CMSC 711: Computer Networks -- Spring 98



Last modified Fri May 22 16:22:22 EDT 1998
Mar 3: more papers, midterm 1 date
Mar 6: "Simulators" section, "Project" section (wireless links), project proposal.v1.
Mar 31: Exam 1 solution and grades, "Must read papers" section.
April 14: more must-read papers.
May 14: Modified weightages of exams and project.
May 14: Final exam in AVW 1152, Monday May 18, 10:30-12:30.
May 22: Course Grades

Instructor: A. Udaya Shankar (shankar@cs.umd.edu), AVW 4141.

Time and place

Tuesday, Thursday: 11:00-12:15pm. AVW 3258.

Office hours

Tuesday, Thursday: 12:30-3:00pm.

Prerequisites

Basic networking and basic probability (e.g. STAT 400), or permission of instructor.

Description

This course deals with advanced topics in TCP/IP and ATM networking. The focus is on modeling and performance evaluation, including traffic characterization, admission control, congestion control, routing, link scheduling, multicasting, mobile networks, end-to-end performance, etc. Course projects would typically involve the modeling of network systems and their performance evaluation by analysis and/or simulations.

The course will concentrate on material from chapters 8 (switching), 9 (scheduling), 11 (routing), 13 (flow control), and 14 (traffic management), and also papers from these areas.

Textbooks

  • Recommended: An Engineering Approach to Computer Networking: ATM Networks, the Internet, and the Telephone Network by S. Keshav. Addison Wesley, 1997. ISBN 0-201-63442-2. Book web page

    I hear the following bookstore gives good prices and quick shipping: Readme.Doc, tel: 800-678-1473, email: readme@pa.net

  • Solutions and Grades

  • Course Grades by last 4 digits of student id.
  • Exam 1 solution (ps) .
  • Must-Read Papers

    1. W. Stevens, TCP Slow Start, Congestion Avoidance, Fast Retransmit, and Fast Recovery Algorithms, RFC 2001. http://globecom.net/(nocl)/ietf/rfc/rfc2001.shtml.

    2. Extended version of "Wide-Area Internet Traffic Patterns and Characteristics," K. Thompson, G. J. Miller, and R. Wilder, IEEE Network, November/December 1997. Available in postscript (4.27M), gzipped postcript (776K), and pdf (2.4M). Also available locally ( ps.gz ).

    3. What's Next for Internet Data Analysis? Status and Challenges Facing the Community K. Claffy, Tracie Monk, 1998.

    4. Promoting the Use of End-to-End Congestion Control in the Internet, S. Floyd, K. Fall, 1998.

    5. Dynamics of Internet routing information, B. Chinoy, Mar 1993

    6. Dynamics of Random Early Detection, Dong Lin and Robert Morris, SIGCOMM 1997

    7. TCP Behavior with Many Flows, R. Morris, ICNP 1997

    8. End-to-End Routing Behavior in the Internet. V. Paxson, IEEE/ACM Transaction on Networking, Vol.5, No.5, pp. 601-615, October 1997.

    9. End-to-End Internet Packet Dynamics, V. Paxon, ACM SIGCOMM '97.

    10. Wide-Area Traffic: The Failure of Poisson Modeling. V. Paxson, S. Floyd, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 226-244, June 1995.

    11. Congestion Avoidance and Control ( compressed postscript, pdf). V. Jacobson, (slightly-revised 1992 version of the SIGCOMM 1998 paper).

    Other Papers

  • Sites with interesting and timely papers on TCP/IP networking: vBNS , NLANR , LBL NRG

  • Archive of Internet drafts, RFCs, STDs: http://globecom.net/(nocl)/ietf/index.shtml

  • Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) -- Version 1 Functional Specification, Internet draft.

  • Integrated Services in the Internet Architecture: an Overview, RFC 1633, June 1994.
  • Project

  • Modeling wireless links.
  • Discrete-event simulation note
  • Network Simulators

  • MaRS. Simulator for evaluating routing systems.

  • REAL simulator. Developed by Keshav.

  • UCB/LBNL/VINT Network Simulator - ns (version 2) NS provides substantial support for simulation of TCP, routing, and multicast protocols. Includes links to topology generation, wireless network simulation, other simulation packages , visualization tools, and traffic archives.

  • UCB/LBNL Network Simulator: Contributed Code, WWW Traffic Generator
  • Grading

    
    Midterm exam		 approx 30%    Thursday March 12
    Final exam 		 approx 30%    Monday May 18, AVW 1152
    Homework/project 	 approx 40%
       proposal version 1 	 approx  5%    Tuesday March 17
       proposal version 2 	 approx  5%    Tuesday April 7
       final report  	 approx 30%    Tuesday May 12