SUBJECT OUTLINE

31270 Networking Essentials

Course area Delivery Result type UTS: Engineering and Information Technology Autumn 2012; City Grade and marks

Credit points 6cp

Recommended studies: some knowledge of computer networking is useful but not essential

Subject coordinator
Max Hendriks Faculty of Engineering & IT; email: max.hendriks@uts.edu.au Telephone 9514 1805

Teaching staff
Max Hendriks Email: Max.Hendriks@uts.edu.au; Muhammad Hasan Email: Muhammad.Hasan@uts.edu.au; Mohammad Momami Email: Mohammad.Momani@uts.edu.au; John Colville Email: John.Colville@uts.edu.au Sojen Pradhan Email: Sojendra.Pradhan@uts.edu.au; Bernard Doyle Email: bernard.doyle@uts.edu.au Michael Ascharsobi Email: nchars@gmail.com

Subject description
Computer networks are now business critical in all modern organisations and business enterprises. They are important in everyday life. This subject introduces students to the fundamental issues in modern data communications and computer networks. This is essential knowledge for all users of IT, IT professionals and those who wish to specialise in computer networking. Students learn about the layered networking model and are introduced to networking devices and protocols. They learn how these are used in computer networks and in net-based application programs. The primary focus of this subject is Local Area Networks (LAN). Student practical work includes designing and building simple peer-to-peer networks and LANs that are connected to the Internet. The core set of protocols employed on the global Internet, TCP/IP, is studied.

Subject objectives
At the end of this subject the student will be able to: 1. List the major concepts, theories and principles that are used in the implementation of a Local Area Network (LAN) and how the LAN can connect to a Wide Area Network (WAN). 2. Apply VLSM Addressing to an Internet Protocol (IP) address given design criteria. 3. Summarise and describe the properties of higher layer protocols. 4. Compare and contrast (TCP/IP) model with the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.
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5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Identify and briefly describe Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineer (IEEE) media access LAN standards. Identify Layer 3 design principles and protocols, and describe how they achieve networking goals. Be aware of the main media types and their limitations, copper based media, optical fiber media and wireless. Identify and explain the major practical issues associated with the design and implementation of a LAN at Layers 1 and 2 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. Construct simple LANs and reflect on the computer and network resources that must be configured. Value individual strengths, and the sharing of skills and knowledge when achieving task goals in a group. Participate in further work associated with the design, implementation and troubleshooting of network infrastructure that supports an organisations networking needs Be able to describe a number of net-based applications and application programs

Contribution to course aims and graduate attributes

This is a students first subject in the important field of data communications and networking. Basic networking concepts and skills are developed. The skills and knowledge that students gain are essential to all IT professionals. This subject is one of a series that will allow students to specialise in computer networking if they so choose. Students are introduced to networking technologies, network devices, end systems (PCs and servers) and the role of protocols and standards. Through a case study, and groupwork students work collaboratively and individually to produce and justify an initial design for a computer network, requiring analysis and evaluation of alternative solution and technologies.

Teaching and learning strategies

Normal class contact time is comprised of 3 hours tutorial/laboratory session per week. In the laboratory a workshop approach is used which combines learning by doing small group and whole class discussion, web research, on-line activities, design activities, question and answer sessions, and on-line tests with immediate feedback. It is expected that students will need to spend an additional three hours in self-directed study for each lab session. As noted above, the workload for this subject will require students to exercise considerable diligence and to strive for efficient utilisation of class time and laboratory facilities. Accordingly, all computer activities which are not directly and expressly related to the curriculum are strictly prohibited in all networking labs. Any detected infringement will result in immediate expulsion from the laboratory.

Content
1. Living in a Network Centric World. Communicating in a Network Centric World Communication An Essential Part of Our Lives The Network as a Platform The Architecture of the Internet Trends in Networking 2. Communicating Over the Internet. The Platform for Communications LANs, WANs, and Internetworks Protocols Using Layered Models Network Addressing 3. Application Layer Functionality and Protocols. Applications The Interface between the Networks Making Provisions for Applications and Services Application Layer Protocols and Services Examples 4. OSI Transport Layer. Roles of the Transport Layer The TCP Protocol Communicating with Reliability Managing TCP Sessions The UDP Protocol Communicating with Low Overhead 5. OSI Network Layer.
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5. OSI Network Layer. IPv4 Networks Dividing Hosts into Groups Routing How Our Data Packets are Handled Routing Process How routes are Learned 6. Addressing the Network IPv4. IPv4 Addresses Addresses for Different Purposes Assigning Addresses Is It On My Network? Calculating Addresses Testing the Network Layer 7. Data Link Layer. Accessing the Media Media Access Control Techniques Addressing and Framing Data 8. OSI Physical Layer. Communication Signals Physical Signaling and Encoding: Representing Bits Physical Media Connecting Communication 9. Ethernet. Overview of Ethernet Communication Through the LAN The Ethernet Frame Ethernet Media Access Control Physical Layer Hubs and Switches Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) 10. Planning and Cabling Networks LANs Making the Physical Connection Device Interconnections Developing an Addressing Scheme Calculating the Subnets Device Interconnections 11. Configuring and Testing Your Network. Configuring Cisco Devices IOS Basics Applying a Basic Configuration Using Cisco IOS Verifying Connectivity Monitoring and Documenting of Networks

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Program
Week/Session 1 Dates Mar 1st Description Lecture: Overview to Networking Essentials; Living in a Network Centric World Notes: This material covers chapter 1 of the online text book. Please ensure you read this chapter completely, making careful notes.

Mar 8th

Lecture: Communicating Over the Internet Tutorial: Module 2 Online Exam Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapter 2 of the online text book.

Mar 15th

Lecture: Application Layer Functionality and Protocols Tutorial: Module 3 Online Exam; Tutorial Exercise 1 Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapter 3 of the online text book.

Mar 22rd

Lecture: OSI Transport Layer Tutorial: Module 4 Online Exam Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapter 4 of the online text book.

Mar 29th

Lecture: OSI Network Layer Tutorial: Module 5 Online Exam; Tutorial Exercise 2 Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapter 5 of the online text book.

Apr 5th

Lecture: Addressing the Network IPv4 Tutorial: Module 6 Online Exam Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapter 6 of the online text book.

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Apr 12th

Lecture: Data Link Layer and OSI Physical Layer Tutorial: Module 7 Online Exam; Module 8 Online Exam; Subnetting Quiz (15 minutes) Case Study Issued Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapters 7 & 8 of the online text book. It is expected that all students have worked through the subnetting exercises provided.

Apr 19th

Faculty Non Teaching Week

Apr 26th

Vice Chancellor's Week

May 3rd

Lecture: Ethernet Tutorial: Module 9 Online Exam; Tutorial Exercise 3 Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapters 9 of the online text book.

10

May 10th

Lecture: Planning and Cabling Networks Tutorial: Module 10 Online Exam Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapter 10 of the online text book.

11

May 17th

Lecture: Configuring and Testing Your Network Tutorial: Module 11 Online Exam Note: Case Study Due Wednesday, 16th May in soft copy to turnitin on UTS Online. Case Study hard copy due to your lecturer during lab class on Thursday 17th May. Notes: It is expected that you will have pre-read Chapter 11 of the online text book. Students are encouraged to upload their Case Study well before the 11.59pm deadline as late submissions will be penalised.

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12

May 24th

No Lecture Skills Based Assessment Practice. Notes: This sesion will provide practise for the Skills Assessment in week 14.

13

May 31st

No Lecture End Semester Written Assessment Online Final Exam Notes: Whilst a practice exam paper will be provided, students should be reminded that the detailed notes made when reading each chapter will be the best revision resource. There will be questions taken from both the online text book content and the the lab book content that is covered in lab classes. The Online Final Exam will follow the same style as the weekly chapter tests. There are approximately 50 multiple choice questions and you get 75 minutes to complete this.

14

June 7th

No Lecture Skills Based Assessment Notes: The Skills Assessment has both an individual and group component. The individual component will be subnetting (using VLSM) and the group component will be the building of the small network.

The above schedule indicates the order of topics and their allocation to lecture sessions. The schedule should be taken as a guideline only. The topics vary in complexity and difficulty, and the teaching staff may vary the amount of time spent on each topic, and possibly the order of topics, if such changes are deemed conducive to improved student learning. The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology expects that students will attend all scheduled sessions for a subject in which they are enrolled.

Additional information
The University's agreement with Cisco gives you, as a Cisco Networking Academy student, the right to use their materials but to make no copies of any of it. When you click on the button at the Cisco Academy site, stating that you accept its conditions, you undertake that you will abide by this agreement. If you make a copy of any of the Cisco Academy material, you breach the agreement between you and Cisco and between the University and Cisco. This is a very serious matter, which may put the whole Cisco program at risk.

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UTS will make reasonable attempts to protect Cisco's copyright. If you are observed with a hard or soft copy of any Cisco material, other than that which has been provided by staff, it will be treated as a case of non-academic misconduct under Section 11 of the University Rules. The Faculty penalty for proven misconduct of this nature is zero marks for the subject. If you are allowed to repeat the subject after such an offence, the highest mark you can receive will be 50%. The final skills based assessment (SBA) and Cisco on-line final examinations are assessed. Attempting the final SBA with any other help besides your handwritten journal sourced solely from your work from the lab activities provided by staff or, in the case of the Cisco online final, with any other help besides blank paper and pen (note that no calculator is allowed), will be treated as a case of academic misconduct, with the same penalty.

Assessment
Whilst there is no requirement to pass any individual assessment component, students must achieve a total from all assessment components of 50% or more to pass this subject. Students are encouraged to pre-read all chapters (online version or hard copy text) before they are covered each week. Further, careful notes made at this time will greatly assist with the chapter tests, the written exam and the online final exam. During lab sessions students should make careful notes in their lab manuals. Some final written exam questions will come from this source. Students are reminded that this is a 100% attendance subject, and so are expected to attend all lab sessions. Lab sessions commence in week 1 on March 1st, 2012.

Assessment item 1: Online module quizzes

Objective(s): 1-12 Weighting: Task: 0% Students are encouraged to attempt all chapter tests as a check on their reading and study for each of the Cisco Chapters. Chapter tests are found by logging onto the cisco academy site at http://cisco.netacad.net using cisco username and password. Once at your homepage, click the 'Take Assessment' link to find the activated Chapter test. Chapter tests will be made available for a week, from the Thursday of the Lab Class until midnight Wednesday of the following week. No chapters tests will be activated outside this time. After the end of the activation window, answers to the multiple choice questions will be made available, but be advised that only those students who have made an attempt at the test will see these. Finally, be advised that the Online Final Exam will follow the same format as the chapter tests. Students are therefore strongly advised to attempt each Chapter Test.

Assessment item 2: Tutorial exercises

Objective(s): 1-12 Weighting: Due: Task: 10% in total Weeks 3, 5 & 9 There are three tutorial exercises scheduled at the end of the tutorial classes in weeks 3, 5 & 9. These exercises are based on the work done during that week's tutorial class. Students must attend for the entire tutorial class to be eligible to do these exercises. No alternative tutorial assessments will be scheduled for students who miss the classes when these assessments are scheduled.

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Assessment item 3: VLSM exercise

Objective(s): 2-4 Weighting: Task: 5% This exercise is designed to test an understanding of subnetting using VLSM Addressing, and is scheduled for the end of the Lab Classes in week 7 (Thursday April 12th). No alternative subnetting assessments will be scheduled for students who miss the class when this assessments is scheduled.

Further Students are advised that VLSM Addressing is an essential element of understanding in this information: subject. It is included in four of the assessment tasks; the VLSM exercise, the Case Study, the Skills Based Assessment and the End Semester Written Examination. It is strongly advised that students come to an early understanding of the VLSM structure to pass this subject. Practice exercises and feedback will be provided online using UTSOnline in the weeks prior to this assessment.

Assessment item 4: Case Study

Objective(s): 1-12 Weighting: Due: 20% Week 11. The final document will be due on Wednesday 16th May, 2012 at 11.59pm to turnitin on UTS Online, with a hard copy to your Instructor during your Lab Class on Thursday 17th May 2012. A late penalty of 20% per day will apply for late submissions. No case study will be accepted after 24th May, 2012. The Case Study will involve group members designing and addressing of a small network. The submission will take the form of a report that will be submitted to turnitin. Students are expected to spend approximately 24 hours each on this assessment task.

Task:

Further Groups will be formed within a Lab Class and will normally comprise 4 students (but one or two information: groups of 3 students when there is not a multiple of 4 students in the class). These groups will be expected to work together on the lab exercises within the Lab Class each week. Groups should be established by the end of Week 4. A sheet with group members' details must be completed and returned to your Instructor. Group sizes may be adjusted if students withdraw or enrol late into the subject. A common problem encountered with students is that some members of groups do not contribute sufficiently. This includes not attending the weekly workshop/laboratory sessions. If a member of any group is not acting in a responsible manner, please attempt to resolve the problem with the student in question in a mature, adult fashion. If such a course of action fails, it is the duty of the group to write to the Subject Coordinator (with a copy to the non-contributing student(s)) before the end of Week 6 (i.e. the week commencing 2nd April, 2012) so that alternative assessment arrangements can be made. If the problem is not outlined in writing to the lecturer before the end of Week 6, the group will have to live with the problem. The final decision about assessment will rest with the Subject Coordinator. In extreme cases this will involve the non contributing student(s) undertaking all of the group assessment tasks individually.

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Assessment item 5: Skills Based Assessment

Objective(s): 2, 9-12 Weighting: Due: Task: 10% Given in week 14 (Thursday 7th June, 2012) in the lab class. The Skills Assessment will comprise both an individual component and a group component. Individually students will be given the network specification for a small LAN, and asked to design a suitable addressing scheme. Then, as a group, students will construct the LAN, configure PC hosts and demonstrate that their network can communicate end to end.

Assessment item 6: End of Semester Examinations (Written and Online)

Objective(s): 1-8 Weighting: Due: Task: 50% Written examination 5% Online examination During Lab Class in weeks 13 (Thursday 31st May, 2012). Written and Online Final Exams will be held in week 13 (Thursday May 31st, 2012) in the Lab Class. The written Exam will comprise 5 'written answer' questions and be of 1.5 hours duration. Question 1 (subnetting using VLSM) is compulsory, then students must answer 3 of the following 4 questions. This exam is a 'closed book' exam and calculators will not be allowed. This is an individual assessment tasks. The Online final exam is an individual assessment that has approximately 50 multiple choice questions, to be done in 75 minutes (1hour 15 minutes). It is done online, in Lab Class, after your written exam.

Use of plagiarism detection software

Your Case Study will be uploaded to turnitin. This is an online plagiarism detection software program. Please note that copy/paste will not be tolerated from any source.

Assessment feedback
You will be provided with feedback on all assessment tasks during your lab sessions.

Minimum requirements
Students must obtain a minimum of 50% of all marks to pass this subject.

Required texts
Online learning resource: Networking Basics, http://www.iwork.uts.edu.au/enrolled/cisco http://cisco.netacad.net/public

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Recommended texts
Dye, Mark A, McDonald, Rick and Rufi, Antoon W: Network Fundamentals CCNA Exploration Companion Guide (1st Edition) Cisco Press 2008.

References
Kurose, James F and Ross, Keith W: Computer Networking A top-down Approach (5th Edition) Pearson Education 2008. Comer, Douglas: Computer Networks and Internets (4th Edition) Prentice Hall 2004. Behrouz A. Forouzan: Business Data Communications, (1st Edition) McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Other resources
Online support for this subject will be provided through UTS Online. The URL is online.uts.edu.au For further information regarding your candidature: my.feit.uts.edu.au/modules/myfeit/downloads/StudentGuide2011Spring_Online.pdf

Academic liaison officer

Academic Liaison Officers (ALOs) are academic staff in each Faculty who assist three groups of students: students with disabilities and ongoing illnesses students who have difficulties in their studies because of their family commitments (e.g. being a primary carer for small children or a family member with a disability) students who gained entry through inpUTS Educational Access Scheme or Special Admissions. ALOs are responsible for determining alternative assessment arrangements for students with disabilities. Students who are requesting adjustments to assessment arrangements because of their disability or illness are requested to see a Disability Services Officer in the Special Needs Service before they see their ALO. The ALO for IT students is: Dr Julia Prior telephone: +61 2 9514 4480 email: Julia.Prior@uts.edu.au

Support
Students should email the Subject Coordinator as soon as possible (and prior to the assessment deadline) to make them aware of the impact on them meeting assessment component/requirements, and that they are seeking assistance through UTS Special Needs as detailed in Section 5.1.3 of Procedures. Improve your academic and English language skills: HELPS (Higher Education Language and Presentation Support) Service provides assistance with English language proficiency and academic language. Students who need to develop their written and/or spoken English should make use of the free services offered by HELPS, including academic language workshops, vacation intensive courses, drop-in consultations, individual appointments and Conversations@UTS (www.ssu.uts.edu.au/helps). HELPS is located in Student Services, on level 3 building 1 at City campus and via the Student Services area at Kuring-gai campus. Phone 9514-2327 or 9514-2361. The Faculty of Engineering and IT intranet (MyFEIT: http://my.feit.uts.edu.au/myfeit) and the Faculty Student Guide ( http://my.feit.uts.edu.au/modules/myfeit/downloads/StudentGuide_Online.pdf) provide extensive information about the services and support available to students within the Faculty.

Disclaimer
This outline serves as a supplement to the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology Student Guide. On all matters not specifically covered in this outline, the requirements specified in the Student Guide apply.

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