Course Details

1. Categorize the various communications systems.
2. Compare the differences between the various network topologies (physical and logical).
3. Differentiate between the different types of physical media used in local area networks (LANs).
4. Examine the seven-layer OSI networking model and it’s relation to common protocol stacks.
5. Analyze the components of a packet (header, body, CRC, etc.).
6. Compare and contrast major network architectures.
7. Assess the common network administration and support functions.
8. Distinguish between the various topologies used in wide area networks (WANs).
9. Appraise the various network troubleshooting tools and techniques.

The grading will be based on weekly homework assignments, Forum postings, a Case Study, a research paper (outline, final paper), and a final quiz.

1. There will be eight homework assignments. The assignments and exercise will count as 20% of the final grade. The homework assignments will follow each of the major portions of the course. The weekly assignment will be problems or questions from the weekly readings from the textbook. They are selected to help the student with understanding the concepts discussed in the chapters assigned for reading. Assignments should be prepared in Microsoft Word or an equivalent word processor program and uploaded into the student folder by the due date (or pasted into the submission window).
2. There will be eight Forum postings you will need to respond to. A main post and at least 2 responses to classmates are required. The main post should be significant (250 words minimum), and should as much as possible include links, references, citations, etc. to enrich the shared learning. The response posts should be around 100 words minimum. You may attack, support or supplement other students’ answers using the terms, concepts and theories from the required and any supplemental readings. All responses should be a courteous paragraph that contains a topic sentence with good supporting sentences. You may respond multiple times with a continuous discussion with points and counter points. The key requirement is to express your idea and then support your position using the terms, concepts and theories from the readings to demonstrate that you understand the material. The Forum postings will count as 20% of the final grade.
3. There will be one research paper, and a paper outline
4. There will be a Case Study on modeling
5. The Week 8 Quiz will be a 75 minute non-proctored examination. It will count as 20% of the final grade. This examination will cover selected sections of the textbook. All questions are either multiple-choice or true-false and will be open book and open note.

www.coursesmart.com

Book webpage: http://www.netbook.cs.purdue.edu

Reference: American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). Washington, DC: Author. ISBN: 1-4338-0561-8

Companion Website

http://www.prenhall.com/comer

Web-based Readings

See Web Resources in Selected Bibliography at the end of this document, and see Lessons.

Software Requirements

• Microsoft Office (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint)
• Adobe Acrobat Reader (Click here for free download)

Selected Bibliography

Web Resources

1. Network Design – White Papers, Webcasts and Case Studies: http://itpapers.zdnet.com/NETWORKING+and+COMMUNICATIONS/Network+Management/Network+Design/
2. Howstuffworks "How Home Networking Works": http://computer.howstuffworks.com/home-network.htm
3. IEEE Standards Association: http://standards.ieee.org/
4. IEEE Pervasive Computing: http://www.computer.org/pervasive/
5. Internet Society: http://www.isoc.org/
6. O'Reilly P2P Directory: http://www.openp2p.com/pub/q/p2p_category
7. Atlas of Cyberspace: http://www.kitchin.org/atlas/index.html
8. WLAN links: http://wi-fiplanet.webopedia.com/TERM/W/WLAN.html
9. How Ethernet works: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ethernet.htm
10. How OSI works: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/osi.htm
11. OSI model: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model
12. Ethernet links: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/E/Ethernet.html
13. WAN links: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/wide_area_network_WAN.html
14. RFC.net repository of RFC STD BCP and FYI documents: http://www.rfc.net
15. Internet RFC/FYI/STD/BCP Archives: http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/
16. How cable modems work: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cable-modem.htm
17. Wifi411: Online Wi-Fi Hot Spot Locator: http://www.wifi411.com/
18. WLAN links: http://wi-fiplanet.webopedia.com/TERM/W/WLAN.html
19. Official Bluetooth Web Site: http://www.bluetooth.com/
20. The Wi-Fi Alliance Home Page: http://www.wi-fi.org/OpenSection/index.asp
21. WiMAX Forum: http://www.wimaxforum.org/home
22. WAP Resource Center: http://www.palowireless.com/wap/
23. Planes and Trains: Wireless on the Move: http://www.techworld.com/mobility/features/index.cfm?featureid=512&Page=2&pagePos=2
24. WLANs Spreading to Hospitals: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/1581811
25. Case study: “Ubiquitous Network Societies: The Case of the Republic of Singapore”:
    1. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/ubiquitous/Papers/UNSSingaporeCaseStudy.pdf
26. HiperLAN/2: An efficient high speed WLAN http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/2109571
27. Wireless LAN (WiFi) tutorials: http://www.tutorial-reports.com/wireless/wlanwifi/
28. How LAN switches work: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/lan-switch.htm
29. IP addressing links: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/IP_address.html
30. IP addressing and subnetting for new users: http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/701/3.html
31. Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) overview: http://public.pacbell.net/dedicated/cidr.html
32. Online IP CIDR calculator: http://www.subnet-calculator.com/cidr.php
33. The IPv6 portal: http://www.ipv6tf.org
34. Why you want IPv6: http://linuxreviews.org/features/ipv6/
35. Security Focus: http://www.securityfocus.com
36. Symantec security response—search and latest virus threats page: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html
37. Buffer overflow basics: http://www.linuxsecurity.com/content/view/119087/49/
38. Snort, a lightweight network intrusion detection system: http://www.snort.org/
39. Anti-phishing working group: http://www.antiphishing.org/
40. National fraud information center: http://www.fraud.org/
41. Nessus, an open-source vulnerability scanner: http://www.nessus.org/
42. Spamassassin, an open-source spam filter: http://spamassassin.apache.org/
43. IETF IPSec charter: http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/OLD/ipsec-charter.html
44. IPSec links: http://www.pcwebopedia.com/TERM/I/IPSec.html
45. IPTables tutorial: http://www.faqs.org/docs/iptables/
46. How firewalls work: http://www.howstuffworks.com/firewall.htm
47. How Network Address Translation works: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/nat.htm
48. NAT links: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/N/NAT.html
49. Squid Web proxy cache: http://www.squid-cache.org/
50. Proxy server links: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/proxy_server.html