6.896 Topics in Computer Networks

Fall 1998 Lecture Schedule

All notes are Copyright © Hari Balakrishnan (1998)
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Note: Links on dates point to lecture notes (where available). Around 11/23, I developed a pretty awful case of RSI, so my notes from then on until the end of the term were hand-written and aren't yet available online. See later versions of this course for more notes.

Date
Topics
 Readings
Optional reading; remarks
9/9 Wed Overview, goals, logistics, background None assigned PD96 for background
9/14 Mon Philosophy, layering pros and cons, ALF, cross-layer protocols Cla88, Zim80, CT90 History, CK74, the original TCP/IP paper
9/16 Wed Methodology: Design, end-to-end argument, analysis (experiment, theory) SRC84, Bol93 Also overview of BPF/tcpdump, traceroute, mtrace
9/21 Mon Methodology: simulation, implementation, evaluation CK74, Pax96 ns VINT overview, FP98 for simulation pitfalls. CT90 for ILP
9/23 Wed Congestion control principles: rate- & window-based controls, stability, additive-increase/multiplicative-decrease, reactive vs. proactive controls CJ89 Jai90 for an overview of congestion mgmt
9/28 Mon Congestion control practice: DECbit, TCP RJ90, Jac88 Also look at KP91 for RTT alg. and BP95 for TCP Vegas
9/30 Wed Queue management: RED, FQ, discussion of fairness, router policing FJ93, DKS90, FF98 Bra+98, the "RED manifesto," has more on policing
10/2 Fri Homework 1 assigned (email announcement)
10/5 Mon The Web: HTTP, HTTP/TCP interactions, improving Web latency
Project proposals due by 5pm in NE43-305 (to Elliott Eggleston)		 PM95, N+97 RFC1945 (HTTP 1.0), RFC2068 (HTTP/1.1)
10/7 Wed Unicast routing: virtual circuits, datagrams, distance-vector, link-state, hierarchical techniques (e.g., landmark), inter-domain routing Nar89, Tsu88 Hui96 select chapters
10/8 Meetings to discuss project proposals Signup sheet outside NE43-510
10/13 Tue
(Monday's schedule)		 Multicast: IGMP, DVMRP, PIM-SM, CBT DC90, DE+94, BFC93 Deering's PhD thesis. Multicast address alloc (H98) and MASC/BGMP(K+98)
10/14 Wed High-speed router design (fast lookups, Gigabit router design) WVTP97, P+98 BCDP97 for another algorithm, SV98 and LS98 for fast flow classification
10/19 Mon Mobility and wireless transport: Mobile IP, Snoop, fast handoffs
Homework 1 due in class		 MJP95, BSK95 CI95, BB97
10/21 Wed Wireless media access: CSMA/CA, MACA, MACAW, Shepard's analysis BDSZ94, She96 802.11 spec
10/26 Mon Adaptive multicast applications: RTP overview, IVS and RLM BTW94, MJV96 Notion of "TCP-friendliness" from FF98
10/28 Wed Internet service model, incentives, uniform vs. priority-drop
Homework 2 assigned		 She95, BBS98
11/2 Mon Beyond best-effort: ISPN, differentiated services CSZ92, NJZ97 RSVP paper (ZD+93), assured-service Internet draft
Guest speaker: John Wroclawski
11/4 Wed Reliable multicast: applications, RMTP, SRM (protocol and ALF machinery) LP96, FJM+97 RMRG working group
11/5, 11/6 Meetings to discuss project progress; background research / related work and paper outline due Location: NE43-510
11/9 Mon Reliable multicast: local recovery, Cisco's PGM, replier-based scheme, FEC, congestion control issues Pap98, BLMR98 VRC97 has an elegant congestion control scheme. Also see Golestani98 paper.
11/11 Wed No class (MIT holiday)
11/16 Mon Active networks: motivation, model, examples; active services T+97, AMK98 See CJ98 for commentaries about the end-to-end argument
11/18 Wed Middleware: Web caching, DNS, MBone session announcements FCAB98, MD88 RFC 2327 for SDP
11/23 Mon Network security: Web security overview, IPsec, multicast key management
Homework 2 due in class		 RFC1825, Mit97 Cheswick and Bellovin book; RL96 for SDSI
11/25 Wed Location-dependent applications, networks of devices and sensors SLP98, HK98 Jini98 (Jini), KLST96 (future workspaces), UCLA wireless sensor network project
11/30 Mon Self-similarity, protocol synchronization LTWW94, FJ94 PF96 (failure of wide-area Poisson modeling)
12/2 Wed End-to-end dynamics, SPAND Pax97, SSK97 Extensive backbone measurements in TMW98; CD+98 for multicast inference
12/7 Mon Project presentations (subject to change)
12/9 Wed Wrap-up, review, speculation No reading yet Intraplanet, embedded networks, smart dust/MEMS, Internet pricing,...
12/17 Fri Final project papers due by 4pm in NE43-510
Hari Balakrishnan
hari@lcs.mit.edu