Module: Network Architectures - Specialization (big)

Further Information: offizielle Modulbeschreibung der Ausbildungskommission (german) [2]

The goal is to understand the theoretical background and technical details of the respective lecture. Illustrative examples deepen the comprehension such that a practical implementation of the topic at hand is obvious. These lectures are the basis on which projects and theses can be built upon.
The successful completion of the seminar enables the participants to understand recent, complex and professional literature and to summarize the work. Furthermore, every participant acquires profound knowledge in his confined topic.

The lectures "Internet Control Plane", "Internet Security", and "Internet Measurement"

The lecture „Internet Control Plane“ first visits the basic functionality of the Internet and its protocols (HTTP & DNS; TCP & UDP; IP; Ethernet & ARP). Based on that the routing protocols used in the Internet (RIP, OSPF, BGP) are explained, and their strengths and weaknesses as well as their influence on data connections are discussed. Finally the Internets Topology, Traffic Engineering, P2P Routing and new approaches and protocols like mesh routing or IPv6 are introduced.

„Internet Security“: As common utilization of the Internet broadens, the threat from malicious programs and Users increases. To counteract this development during the design of new applications and technologies, we will try to identify and discuss the different attacks and threats (worms, viruses, denial of service). Based on that countermeasures (e.g., firewalls, network intrusion detection/prevention systems, scanners) are introduced and the challenges they are facing are explained. Besides active security tools, secure protocols (e.g., SSL, Kerberos, TLS, VPN, IPsec, WLAN Security) key management approaches and the security of different Internet services (e.g. E-Mail, SSH, VoIP, Network Storage) will be analyzed.

The lecture „Internet Measurement” deals with the following questions: How does Internet traffic look like? Are there some characteristic properties? How and where is it possible to improve the Internet, and how can those improvements be tested? How can the previous questions be addressed, and what technical challenges does one face while monitoring? How can data privacy be ensured? Is there something to bear in mind when analyzing such measurements in a statistical manner? Is it possible to generate realistic traffic based on statistical characteristics?

The Seminars "Internet Routing" and "Internet Measurement"

During the seminar students acquire scientific knowledge in a small topic on their own, echo it as a handout, and give a talk about the learned. Dealing with original scientific literature as well as practice and preparation of the professional talks are the key benefits for the students.

Internet Measurement: This seminar deals with recent findings and scientific research papers concerning Internet measurements. In general these topics are measuring and analyzing special characteristics (e.g., throughput, delay, jitter, RTTs, topology) of Internet traffic.

Internet Routing: This seminar deals with recent findings and scientific research papers concerning Internet measurement. Topics range from improvement of routing algorithms over topology detection and emulation to traffic engineering or secure routing.

Compulory elective (optional) module in the master programs

• Computer science (Informatik) / focus communication-based systems (Studienschwerpunkt Kommunikationsbasierte Systeme)
• Computer engineering (Technische Informatik) / focus technical applications (catalogue 1) (Studienschwerpunkt Technische Anwendungen (Katalog 1))
  

Can also be taken as part of the bachelor program.