Net2010I Assignments


There are 8 assignments shown. Each is described in more detail on an HTML page, and each will be described in more detail and that page edited as we do the preparatory work.

Generally each assignment page will have an introductory section that relates it to the lecture material, and explains its purpose and some of the tools. Please please read this first.

The second half of the assignment page suggests something that you should do. Once you do it you should then prepare a simple HTML page that describes what you did and what you learned from it. Do not be afraid to describe problems, the point of the assignments is not to take away some "credit" from you, the point is to get you being active about what you are learning. It may well be that most of your activity involves cursing and frustration at some point: try to minimize that, just slow down, pretend you are dumb but do not let that bother you, and try to get to some success.

Topic and Due Date

Table 1. Net2010I: assignments

NumberTopicStart DateDue DateDescription
1Mapping A JourneySeptember 1September 13Do a traceroute and its reverse
2Reading a standardSeptember 6September 20Read an RFC and report
3run a network programSeptember 15September 27Writing networking code
4whoisSeptember 22October 04Java sockets
5crossing a networkSeptember 29October 06Analyze traffic with jock
6traversing the stackOctober 06October 18Analyze a session with stak
7wireless trafficOctober 13October 25four-address packets
8ICMP usageOctober 20November 01ARP and ping
substitutetopic of your choiceanytimeDecember 6for any assignment
all done  December 13Will assign grades

What to turn in

You each have been assigned, whether you know it or not, a directory on our student machine pascal, and inside that directory you should create a directory USA2010 in which you may post your assignment. To post Assignment 1, just place a file named Assignment1.html in that directory. I will view it through my browser (Explorer, Firefox, Safari, who knows).

What you should post in that directory for each is an HTML page describing what you have done. It can refer to other pages, of course.

Note

Please restrict your use of HTML and images to straightforward material following recognized standards. I am not impressed by spinning wheels, and seldom impressed by Flash animation, and am very unimpressed if it takes any effort on my part to get it to show me what you want. In the words of an old TV show (Dragnet) probably none of you have very seen give me "Just the facts, M'am".

The due dates give you nominally 10 full days after we have finished discussion of the material to get something done. My very strong suggestion is that you try something out right away, even if it is just to post the examples I have given you. We are going to be moving on, and something that seemed would be easy may turn out to be hard, especially if you have forgotten the exact detail. On the other hand it can easily take you a few minutes every day to realize what you should (more importantly what you should not) do. Most computers are designed mainly to humble humans, so you will make a lot of "silly" mistakes that you could not imagine someone of your intelligence would make, and it just takes time to get beyond them.