Communication Protocols and Internet Architectures

Networks are now too large, complex, and diverse to be built on an ad hoc basis. This course provides a structured approach to the design, analysis, and implementation of networks and protocols. We study various protocols, including TCP/IP, WWW/HTTP, e-mail/SMTP, domain name system (DNS), routing protocols (RIP, OSPF, and BGP) and autonomous systems (AS), virtual network protocols (VXLAN), delay-tolerant network protocols (DTN), and the IEEE 802 LAN protocol suite. In each case, the protocol's functions and the underlying reference model are discussed in detail. LAN architecture and design, network security and encryption, and the design and analysis of both private networks and the internet are presented. The course discusses new areas of work, including low latency network design, cloud network architecture, gigabit wireless networks, protocols for the Internet-of-Things (IoT), software-defined networks (SDN), and network functions virtualization (NFV).