Skip to main content
Elsevier
View Cart

Computer Networks

A Systems Approach

  • 1st Edition - October 11, 1999
  • Latest edition
  • Authors: Larry L. Peterson, Bruce S. Davie
  • Language: English

NEW EDITION NOW AVAILABLE! ISBN 1-55860-832-XNetworking technologies and practices are constantly evolving. Equip your students with an understanding that helps them keep pace wi… Read more

Purchase options

Sorry, this title is not available for purchase in your country/region.

World Book Day celebration

Where learning shapes lives

Up to 25% off trusted resources that support research, study, and discovery.

Explore resources

Description

NEW EDITION NOW AVAILABLE! ISBN 1-55860-832-X

Networking technologies and practices are constantly evolving. Equip your students with an understanding that helps them keep pace with Internet time.

In this carefully focused revision of the best-selling first edition, authors Peterson and Davie reiterate their commitment to a systems-oriented approach to networking instruction. Focusing on the why of network design—not just the specifications comprising today's systems but how key technologies and protocols actually work in the real world to solve specific problems—they promote an enduring, practical understanding of networks and their building blocks.

The second edition incorporates coverage of Quality of Service issues, mobile and wireless networks, VPNs, and much more. Over 100 new exercises help users consolidate and expand their knowledge.

Key features

No other textbook offers a more solid grounding for aspiring network professionals. Computer Networks: A Systems Approach gives your students the knowledge and perspective they need and gives you the tools you need to maximize their learning experience:* Unparalleled instruction from an expert team of authors. The authors bring over 30 years of experience in networking research, development and teaching to the task of describing the principles and practical implementation of computer networks. Both have played key roles in defining and implementing many of the protocols discussed inside.* Cutting-edge coverage. The second edition has been thoroughly updated to cover the most recent advances in networking, including:* a new chapter on security techniques - PGP, IPSEC, secure sockets and firewalls* a new chapter on application layer protocols - SMTP, HTTP, SNMP, DNS and RTP* new material on wireless and mobile technology- spread spectrum techniques and 802.11 * new section on building VPN's on top of the public Internet* Expanded treatment of key issues. Topics such as Internet routing, Quality of Service, congestion control, ATM, compression and multimedia communications now delve deeper to reflect changes that have taken place over the past four years.* Effective pedagogical components. Alongside the authors' clear explanations and insights, you'll find pedagogical components that significantly enhance students' understanding:* Problem statements—the practical design challenges met by the techniques covered in each chapter* Shaded sidebars— explorations of advanced topics * Highlighted summary paragraphs— distillations of key network design principles* Open Issues—guided discussions of controversial networking issues* Further reading—pointers to definitive papers related to each chapter's coverage* Completely revamped end-of-chapter exercises The second edition offers over 100 new end-of-chapter exercises, the result of a substantial editing and development effort by a seasoned networking instructor, Peter Dordal of Loyola University.* The optimal pedagogical approach. Encyclopedic and "layered" approaches cover required material but leave critical questions unanswered. Peterson and Davie focus on systems—how they interweave technology and technique to meet practical needs. Adding layer-focused considerations where necessary, the authors teach students why networks are designed as they are and cultivate the skills needed to build the networks of the future.* Real-world implementation examples. New to this edition, operating system-independent C code is used with pseudocode to illustrate protocol implementation throughout. The first edition's x-kernel examples continue to be available online.

Table of contents

Table of Contents1 Foundation

Changes — Revised to begin immediately with key issues (1.1). Coverage of implementing network software added (1.3). 1.1 Requirements1.1.1 Connectivity1.1.2 Cost-Effective Resource Sharing1.1.3 Support For Common Services1.1.4 Performance 1.2 Network Architecture1.2.1 Layering and Protocols1.2.2 OSI Architecture1.2.3 Internet Architecture 1.3 Implementing Network Software1.3.1 Application Programming Interface (Sockets)1.3.2 Example Application1.3.3 Protocol Implementation Issues1.4 Summary2 Direct Link Networks

Changes — Section on wireless added (2.8). Survey of link types revised to include satellite and other wireless technologies (2.1.2). Token ring section revised to use 802.5 as the primary example (2.7). Description of CRC expanded (2.4.3). 2.1 Hardware Building Blocks2.1.1 Nodes2.1.2 Links2.2 Encoding (NRZ, NRZI, Manchester, 4B/5B) 2.3 Framing2.3.1 Byte-Oriented Protocols (BISYNC, PPP, DDCMP)2.3.2 Bit-Oriented Protocols (HDLC)2.3.3 Clock-Based Framing (SONET) 2.4 Error Detection2.4.1 Two-Dimensional Parity2.4.2 Internet Checksum Algorithm2.4.3 Cyclic Redundancy Check 2.5 Reliable Transmission2.5.1 Stop-and-Wait2.5.2 Sliding Window2.5.3 Concurrent Logical Channels 2.6 Ethernet (802.3)2.6.1 Physical Properties2.6.2 Access Protocol2.6.3 Experience with Ethernet 2.7 Token Rings (802.5, FDDI)2.7.1 Physical Properties2.7.2 Token Ring Media Access Control2.7.3 Token Ring Maintenance2.7.4 Frame Format2.7.5 FDDI 2.8 Wireless (802.11)2.8.1 Physical Properties2.8.2 Collision Avoidance2.8.3 Distribution System2.8.4 Frame Format 2.9 Network Adaptors2.9.1 Components2.9.2 View from the Host2.9.3 Device Driver2.9.4 Memory Bottleneck 2.10 Summary3 Packet Switching

Changes — Discussion of ATM enhanced and expanded (3.3). 3.1 Switching and Forwarding3.1.1 Datagrams3.1.2 Virtual Circuit Switching3.1.3 Source Routing3.1.4 Implementation and Performance 3.2 Bridges and LAN Switches3.2.1 Learning Bridges3.2.2 Spanning Tree Algorithm3.2.3 Broadcast and Multicast3.2.4 Limitations of Bridges 3.3 Cell Switching (ATM)3.3.1 Cells3.3.2 Segmentation and Reassembly3.3.3 Virtual Paths3.3.4 Physical Layers for ATM3.3.5 ATM in the LAN 3.4 Switching Hardware3.4.1 Design Goals3.4.2 Ports and Fabrics3.4.3 Crossbar Switches3.4.4 Shared-Media Switches3.4.5 Self-Routing Fabrics3.5 Summary4 Internetworking

Changes — Discussion of DHCP (4.1.6) and virtual networks (4.1.8) added. Discussion of routing expanded (4.2), including addition of subsection on mobile hosts (4.2.5). Subsections on area routing (4.3.4) and PIM (4.4.3) added. 4.1 Simple Internetworking (IP)4.1.1 What Is an Internetwork?4.1.2 Service Model4.1.3 Global Addresses4.1.4 Datagram Forwarding in IP4.1.5 Address Translation (ARP)4.1.6 Host Configuration (DHCP)4.1.7 Error Reporting (ICMP)4.1.8 Virtual Networks and Tunnels 4.2 Routing4.2.1 Network as a Graph4.2.2 Distance Vector (RIP)4.2.3 Link State (OSPF)4.2.4 Metrics4.2.5 Routing for Mobile Hosts 4.3 Global Internet4.3.1 Subnetting4.3.2 Classless Routing (CIDR)4.3.3 Interdomain Routing (BGP)4.3.4 Routing Areas4.3.5 IP version 6 (IPv6)Changes —Discussion of design choices added (5.2.8). RPC discussion revised to use generic C code (5.3) and to include description of DCE (5.3.4).5.1 Simple Demultiplexer (UDP) 5.2 Reliable Byte Stream (TCP)5.2.1 End-to-End Issues5.2.2 Segment Format5.2.3 Connection Establishment and Termination5.2.4 Sliding Window Revisited5.2.5 Adaptive Retransmission5.2.6 Record Boundaries5.2.7 TCP Extensions5.2.8 Alternative Design Choices 5.3 Remote Procedure Call5.3.1 Bulk Transfer (BLAST)5.3.2 Request/Reply (CHAN)5.3.3 Dispatcher (SELECT)5.3.4 Putting It All Together (SunRPC, DCE) 5.4 Performance5.4.1 Experimental Method5.4.2 Latency5.4.3 Throughput5.5 Summary6 Congestion Control and Resource Allocation

Changes — Quality of Service section expanded, including all-new coverage of differentiated services (6.5.3).6.1 Issues in Resource Allocation6.1.1 Network Model6.1.2 Taxonomy6.1.3 Evaluation Criteria 6.2 Queuing Disciplines6.2.1 FIFO6.2.2 Fair Queuing 6.3 TCP Congestion Control6.3.1 Additive Increase/Multiplicative Decrease6.3.2 Slow Start6.3.3 Fast Retransmit and Fast Recovery 6.4 Congestion-Avoidance Mechanisms6.4.1 DECbit6.4.2 Random Early Detection (RED)6.4.3 Source-Based Congestion Avoidance 6.5 Quality of Service6.5.1 Application Requirements6.5.2 Integrated Services (RSVP)6.5.3 Differentiated Services6.5.4 ATM Quality of Service6.6 Summary7 End-to-End Data

Changes — Discussions of audio compression (7.2.5) and relationship between video compression and the network (7.2.4) added. 7.1 Presentation Formatting7.1.1 Taxonomy7.1.2 Examples (XDR, ASN.1, NDR) 7.2 Data Compression7.2.1 Lossless Compression Algorithms7.2.2 Image Compression (JPEG)7.2.3 Video Compression (MPEG)7.2.4 Transmitting MPEG Over a Network7.2.5 Audio Compression (MP3)7.3 Summary8 Network Security

Changes — Entirely new chapter. 8.1 Cryptographic Algorithms8.1.1 Requirements8.1.2 The Data Encryption Standard (DES)8.1.3 RSA8.1.4 Message Digest 5 (MD5)8.1.5 Implementation and Performance 8.2 Security Mechanisms8.2.1 Authentication Protocols8.2.2 Message Integrity Protocols8.2.3 Public Key Distribution (X.509)Changes — Entirely new chapter. 9.1 Name Service (DNS)9.1.1 Domain Hierarchy9.1.2 Name Servers9.1.3 Name Resolution 9.2 Traditional Applications9.2.1 Electronic Mail (SMTP, MIME)9.2.2 World-Wide Web (HTTP)9.2.3 Network Management (SNMP) 9.3 Multimedia Applications9.3.1 Requirements9.3.2 Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP)9.3.3 Session Control and Call Control (H.323)9.4 Summary

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: October 11, 1999
  • Language: English

About the authors

LP

Larry L. Peterson

Larry Peterson is the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science, Emeritus at Princeton University, where he served as Chair from 2003-2009. His research focuses on the design, implementation, and operation of Internet-scale distributed systems, including the widely used PlanetLab and MeasurementLab platforms. He currently serves as the CTO of the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), where he works on open source software at the intersection of access networks and the edge cloud. Professor Peterson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, the 2010 recipient of the IEEE Kobayashi Computer and Communication Award, and the 2013 recipient of the ACM SIGCOMM Award. He received his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University in 1985.
Affiliations and expertise
Open Networking Foundation

BD

Bruce S. Davie

Bruce Davie is VP and CTO for VMware, APJ. He joined VMware as part of the Nicira acquisition, and was Networking CTO until 2017. He has over 30 years of industry experience, and was a Cisco Fellow prior to joining Nicira. He has contributed to many networking standards and authored several networking textbooks. Bruce received his Ph. D. in computer science from the University of Edinburgh in 1988 and is an ACM Fellow.
Affiliations and expertise
VMware, APJ