CSE 534: Fundamentals of Computer Networks (Spring 2018)
Semester
Instructor
Course Time
Location
Class Discussion Forum
Contact Info
Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday 12.00 – 1.15, New computer science building, Room 337 (May be rescheduled occasionally. New office hours will be posted on Piazza when needed)
Instructor email: arunab@cs.stonybrook.edu
TA: Santiago Vargas (savargas@cs.stonybrook.edu )
TA Office hours: Wednesday 1.00 to 2.30 in Room #348
Announcement
- Sign up for Piazza.
- A tentative schedule is up.
- The Web page is up.
Description
The goal of this course is to cover the introductory topics in networking. We will go through the standard protocols in each layer of the OSI stack and discuss design patterns commonly used in networking protocols. While part of the discussions will be on traditional protocols, the other part will focus on newer developments in the networking world. Specifically, we will discuss HTTP/2, Quic, MPTCP, data centers, and SDNs all in the context of the OSI stack.
Textbooks
I will teach the course top-down. There is no required textbook, but the recommended book is
Computer Networks, A Top Down Approach by Kurose and Ross [KR]
Prerequisites
Grading
(Tentative) There are several components in this class: Assignments, Projects, Exams, and Summaries. The grading criteria are as follows:
Midterm and Final exam: 45%
Project: 20%
Paper summaries: 5%
Assignments: 30% (10% each)
Project: The project is meant to be open-ended. Around 3 weeks into the semester, we will discuss possible project ideas. You should choose a project and submit a project proposal. Mid-way through the course, you will present a report on project progress. At the end, you will present your projects to the instructor and submit a project report.
I encourage students to do the project in groups of 2 or 3. If you want to do a project without any team members, come talk to me. The scope of the project is different if you have 1 versus 2 versus 3 team members. All project-related reports should be submitted before 9.00PM on the day they are due.
Paper summaries: There are 4 to 5 papers assigned for reading. For each paper, you are expected to provide a summary. More details on how to write a paper summary will be up on Piazza. Paper summaries should be submitted at 10.00AM on the day they are due (that is, just before class starts). No extensions are allowed. If you don't submit by the deadline, you forfeit the points.
For grading, I will choose the top 3 summaries.
Assignments: There will be 3 assignments in all. Assignments should be submitted before 9.00pm on the day they are due. The assignments are programming heavy. You can program in Java, C, and Python.
We will use Blackboard for submissions. If you want to resubmit after you already submitted one version of your assignment/project/summaries, you may do so. But you are allowed a maximum of 2 resubmissions (i.e., a maximum of 3 attempts). You get a 24 hours grace period spanning all 3 assignments. There is no grace period for your project reports and summaries.
I should note here that I almost never give extensions on any submissions.
Tentative Schedule
| Date | Topic | Readings | Notes | |
| 1/23/2018 | Introduction | No reading. | Syllabus and overview. | |
|
Application Layer |
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| 1/25/2018 | DNS | KR 2.5 | [lect_dns.pdf] | |
| 1/30/2018 | CDNs, HTTP/HTTP2 | KR 2.2 | [lect_cdn.pdf] | |
| 2/01/2018 | HTTP/HTTP2, Web | [lect_http_http2.pdf] Homework 1 out 2/2 | ||
| 2/06/2018 | HTTP/HTTP2 | Web_IMC11 [Summary paper] |
[lect_http_http2.pdf] Summary 1 is due before class starts. | |
|
Transport Layer |
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| 2/8/2018 | Transport protocol/TCP | KR 3.5, 3.6, 3.7 | [lect_tcp1.pdf] | |
| 2/13/2018 | No class | |||
| 2/15/2018 | Special class on Wireshark |
|
Wireshark instructions by Santiago Vargas. Homework #1 due 2/19, Homework 2 out 2/19 | |
| 2/20/2018 | TCP flow control + Congestion control | KR 3.3 | [lect_tcp2.pdf] | |
| 2/22/2018 | TCP congestion control + SPDY | [lect_tcp2.pdf] | ||
| 2/27/2018 | TCP favors + Project discussions | SPDY [Summary] | [lect_tcp3.pdf] Project discussion. Summary #2 due before class starts on 2/27 | |
|
Network Layer |
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| 3/01/2018 | Internet Protocol | |||
| 3/06/2018 | Intra-domain protocol | KR 4.1.1, 4.3.2, 4.4 | Homework #2 due 3/05 | |
| 3/08/2018 | No class | Snow day |
Project proposal due 3/09 at 9.00pm. |
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Spring Break |
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| 3/13/2018 | Spring Break | No Class | No class | |
| 3/15/2018 | Spring Break | No Class | No class | |
|
Switching |
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| 3/20/2018 | Intra-domain Routing | KR 4.6.3 | ||
|
Midterm |
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| 3/22/2018 | Midterm | Midterm | In class Midterm | |
|
Special Topics |
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| 3/27/2018 | Intra-domain routing+ Switching layer | |||
| 3/29/2018 | Datacenter networking | Homework #3 out 3/30 | ||
| 4/3/2018 | DCTCP/D2TCP + Portland | D2CTCP(summary paper) | Summary #3 due in class | |
| 4/5/2017 | SDNs, Network Function Virtualization |
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| 4/10/2018 | Middleboxes | Middlebox paper(Summary paper) | Summary #4 due in class. | |
| 4/12/2018 | MPTCP/Quic | Quic (Summary paper) | Summary #5 due in class. | |
| 4/17/2018 | No class | |||
|
Link layer/Physical layer |
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| 4/19/2018 | Link layer | KR 5.3.1, 5.3.2 | Homework due 4/23 at 9.00pm. | |
| 4/24/2018 | Link layer | Project progress due 4/27 at 9.00pm | ||
| 4/26/2018 | Physical layer/Cellular | |||
| 05/01/2018 | Discussions | TBD | TBD | |
| 05/03/2018 | Midterm | 2nd Midterm | In class midterm | |
| 05/10/2018 | Project presentation | BEtween 2.00 and 5.00 | ||
| 05/11/2018 | Project presentation | Between 2.00 and 5.00Project report due 9.00pm 05/11/2016 | ||
Others
Deadlines: All deadlines are tentative in the beginning. The firm deadlines will be announced in class and posted on Piazza.
Discussion policy: All discussions will take place on Piazza. Please be respectful of your fellow classmates and your instructor when posting questions. If you post questions or comments on Piazza that I deem derogatory or otherwise not constructive, I will remove them.
You are expected to read your Piazza posts frequently. I will be posting important announcements on it.
Questions posted on Piazza can take up to 24 hours for a response from the instructor or the TA. If you ask a question very close to an assignment deadline, they may go unanswered.
Grading policy: I will not be able to give any individual student extra credit for additional work or projects. However, for projects that are especially good, I may award additional points. This is at my discretion.
Academic Dishonesty: I take academic dishonesty extremely seriously. Your assignments will be tested for plagiarism not only against your classmates but also with all past assignments. If I find evidence of dishonesty, I will immediately notify the Graduate Program Director and give you an F in the class.