CS455: Computer Networking Systems

This page last modified: 17:27 15 Jan 2004

Where & When: Wednesdays, 16:30 to 19:10, Science & Technology I, room 126
Also available via Internet: this course is delivered to the NET section online by Network EducationWare (NEW). Students in all sections have accounts on NEW and can play back the lectures and download the PDF slide files at http://netlab.gmu.edu/disted. Students may take any of the course's classes over the web using the distance learning software but:
  1. students must ask for a password to have access to the network-accessible version (see below),
  2. students may view the live or recorded lectures anywhere (home, office, on campus), but must be present, in person, to write the midterm and final examinations.

One other section of this course is offered:

Instructor: Charles Snow, Adjunct Professor
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 14:00 to 15:30, room across from main Department office, 4th floor ST2.
Email: csnow@cs.gmu.edu
Pre-requisites: Students must have at least a grade of C in the courses listed below, and the ability to program in C/C++:
Description: The course presents data communications fundamentals and computer networking methods, using the ISO 7-layer reference model to organize the study. Attention is focused on the protocols of the physical, data link control, network, and transport layers, for local and wide area networks. Emphasis is given to the Internet Protocol Suite. Students will program simplified versions of the protocols as part of the course project.
Required Texts:
Shay, Understanding Data Communications and Networks, 2nd Ed., ITP, 1999 Pullen, Understanding Internet Protocols, Wiley, 2000

Look for these books in the GMU Bookstore.

Course Project: Students will use the Network Workbench (NW), software developed at GMU that simulates a protocol stack and displays the results, using a text interface. Students will create modules for Internet stack layers and run them in the NW environment. The project will be built up incrementally through the semester (see Grading, below). NW is available for downloading for Windows, linux and Solaris platforms; current version is 4.2.
Grading: The final grade for this course is made up from:
  1. 10% Homework Exercises,
  2. 25% Midterm,
  3. 25% Project,
  4. 40% Final Exam

The project is built incrementally through the semester with: DLC1, DLC2, LAN1, WAN2, and INT3 counting 4 points each and DLC3 and TRN1 counting 5 points each. LAN2, WAN3, WAN4, INT1, and INT2 may be done for extra credit, counting 2 points each. Course work must be received by 23:59 on the due date. Late work is subject to a penalty that begins at 10%, and doubles for each week the work is late.

Missed exams must be arranged with the instructor before the exam date.

While students are encouraged to discuss solutions to homework and project problems, each student must submit their own, original, work. Students are expected to abide by both the George Mason University Honor System and Code (which contains a definition of plagiarism, amongst other things). and the Computer Science Department Honor Code Policy for Programming Projects. Further academic policy information is available here.

Note that we reserve the right to submit student assignments and projects for automated testing against other submitted projects to confirm a submission's originality.

Extra credit is available by doing extra projects, however no student who fails the final exam will receive a grade higher than C.

Syllabus: This is the projected course outline, and is subject to revision.

21 Jan 04 1 Course introduction; network concepts; 7-layer and 5-layer models Chapter 1 / NW Setup
28 Jan 04 2 Physical layer: transmission media, coding Sections 2.1 - 2.3 / Project DLC1: Framing
04 Feb 04 3 Analog/digital transmission, serial/parallel interfaces, multiplexing, CRC Sections 2.4 - 3.3, 4.3 / Project DLC2: CRC
11 Feb 04 4 Data compression, security principles, integrity, appropriate use Section 3.5, Chapter 4 / Project DLC1 due
18 Feb 04 5 Data link control; discrete event simulation Chapter 5 / Project DLC3: ARQ / Project DLC2 due
25 Feb 04 6 Local area networks Section 3.4, Chapter 6 / Project LAN1: CSMA/CD LAN
03 Mar 04 7 Network Layer: WANs, X.25, routing Sections 7.3 & 7.4 / Project DLC3 due
17 Mar 04 8 Mid-Term Exam All material covered to date in chapters 1 to 7 inclusive
24 Mar 04 9 Internet Architecture (IPv4), routing algorithms Sections 7.1 & 7.2 Project WAN2: Forwarding and Optimization Project LAN1 due
31 Mar 04 10 Queueing basics; transport layer: TCP and UDP Sections 7.5 & 7.6 / Project TRN1: Reliable Transport
07 Apr 04 11 Multicast, multimedia and ATM networking no reading [yet]/ Project INT3: Integrated Stack and Project Report Project WAN2 due
14 Apr 04 12 Network Security and Network Management Chapter 4 / Project TRN1 due
21 Apr 04 13 Higher layer protocols Chapter 8 / Project INT3 due
28 Apr 04 14 Pervasive Computing and major topic review no reading [yet]
05 May 04 15 Final exam (comprehensive) All material covered from chapters 1 to 8 inclusive

Other Notes:
  • Course notices and assignments will be provided via email and/or on the course web site http://cs.gmu.edu/~csnow/cs455/2004B.
  • Students are responsible for checking their GMU email and assume all responsibility for the security of their email (wherever sent).
  • Course material (e.g., pdf versions of class slides, supplementary material, homework solutions) will be available on the course web site.
  • This course is available, via Internet, to computers anywhere using a package called NEW, developed at GMU Students may dial-up through GMU facilities, or use any other Internet access they have available to them. The web-cast of the classes provides the slides presented in class, synchronized with the instructor's voice and annotations. Students may submit written or spoken questions to the instructor during the class. The classes are also recorded, and are available for playback later. A password is required to access online course delivery. To obtain a password for NEW access, visit the distance education webpage and follow the directions there (use your standard GMU computer account username).