CS 360 Special Topics: Computer Networking

Introduction

This course is an introduction to Computer Networking covering basic networking architectures, algorithms, and protocols. In particular, it will focus on the 7-layer OSI model and the TCP/IP reference model. This course will discusss, with respect to these models, how data is transferred across a network, how networking protocols allow for open networks and which piece of the model is responsible for each bit of functionality.

Topics

Programming Projects

This course will contain a set of significant programming projects to allow students to gain experience using the networking libraries and to understand how the TCP/IP protocol works. Most of the later programming assignments in this course will build on functionality implemented in previous assignments. Quality solutions to the early assignments are the key to success.

All programming assignments must work on zeus to receive any credit. I will not accept any Visual Studio projects. You may program on Windows using a Unix compatibility suite (see Cygwin below). The last project of the semester will use the CISCO routing equipment to explore what can be done on the network router. All projects are individual projects, do not allow any other student see your source code.

Academic Dishonesty

The cheating policy is defined in Pacific Stuff & the Pacific Catalog as well as the Academic Policy that each of you signed upon entering Pacific University. Be sure you read or reread this policy carefully. All code written for our course is to be an original design and an original implementation. The Web, textbooks, and any other references are simply references for you. Copying source code from any source is prohibited.

Further, source code is not to exchange hands in any form or by any medium except when sending your solutions to the instructor. It is OK to share high level ideas during the design phase, share information dealing with OS issues, debugger issues, in general, development issues that do not involve code writing.

Specific solutions to homework problems should not be discussed with any other students. The solutions should be an individual effort unless otherwise specified on the assignment. As with coding, high level concepts can be discussed. However, do not discuss specific homework problems or solutions.

If you have any question as to whether or not what you are about to do constitutes cheating, ask the instructor.

Course Policies

• Assignments are to be submitted, electronically and as a hard copy, by 1 pm on the day in which they are due (unless otherwise specified).  Late assignments will not be accepted. Start your assignments early. This course will cover a good deal of new material and writing and debugging the projects will take much longer than you think. You may turn each assignment exactly once.
• Grade Complaints: If you have a complaint regarding a grade on an assignment, exam, or homework, write a one paragraph description of why you feel the grade is incorrect and deliver it to the instructor. The paragraph must be delivered to the instructor within one calendar week of when the graded material is returned to the student.
  
• No early or late exams/finals will be given.
• No incompletes will be given.
• All code in any form generated from this course becomes the intellectual property of Pacific University. You may not share this code with anyone without obtaining written permission from Pacific University.
• Neither computer failure, software failure, nor lack of computer access are accepted as excuses for late programs; therefore, start work on the programs as soon as they are assigned, don't put them off until the last minute. Further, corruption of programs due to bad disk media is also not accepted as an excuse for late programs; therefore, always keep a current backup of all programs on a separate disk.
• The instructor reserves the right to raise or lower a student's grade based on class participation and attendance.
• I do not want to hear any electronic devices go off during lecture; therefore, make sure you silence these devices before lecture starts.
• Class starts promptly at 1 pm. Your attendance is expected at each class meeting. It is in your own best interest to attend class, as your grade will almost certainly suffer indirectly if you choose not to attend. In addition, I reserve the right to consider attendance in instances of borderline grade assignments. Of course, excused absences (sickness, family emergencies, varsity athletic participation) will not be held against you. Scheduled absences should be communicated to me well in advance. If you must miss a class, be sure to check with me or another student to get what you missed. Exams will be given in class on the day scheduled and may not be made up. The material in the course is, by necessity, cumulative. Be warned that if you fall behind, you will not be able to catch up easily.
• If you have a documented disability covered under the ADA then services and accommodations are available from LSS (Learning Support Services). If you need reasonable accommodations to fully participate in course activities or meet course requirements, you must contact Edna K. Gehring, Director of LSS , at X2107. She will meet with you, review the documentation of their disabilities, and discuss the services Pacific offers.

Resources

Computer Networks, 4th Edition, Tanenbaum, online resources (http://authors.phptr.com/tanenbaumcn4/)
RFC Editor (http://www.rfc-editor.org/)
HTTP/1.1 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt)
Web Sniffer (http://web-sniffer.net/)
"A protocol for packet network intercommunication", Cerf, Kahn (http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1064423)
A TCP/IP Tutorial - RFC 1180 (ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc1180.txt)
User Datagram Protocol - RFC 768 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0768.txt)
Computing the Internet Checksum - RFC 1071 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1071.txt)
The Secure Shell Protocol Architecture (ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc4251.txt)
IP QOS (http://www.ciscopress.com/content/images/chap01_1578701163/elementLinks/1578701163.pdf)
IEEE 802 (http://www.ieee802.org/)
TCP/IP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tcp/ip)
Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit (http://insecure.org/stf/smashstack.html)
End-to-end Arguments in System Design (http://web.mit.edu/Saltzer/www/publications/endtoend/endtoend.pdf)
JFLAP (http://www.jflap.org)
Subversion (http://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/svn-book.html)
SSH (http://kimmo.suominen.com/docs/ssh/)
TCP SYN Flooding Attacks and Remedies (http://www.networkcomputing.com/unixworld/security/004/004.txt.html)

Unsupported Resources

Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com)
Pthread Support in Microsoft Windows Services for UNIX (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/interopmigration/unix/sfu/pthreads0.mspx)
Pthreads-WIN32 (http://sourceware.org/pthreads-win32/)
CVS (http://www.cvshome.org)

Further Reading

Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet, Hafner, (ISBN13: 9780684832678)
TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols, Stevens, (ISBN13: 9780201633467)
The Cathedral and the Bazaar (http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/)

Exams

Acknowledgements

This class has benefited from networking classes taught at other universities:

• CS417 University of Maryland, Jeff Hollingsworth
• CS465 Colgate University, Jamie Spacco