CPSC 417 - Computer Networking

MWF, 3:00 PM-4:00 PM

room DMP 301

Spring 2009

Course Instructor: Alan Wagner (wagner@cs.ubc.ca)

Office: CICSR/CS 321 (office hours 1-2PM, M-W)

Course Overview

A more advanced networking course that builds on CPSC 317 with a focus on the following four topics: wireless networking, multimedia networking, network security and network management.   An entire course could be devoted to any one of these topics. The objective of the course will be to introduce each area with a focus on general networking principles and problems specific to the area.     Where possible, we will try to use available tools and resources that are commonly used in the field. In particular, we will make use of tools like Wireshark to give you some experience in analyzing network traces.

Prerequisites

          CPSC 317 and one of STAT 241 or STAT 200.

Textbook

The required text for this course is:

Computer Networking 4rd Edition, by James F. Kurose and Keith W. Ross.

The text is the same one used for CPSC 317.   Since this a prerequisite for the course, you should already have a copy of the book.  The course will basically cover Chapters 6 to 9, however, we may re-visit earlier sections as needed and the material from the book will be augmented with more in-depth material from other books and papers. 

Lecture Format

I will mostly use the board and slides. I will try to have the slides posted before each class.  When possible, I will make use of the slides available from Kurose and Ross. There is an on-line site for the book.

Assessment

The grading for the course will be done in approximately the following way:

Four Assignments 20%  (5% each)

Three Quizzes 30%  (10% each)

Final Exam 50%

I reserve the right the change the grading for the course. In order to pass the course you MUST obtain a passing grade (50%) in the assignments, quizzes and final exam (.i.e., at least 10/20 in the assignments, 15/30 for the quizzes, and 25/50 in the final).  If you fail to pass a part of the course you will be assigned 45 or your calculated grade, if it is less than 45.

Acts of misconduct will not be tolerated and the appropriate department policies will be followed. Please ensure you have read the department policies on conduct (policies), especially those that pertain to plagiarism and collaboration.

Assignments

There will be 4 assignments in the course.  The penalty for late assignments will be 20% * (# days late).

Teaching Assistants

There are four TAs for the course. The assignments will be handed in electronically and you will be able to discuss the assignment with the TA through the bulletin board or help sessions. I will also arrange for office hours for the teaching assistants.

Course Web Page

The course web page is located here. The newsgroup for the course is ubc.courses.cpsc.417.

Proposed Lecture Outline

The core of the course will be Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9.  A course schedule is given below.  This is subject to change and should only be used a rough guideline.  There are approximately 8 or 9 lectures on each part of the course.

Part 1:  January 5th to January 26th

          Assignment 1

Wireless networking (Chapter 6)

January 26th: Quiz 1

 

Resources:

          Data Communications and Networking 3rd Edition, B. A. Forouzan, McGraw Hill, 2004

          Wireless Communications and Networks 2nd Edition, William Stallings, Prentice Hall, 2005

 

Part 2:  January 28th to February 25th

          Assignment 2

Multimedia networking (Chapter 7)

February 25th: Quiz 2

 

Part 3:  February 27th to March 20th

          Assignment 3

Security (Chapter 8)

March 20th: Quiz 3

 

Part 4:  March 19th to April 4th

          Assignment 4

25th – 8th: Networking/Network management (Chapter 9, other selected material)

 

April 4th: Review session

 

FINAL EXAM:  covering parts 1 to 4, with an emphasis on Part 4.