODE=ijics

• Interesting books

  • Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet History of how a group of computer scientists tackled and achieved the "impossible", and created the Internet; fun and non-technical reading of how the Internet as we know it today got started and developed.

Resources

IA Sites

• National Security Agency, Central Security Service—Information Assurance
• Information Assurance Support Environment
• Information Design Assurance Red Team (IDART)
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Computer Security Division
• NIST Computer Security Resource Clearinghouse
• National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)
• ICAT Metabase
• ICAT is a searchable index of information on computer vulnerabilities. It provides search capability at a fine granularity and links users to vulnerability and patch information.
• National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
• STRATCOM
• ASD NII
• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
• Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
• Internet Traffic Report
  The Internet Traffic Report monitors the flow of data around the world. It then displays a value between zero and 100 and is updated ever 15 minutes. Higher values indicate faster and more reliable connections.
• Electronic Privacy Information Center Home Page
  Public interest research center in Washington, D.C.
• Information Security Portal
  This site provides information concerning the topic of Information Warfare including security tools, the law and legal issues, espionage, terrorism, and information operations.
• Internet Privacy Coalition
• International Computer Security Association (ICSA)
  ICSA is known worldwide as an objective source for security assurance services.
• Glossary of Information Warfare Terms
• Cyberwar - Information warfare and psychological operations
  Provides information on the topics of propaganda analysis, online journals, index and metapages, general resources, intelligence agencies, and articles and documents.
• Reliable Software Technologies (RST): Information Warfare
• Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST)
• FIRST brings together a variety of computer security incident response teams from government, commercial, and academic organizations. FIRST aims to foster cooperation and coordination in incident prevention, to prompt rapid reaction to incidents, and to promote information sharing among members and the community at large.
• International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR)
  The International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) is a non-profit scientific organization whose primary purpose is to further research in cryptology and related fields.
• International Biometrics Industry Association (IBIA)
• Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures
• A list of standardized names for vulnerabilities and other information security exposures - CVE aims to standardize the names for all publicly known vulnerabilities and security exposures.
• Institute for Applied Network Security (IANETSEC)
  The Institute for Applied Network Security is the premier membership organization for practicing information security professionals. The Institute's mission is to provide key technical and business insights to help members solve their most pressing professional challenges.
• Reliability Information Analysis Center (RIAC)
  Reliability Information Analysis Center (RIAC) : A Government and Industry focal point for Reliability, Maintainability, Quality, Supportability, and Interoperability related Engineering, Data, Software, Information, Training and Technical Assistance.