Informatics 341 Syllabus

Computer Networking and Distributed Applications

Informatics Program,
Information School,
University of Washington

 

Fall 2008

Instructor: John Blommers


Phone: (425) 260-1471 (cell) 


Email: blommers@u.washington.edu

Office Hours: By appointment


TA: Jay Zeng (jiezeng@u.washington.edu)

Course Discussion Forum: TBA

Course Mailing List: TBA

Course page: http://faculty.washington.edu/blommers/syllabus_2008.htm

 

 

Course Description

Basic concepts of local and wide area computer networking including an overview of services provided by networks, network topologies and hardware, packet switching, client/server architectures, network protocols, and network servers and applications. Also addresses management, security, authentication, and policy issues associated with distributed systems.

Text

Computer Networks and Internets, Fifth Edition, Douglas E. Comer, Prentice Hall, 2009. ISBN 0-13-606698-4

Course Meetings

The course lectures are Wednesday and Friday 2:00 pm to 3:50 pm in LOW 105. Lab room MGH 430 is reserved for info341 student unsupervised use every Thursday 12:30 to 1:50 pm. You may work on the group labs at any other time the lab is available as well.


Calendar & Modules

Online Schedule

The following schedule describes the Reading assignment for each week as well as the various assignment due dates. You will be notified if the following schedule changes for any reason. The Reading assignments that are not from the book are available on line.

Some lecture notes from last term are stored in this directory http://faculty.washington.edu/blommers/Lecture-notes/


Unit 1: Wires, Bits, Packets and LANs

Week 1

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Reading : Text chapters 1, 2, 4. Common Unix Commands

Lecture: Intro, physical layer

Friday, September 26, 2008

Reading : Text chapters 8, 10, 11.

Lecture: LANs, LAN components

 

Week 2

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Reading : Text chapters 7, 9, 13. Common Unix Commands

Lecture: Packets, Routing Algorithms

Friday, October 3, 2008

Reading : Text chapters 6, 12, 16, 17.

Lecture: WANs, WAN Connections, Protocol Layering

Laboratory Assignment #1 Due


Unit 2: Internetworking

Week 3

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Reading : Text chapters 18, 19, 20, 21, 27.

Lecture: Intro to TCP/IP, Subnetting, and Routing

Friday, October 10, 2008

Reading : Text chapters 24, 25, 26.

Lecture: Home networks

 

Week 4

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Reading: Text chapter 28. NOS Implementation

Lecture: NOS, LAN OS, and Client-Server

Friday, October 17, 2008

Reading : Text section 8.9 802.11b Wireless LANs and SCMA/CA

Lecture: Advanced Wireless Topics

Laboratory Assignment #2 Due

Week 5

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Reading: No new reading

Lecture: Review for Midterm Exam

Lecture:  Mid-Term Review

Friday, October 24, 2008

Mid-term exam


Unit 3: Network Oriented Applications & Management

Week 6: Intro to OS and Network Software

Architectures & Protocol Design

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Reading : OS Introduction, OS Structures, Distributed Systems Introduction, Distributed Systems Architectures, Peer to Peer History, Protocol Design

Lecture: Operating Systems and Distributed OS Architecture

Friday, October 31, 2008 (happy Halloween!)

Reading : OS Introduction, OS Structures, Distributed Systems Introduction, Distributed Systems Architectures, Peer to Peer History, Protocol Design

Lecture: Operating Systems and Distributed OS Architecture

Laboratory Assignment #3 Due

Week 7: Virtualization and Network Management

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Reading : Text chapter 39

Lecture: Virtualization

Friday, November 7, 2008

Reading : Text chapter 39.

Lecture: SNMP and Remote Access

Week 8: Remote Access and Web Services

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Reading : Text chapters 34.

Lecture: Remote Access and FTP

Important RFCs: none

Friday, November 14, 2008

Reading : Text Chapter 35..

Lecture: The Web and HTTP, OSI Revisited, Extending the Web, WebDAV Demo

Important RFCs: Original WebDAV Spec (Updated WebDAV), Transport Layer Security, HTTP Specification

Laboratory Assignment #4 Due

Week 9: Network Supported Communications

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Reading: Text chapter 32.

Lecture: Email

Friday, November 21, 2008

Reading: Text chapter 33.

Lecture: Other Messaging – IM, VoIP, Skype, Gizmo, Video

Week 10: Hacking & Security

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Reading : Text chapter 40. Security Guide, 2600 Selections, The Internet Worm (historical), Crisis & Aftermath (historical)

Lecture: Security

Friday, November 28, 2008

No Class – Thanksgiving break.

Week 11: Review and Final Preparation

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Reading : Review 2nd half of recommended course readings

Lecture: Review session for the final examination

Laboratory Assignment #5 Due

Friday, December 5, 2008

No class. Study for the final exam.

Week 12 Final Examination Week

LOW 105, Tuesday, December 9, 2008, 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm


Assignments & Grading

Academic Honesty

Academic honesty can be confusing. As a community of scholars we hold to a set of standards about our academic conduct. Please take a look at the UW policy on academic honesty http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm and make sure you understand these standards and norms. At the first class meeting, you will be asked to sign a statement saying that you have read and understand the University norms.

Grading

The grading of the course will be based on quizzes, examinations and lab assignments. The course is organized into three units. There will be one mid-term and one final exam. The bulk of the course is composed of laboratory assignments that you will complete. There will be 5-6 short pop quizzes given during regular course meetings. Quizzes are not announced in advance. There re no make-up quizzes.  

Lab Assignments:

50% (5 labs worth 10% apiece)

Quizzes:

15% (5 quizzes worth 3% apiece)

Mid-term:

15%

Final exam

15%

Participation:

5%

 

Lab Information

The lab assistants in the TE Lab are able to answer general questions only and provide lab management during the posted times. Remember, the lab assistants are not there to do your lab for you, but they can be very helpful; so be nice and treat your lab assistants well. The iSchool Lab web page is: http://www.ischool.washington.edu/technology/labs/default.aspx

 

Lab Assignments

Lab assignments are designed to give all students a common foundation in essential networking concepts and activities. The five lab assignments cover issues of wiring and interconnections, data transmission through a network, rudimentary aspects of putting equipment on a network, wireless infrastructure, and network server administration. The lab assignment and due dates are as follows:

Lab

Topic

Due Date

1

Network Wiring

Friday, October 3, 2008

2

Network Diagnostics (Packet Dissection)

Friday, October 17, 2008

3

Wireless Lab

Friday, October 31, 2008

4

Introduction to Network Administration

Friday, November 14, 2008

5

Voice over IP

Friday, November 28, 2008

Laboratory assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date. Assignments that are not turned in on time will be penalized

Writing Style

 

Note that Info 341 lab reports must adopt a subset of the well-known APA style:

á            Complete title page

á            Table of Contents

á            Abstract

á            The body of the paper

á            References

á            Pages are numbered

á            Lines are double-spaced

á            No speling mistaekes

Points will be deducted for papers not meeting these minimum requirements. You are encouraged to present technical information in the appropriate formats. For example, tables are better suited to present quantitative data while prose is better suited for interpreting the data. A simple template you can adapt is located here.

 


Course Communications (under construction)

E-mail

Instructor: John Blommers, blommers@u.washington.edu

TA: Jay Zeng, mailto:jiezeng@u.washington.edu

Help with technology:

Email help@ischool.washington.edu, not your instructor, when you have questions about the use of Catalyst and technologies that are not directly related to the content of this course.