Objectives | Lecturers | Content, material, and schedule | Lab Experiences | Exams | Bibliography | Final project

Objectives:

The course presents advanced topics concerning computer networks. Specifically, it presents and discusses widely deployed technologies and offered services, with the aim of providing the knowledge for wisely making technical choices when in charge of network design and operation.

Language:

This page refers to to different courses, which present the same topics but are taught in different languages. Specifically,

• Computer Network Technologies and Services is taught in English
• Tecnologie e servizi di rete è riservato per gli studenti del percorso di studi in italiano. Those courses present the same topics, make use the same set of slides, share the same learning material (slides, assignments, labs) and the same web site, have the same lecturers. However, lectures (and the exam) will be given in either English (for CNTS) or Italian (for TSR).

Instructors:

Prof. Mario Baldi (mario.baldi[at]polito.it), tel. 011 090 7067
Prof. Guido Marchetto (guido.marchetto[at]polito.it), tel. 011 090 7094

Lab assistant:

Ing. Alessio Sacco (alessio_sacco[at]polito.it), tel 011 090 7098 Ing. Daniele Bringhenti (daniele.bringhenti[at]polito.it), tel 011 090 7098

Lab Experiences:

The course includes some practical assignments on the main topics covered during classes. The Lab assignments allow students experimenting mechanisms and protocols covered during class with the objective of facilitating their learning. Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this unique opportunity by not only being present, but carefully going through all the proposed exercises striving to deeply understand what is being observed and ask the instructor for clarification and hints whenever they cannot make sense of what they see. Students will not be required to hand in the outcome of their lab experiences or write a report. However, lab experiences are integral part of the course and it is possible that the exams contain questions related to their content. Most of the suggested experiments can be carried out on any networked computer, hence without going to the lab in the appointed hours. However, during schedule hours assistance will be available in the lab to help with possible difficulties and issues.

Exams:

The exam consists of a written test that will typically including 1 to 4 questions, which might involve solving practical problems and writing short essays on specific topics discussed during the lectures. Sample questions are available in Italian (for TSR) and English (for CNTS). Some of the previous exam papers are available.

Solutions to the exam questions are provided, usualy the day of the exam, at a time and in a classroom posted on the course calendar. The instructor highlights what is expected of each aswer and specifies how various types of mistakes and omissions might affect the final grade. This enables each student to quite accurately estimate their final grade based on the answer given to the various questions, and decide whether to have their test graded or withdraw it if the estimate is lower than their expectation. (The actual grade might be a little higher because in some cases grades are curved to take into account mistakes that are particularly common or questions that turned out ambiguous or particularly hard for a large fraction of the student body.) This session is also an opportunity to ask questions and clear doubts as to how to answer the various questions.

Exam papers that will not be withdrawn will be graded and the resulting grade will be final and changes to it will not be possible (i.e., it will not be possible to “reject” a passing grade registering the exam attempt as failed). Students who receive a grade of 25 or higher, which they feel does not reflect their level of knowledge, can sustain an integrative oral test. Being an integration to the written test, the oral test will be graded as an increment (or decrement) of points to the written test grade to produce the final exam grade.

• Evaluation criteria and TSR and CNTS results for the September 18th written test.

Bibliography:

1. S. Gai, “Internetworking IPv6 with Cisco Routers," McGraw-Hill, 1998, ISBN 0070228361
2. W. J. Goralski, “SONET,” McGraw-Hill, seconda edizione, 2000, ISBN 0-07-212570-5
3. W. Stallings, “ISDN and Broadband ISDN with Frame Relay and ATM (4th Edition),” Prentice Hall, ottobre 1998, ISBN 0139737448
4. B. Mukherjee, “Optical WDM Networks,” Springer Science+Business Media, Inc., 2006, available at the Central Library also in electronic version.
5. S. V. Kartalopoulos, “Introduction to DWDM Technology,” IEEE Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7803-5399-4
6. P. Ferguson, G. Huston, “Quality of Service,” John Wiley and sons, 1998, ISBN 0-471-24358-2
7. Cisco Systems, “Cisco Internetworking Technology Handbook,” Pearson Education, 3rd edition, 2000, ISBN 9781587050015. Also available on-line and as PDF. (The book covers many of the topics addressed by the course and much, much more. Please note that some concepts specific of Cisco Systems products and implementation are possibly presented as general.)
8. M. Lewis, “Comparing, Designing, and Deploying VPNs,” Cisco Press, 2006, ISBN 1587051796. (The first chapter, available as a sample, provides a good overview of VPNs)
9. Microsoft TechNet, “What is VPN?” (Please note that some concepts specific of Microsoft products and implementation are possibly presented as general.)