Lab Communication Networks and Systems / Communication Networks for Engineers

Lab

  • Winter Term: 5 SWS
  • Lecturer:     Prof. Dr. techn. Admela Jukan
      
  • Language: German or English
  • Documents: book in English with description of experiments
  • Requirements: basic knowledge on Internet Protocols as taught in "Communication Networks"
  • Course Assessment: certificate after successful submission of all lab reports

Information for Students

All lectures and labs are only available online. Therefore there will be no information session with the sign-up for the laboratory presently. Depending on further developments we plan to run this lab towards the end of the term as block modules. I will inform you about this on the website and Studip.

To provisionally sign up for the lab please visit Studip and sign up for the desired lab. Due to the existing regulations the number of participants may be limited for certain labs.

Audience

Lab Communication Networks and Systems:

Bachelor:

  • Informations-Systemtechnik ab PBO 2013: 
    - im Modul "Grundlagen der Kommunikationsnetze"

  • Informatik bis BPO 2015: Nebenfach Kommunikationsnetze
    - im Modul "Grundlagen der Kommunikationsnetze"

Master:

  • Informations-Systemtechnik ab MPO 2013: 
    - Module "Praktika Master IST"

  • Informatik bis BPO 2015: Nebenfach Kommunikationsnetze
    - im Modul "Grundlagen der Kommunikationsnetze"

  • Informatik ab MPO 2017: Nebenfach Kommunikationsnetze
    - Modul "Praktikum Kommunikationsnetze und Systeme"

Lab Communication Networks for Engineers:

Bachelor

  • Elektrotechnik ab BPO 2018:
    - im Modul "Kommunikationsnetze für Ingenieure mit Praxis" 

  • Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen Elektrotechnik ab BPO 2018:
    - im Modul "Kommunikationsnetze für Ingenieure mit Praxis" 

Master:

  • Elektrotechnik ab MPO 2013: 
    -  Module "Labor Master Elektrotechnik"

  • Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen Elektrotechnik ab MPO 2013:
    -  Module "Labor Master Elektrotechnik"

News
Professor Liebeherr visits the Internet Lab
Prof. Liebeherr, one of the authors of the well-known "Mastering Networks" laboratory manual, visited the Institute of Computer and Communication Network Engineering at the University of Technology of Brunswick. Prof. Liebeherr actively interacted with the students and listened to their impressions about the lab material. He also used this opportunity to explain more about the reputation this lab enjoys in the US academic institutions and in the industry in general. At the present, Prof. Liebeherr is Professor at the University of Toronto in Canada where the Internet Lab is highly sought by students.

Kommunikationsnetze und Systeme LAB, Prof. Liebeherr Besuch
Kommunikationsnetze und Systeme LAB, Prof. Liebeherr Besuch + Prof. Jukan + Dr. Bziuk

Description of the Internet Lab

The explosive growth und the ubiquitous use of the Internet has created a need for scientists and engineers, who can maintain, debug, and innovate the Internet infrastructure. The goal of this lab is to provide a deep understanding of the protocols and algorithms underlying to the Internet. Among others, this will cover principles of addressing, routing, error control, flow- and congestion control, as well as performance evaluation. As there is today an increasing need for hands-on experience, the students use existing network hardware to create own network examples and receive by real observations of the network traffic a deep insight and an extensive understanding about the functional way of the Internet. In this way the lab transfers theoretical network knowledge acquired in the lecture Communication Networks into practical experience.

Literatur

Mastering Networks - An Internet Lab Manual, by J. Liebeherr and M. El Zarki, see also Internet Lab Manual

Work Environment
Build your own network with following components

4 PCs:

  • Hardware: Intel Core 2 Dual Prozessoren

  • Windows OS

  • Fedora - OS under VMWare

4 Cisco Router:

  • Cisco - IOS Release 12

  • Fast - Ethernet Interfaces

  • Synchronous Interfaces

Fast Ethernet Hubs and Switche

Twisted pair cables

Display, keyboard, mouse

KVM-Switch

Kommunikationsnetze und Systeme LAB, Praktikumsplatz




Lab trials

Introduction to the Internet Lab

  • Overview of the Lab equipment

  • Basic Linux commands

  • Packet-sniffer: whireshark and tcpdump

Single Segment IP Networks

  • Configuring a network interface for IP networking

  • Address translation and resolution with ARP

  • Security problems of common Internet applications.

Static routing

  • IP forwarding and routing between IP networks;

  • Setup a Linux PC and a Cisco router as an IP router

  • Interpretation and manual configuration of routing tables

  • Routing loops

Dynamic Routing Protocols

  • Routing protocols RIP and OSPF

  • Dynamics and convergence properties of routing protocols

  • Count-to-infinity problem in RIP

  • Hierarchical routing in OSPF

Transport Protocols: UDP and TCP

  • Data transmissions with TCP and UDP

  • Performance of data transmission using UDP and TCP

  • Enhanced TCP aspects:

    • Connection management

    • Flow and congestion control

    • Retransmissions algorithms

Kommunikationsnetze und Systeme LAB, Versuche 1
Kommunikationsnetze und Systeme LAB, Versuche 2
Kommunikationsnetze und Systeme LAB, Versuche 3

Structure of the labs

Each lab encloses the following partial tasks:

  • Prelab: Exercises to be completed in advance of the associated lab session.

  • Lab session: All lab exercises can be completed without supervision. During the lab session the network infrastructure has to be configured. Result data are to be collected.

  • Lab Report: For each lab session a lab report has to be prepared, that summarize and analyze the findings and questions from the lab session.

For any questions send an email to zied.ennaceur(at)tu-bs.de