Course Objective:

One's understanding of network protocols can often be greatly deepened by seeing protocols in action and by playing around with protocols - observing the sequence of messages exchanges between two protocol entities, delving down into the details of protocol operation, and causing protocols to perform certain actions and then observing these actions and their consequences. This course of Computer Networks Labs is to let students have on-hand experience of networking, understanding the principle of protocols through on-going network packets and writing simple networking programs.

Course Requirements:

This course will be organized by nine lab experiments, including both verification and comprehensive, to offer students comprehensive understanding on Internet protocols and networking technologies. Experiments required for students include: 1) Ethernet Frames format; 2) IP protocol, IP addressing and IP packet format etc.; 3) ARP (Address Resolution Protocol); 4) ICMP(Internet Control Messages Protocol); 5) UDP (User Datagram Protocol); 6) TCP (Transmission Control Protocol); 7)DNS (Domain Name Service) Protocol; 8) SMTP and POP3 protocols; and 9) HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol).

Course Contents:

Experiment 1 Ethernet Frames Format (4 class hours):

This experiment is a verification experiment on the Ethernet frames, including the following objective: 1) Study the format of Ethernet frames and definitions of each fields; 2) Study the function of MAC address, including their different types of address; 3) Some useful commands for networking, e.g., ipconfig.

Experiment 2 IP Protocol, IP Addressing and IP Packet Format (4 class hours)

This experiment is a comprehensive experiment on IP protocols, including the following objective: 1) The function of IP layer and the IP addressing issue; 2) The classification of subnet and function of subnet mask code; 3) The format of IP packet and the function of network layer; 4) A simple programming to read the IP address of host.

Experiment 3 ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) (4 class hours)

This experiment is a verification experiment on the ARP, including the following objective: 1) Study the function and format of ARP protocol; 2) Understand the relationship between IP address and MAC address; 3) Study several arp command.

Experiment 4 ICMP(Internet Control Messages Protocol) (4 class hours)

This experiment is a comprehensive experiment on ICMP protocols, including the following objective: 1) Study the format of ICMP; 2) Study the responses of ICMP protocol and different types of networking problems.

Experiment 5 UDP (User Datagram Protocol) (4 class hours)

This experiment is a comprehensive experiment on UDP protocols, including the following objective: 1) Study the principle and process of UDP protocol; 2) Study the format of UDP packet; 3) Understanding the assignment of UDP ports;

Experiment 6 TCP (Transmission Control Protocol(4 class hours)

This experiment is a verification experiment on TCP protocols, including the following objective: 1) Study the basic principle of TCP protocol; 2) Study the communication process of TCP protocols.

Experiment 7 DNS (Domain Name Service) Protocol(4 class hours)

This experiment is a comprehensive experiment on DNS protocols, including the following objective: 1) Study the principle of DNS implementation; 2) Study the format of DNS messages.

Experiment 8 SMTP and POP3 protocols(4 class hours)

This experiment is a verification experiment on EMAIL protocols, including the following objective: 1) Study the basic principle of SMTP and POP3; 2) Study the basic command format of SMTP and POP3; 3) Understand the relationship between Application layer and Transport layer.

Experiment 9 HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol) (4 class hours)

This experiment is a verification experiment on HTTP protocols, including the following objective: 1) Study the function of HTTP protocol; 2) Study the implementation of HTTP protocols.

Credits: 1