6.829 Computer Networks Schedule (Fall 2001)

All notes are Copyright © Hari Balakrishnan (1998-2001)
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Please note:

  1. Lecture numbers (L1, L2, etc.) are linked to corresponding lecture notes.  Generally, these will appear on this page soon after the lecture.  Not all notes are in flowing text; usually they are in bullet form and highlight things I consider important about each paper or the area being discussed.
  2. For all lectures, you MUST try and read the assigned papers BEFORE lecture.  I will not repeat a lot of detail of what's in the paper, but instead focus only on a few important pieces, and give you a flavor of other work in the area as well.  You're likely to get the most out of each lecture if you read the material beforehand.
  3. Pay attention to the due dates for problem sets, project proposal, project interim status, and other deadlines.  All deadlines are hard.
  4. The paper codes refer to papers found on the course reading list.  They are also linked to the ps/pdf copy of the paper, in cases when an online version is available.  All other papers will be handed out in class.
  5. Paper codes in parentheses (e.g., (RJ90)) are optional reading.  Read some of these if you have time, or are especially interested in the corresponding material.  You'll learn a great deal and may find it useful for your project.  We won't hand these out in class.
Date Topics Readings Optional reading; remarks
L1 9/5 W Internetworking: Switching/bridging --> Routing; IP L0 (background)
CK74 , Cla88		 Read CK74, Cla88 before L2
L2 9/10 M Scaling IP; connections and reliability ; TCP
PS 1 assigned (due 9/26)		 Hin96 , JK88 (Read at least the Introduction, Sections 1 and 2, and Appendices A and C) (FF96)
L3 9/12 W End-to-end congestion control JK88 , CJ89 (FF99), (FHPW00), (BB01)
9/14 F Tutorial on ns-2 (network simulator)
(2pm, NE43-518, Dave Andersen & Xiaowei Yang)		   You'll find this useful for problem sets and term project
9/17 M Student holiday; no class!
L4 9/19 W Router-assisted congestion control (ECN); active queue management
Project suggestions handed out; proposals due Monday 10/1/01 in class		 FJ93 , SEW01   (RJ90)
L5 9/24 M Fair queueing; scheduling DKS90 , SSZ98
L6 9/26 W Unicast routing; BGP
PS 1 due (in class)
PS 2 assigned (due 10/15/01)		 LAB00, Nor00 (Huitema96), (Stewart98)
L7 10/1 M Internet routing & loss behavior: experiments and modeling
Project proposals due in class. Two copies		 Bol93, Pax96
1-2 page description of problem statement, research goals, plan of attack		 Don't forget title, author names, and your email addresses! 
L8 10/3 W Mobile routing [Migrate talk slides] Joh96, SB00
10/8 M Institute holiday; no class!    
L9 10/10 W Multicast routing (Semeria & Maufer notes) DE+94, HC99 (DC90) 
L10 10/15 M Forwarding: IP lookups and layer-4 classification
PS 2 due (in class)
Extended to 5pm, 10/18/01		 BCDP97  
L11 10/17 W BFRs ("Big Routers") P+98, McK96  
10/22 M Quiz 1: In class All material covered thus far
L12 10/24 W Adaptive applications [ slides ], ALF [ slides ] CT90, BSR99 (PM95), (RHE99)
L13 10/29 M QoS-I: Utility models (why beyond best-effort?) She95  
L14 10/31 W QoS-II: Beyond best-effort: How? (IntServ & DiffServ) CSZ92, CF98 RSVP (Z+95) (RFC 2205-2209)
L15 11/5 M Revisiting the end-to-end arguments: Guest lecture by Dave Clark CB01  
L16 11/7 W Network security: Denial-of-service remediation SWKA00 , Sno+01 IPSec (RFC1825)
11/12 M Institute holiday, no class!  
L17 11/14 W Wireless protocols: channel & media-access

Project write-up (checkpoint) due in class

 BDSZ94, She96 Include outline of final paper, progress so far, related work section
L18 11/19 M Wireless protocols: TCP and fast mobile handoffs; 3G wireless overview BSK95
L19 11/21 W DNS: Architecture, performance, uses MD88 , JSBM01  
L20 11/26 M Peer-to-peer networking Cla00 , Sto+01 (Gnutella) , (Napster)
L21 11/28 W Multicast transport F+97 , MJV96 (Pap98), (BTW94)
L22 12/3 M Traffic analysis and network dynamics LTWW94, Pax97
12/5 W No class! Prep for project presentations!    
12/6 Th Project presentations All day!  
12/7 F Project presentations All day!  
L23 12/10 M Introducing new services: Overlays vs. active networks. Wrap-up course W99 (FCAB98), (RON), (Akamai)
12/12 W Quiz 2: In class All material covered thus far  
12/17 M Project papers due at **3pm** in NE43-510
No extensions!		 Two copies of 8-10 page conference-style paper, 10-point font, single-spaced , double-column.  Page count includes figures, tables, etc.  
Hari Balakrishnan
hari@lcs.mit.edu