COURSE SYLLABUS: Networking & Data Communications (LAN/WAN) Structures
Course Title:
Department:
Instructor:
CST408 - Networking & Data Communications (LAN/WAN) Structures
Computer Science
Tom Brennen,MS, BS, AS E-Mail | Vita
Overview
Greetings everyone and welcome to 'Networking & Data Communications (LAN/WAN) Structures' distance education
course at Canyon College. We are here for a few weeks to introduce, explore, and learn about the
rapidly evolving field of modern network technology. The course will mainly concentrate on the
areas of data communications theory, internetworking concepts, and on the unique infrastructure
involved in this highly diverse field. There will be focus on the network entity, its
architecture and importance, as well as on the many functions and properties involved to realize
how dependent today's workplace along with our society is on the successful transmission of
communications that often serves as the lifeline of an organization. We will also have a look at
how this important discipline associates with and contributes to the many inter-related areas
that make up along with influence the changing world of information systems technology.
The course is intended to be a general introduction to network technology, after completion there
are opportunities to continue and build on the last eight weeks towards further learning (see
the Net Administration program) in areas
such as systems support, or data communications development. I hope that this will be a rewarding
learning experience and you will acquire the means to successfully apply in the workplace the
knowledge learned and experience you have gained from class. I have confidence that you will all
become very familiar with the dynamic world of network systems technology from this educational
effort. If you have a question about an issue please don't hesitate to contact me at any time
in the next few weeks. If for personal reasons there is a need to adjust your schedule, inform
me so that we can make arrangements to accommodate your particular situation. I am looking
forward to meeting everyone and making the most of the opportunities available to accomplish your
goals in this course. I hope that everyone will attain the best educational results possible
throughout your technology studies at Canyon College and beyond.
Course Schedule
The course time frame is eight weeks, if you have not already received a confirmed start date
and access information to the online areas please contact either the registrar's office or
myself. This is basically a self-paced online session and the intention is for this curriculum
to be flexible with the unique schedule of the individual, that is one main advantage and
characteristic of distance education. It is possible to either complete the assignments during
the respective week as outlined below, or if necessary choose a somewhat alternative modified
schedule. Please let me know either way what your plans are, whether you prefer a week-to-week
approach or otherwise according to individual preference. I will try to accommodate everyone's
calendar requirements to ensure successful completion of the course curriculum, but it is helpful
to have this information communicated in advance.
The lecture information is available from a link in the main classroom, at this location there
are HTML files. The lectures generally correspond to the weekly topics, but I suggest that you
at least scan through them somewhat ahead of time to become familiar with the main points. This
information is supplemental to the text, it will not specifically be included in either quiz
outlined below. The intent is to give a more graphical example or an alternative perspective on
theory based in part from current industry examples. In addition, there is a wide range of useful
reference materials available online from the textbook author that would be advantageous to
become familiar with. To access this site click on the 'Data Comm and Net' link below.
1 Introduction
2 Basic Concepts
3 The OSI Model
4 Signals
5 Encoding and Modulating
6 Transmission of Digital Data: Interfaces and Modems
7 Transmission Media
8 Multiplexing
9 Error Detection and Correction
10 Data Link Control
11 Data Link Protocols
12 Local Area Networks
13 Metropolitan Area Networks
14 Switching
15 Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
16 Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
17 X.25
18 Frame Relay
19 ATM
20 SONET/SDH
21 Networking and Internetworking Devices
22 Transport Layer
23 Upper OSI Layers
24 TCP/IP Protocol Suite: Part I
25 TCP/IP Protocol Suite: Part II; Application Layer
26 VLANs and VPNs
27 Network Security
Recommended Reading & Reference Links
Aaron, Jane. The Little Brown Handbook 4th Ed., 2000 Prentice Hall. ISBN #: 0321075099
Keogh, Jim. The Essential Guide to Networking 2000 Prentice Hall. ISBN #: 0130305480
ISP, Browser, & E-mail Application
MS Office Suite
MS Project
MS Binder
Anti-virus Application
Course Description
This course introduces the fundamentals of computer network systems and data communications
technology, examines digital transmission concepts, along with looking in detail at a variety of
basic yet important logical properties and protocols. We will review various types of complex
infrastructure through the study of theory, industry standards, technical examples, and by
researching the many practical applications found in sophisticated computerized networks. We will
also look at design issues, implementation methods, long-term maintenance considerations, along
with modern organizational techniques and examples for ensuring systems quality development from
the perspective of user requirements. A wide variety of simple and common network technology
principles are introduced and used as reference materials throughout class. The creation of
effective and formal industry-standard documentation is discussed and required within the
assignments throughout the course.
We will review theory that will provide a broad understanding of management techniques commonly
applied to systems infrastructure inherent in a modern network technology environment. Functional
examples will be studied to become familiar with practical applications, and most importantly to
also reach an understanding of how the technology can be a quality tool to communicate and
process information, as well as transmit data more efficiently. We will observe the many benefits
this type of valuable service can bring to an organization's greater information systems
environment in which a network is commonly intended to function, and hopefully do so as
efficiently as is possible, from successfully taking advantage of the many capabilities that are
available today. The architecture detail, a range of topologies, and various media for both
traditional and high-speed local and wide area networks (LAN/WAN systems) will be described. The
network operating system (NOS) or modern communications software platform and issues related to
the management of this complex package of code are also reviewed. We will utilize a mixture of
textbook assignments, review lecture materials, research online articles, and also study cases
from the field along with looking at a network in your workplace.
There is a lot of material to cover in a short time, also in a 'non-traditional' environment,
therefore planning ahead can be an asset in the next eight-weeks. Effective communication is an
essential component particularly when involved in distance education studies, this is not
specifically a requirement here but is in many online programs. A 'logical' environment can
require more effort in communications and therefore additional emphasis may be necessary to
ensure that an objective is effectively comprehended. Today's demanding work place generally
expects a similar practice to be carried out, especially in a situation where there is
significant reliance on a network as a primary means for communication. In a complex business
environment the potential costs and repercussions involved with a message being lost or distorted
are at minimum quite high. Based on this standard, it can be beneficial to promote quality
communication habits within the online activity that you will be immersed in during class or
otherwise. The objective is that interactions occurring throughout the coursework will become an
asset to meet the unique communication challenges encountered while working within as well as
outside of a network environment.
Below is the agenda for the next eight weeks, please relay to me any issues that exist regarding
the workload or being on track with your calendar plan, in this subject it is especially
difficult to catch up when not on schedule. Feedback is also appreciated at any time, and
otherwise taking an active role in class discussion will in part likely help to determine what
may be gained over the coming weeks from the effort made. To a significant degree it is the
amount of involvement in class related interactions particularly in an online education
environment that can make a difference in how much is learned, and I will assist any way I can.
I look forward to working to ensure that you may benefit as much as possible from this experience
and successfully accomplish your goals. I hope you find it a rewarding time of learning about the
challenging subject of networks in today's world of information systems technology. I wish you
all the best and much success in your technology studies and with other ventures.
Course Objectives
Analyze the unique theory, processes, & tools that make up data communications technology.
Become familiar with the concepts & applications of data transmission principles.
Examine transmission environments, architecture, infrastructure, & industry standards.
Define the role, application, & structure of a modern network (LAN) in the workplace.
Identify network project issues such as planning, implementation, security, and maintenance.
Become familiar with network troubleshooting, security, or problematic issues & concerns.
Identify the topology (logical) & main components and media (physical) of a network.
Analyze, compare, and contrast traditional, high-speed, & wireless LAN's in the workplace.
Define the dynamic relationships between various components of a network & its
environment.
Examine a network operating system (NOS), its applications, & compare to a non-network
OS.
Integrate network operation & management principles into a comprehensive design plan.
Assignments & Writing
At the college level, students are generally expected to have an advanced writing style,
therefore written assignments should be typed and in an organized format of your choice as long
as it is appropriate for the information being presented. Because effective communication is a
primary element of success in today's competitive business environment, spelling, grammar, and
punctuation will be considered as part of the final product. The outline, organization, specific
content, and length, etc., of assignments is optional. It is expected that throughout class you
will apply responsible judgment on this, along with consistently incorporating the appropriate
ethical standards.
Academic integrity and honesty is highly valued in online coursework at Canyon College. The
assignments that are submitted must represent your original independent work. If you use any
information or expressions that are from another author, then you must accurately cite all of
the relevant sources. All references in the assignment materials must be cited as either a
footnote or endnote utilizing an acceptable style of your choice, preferably in abbreviated APA
standard, (see the 'APA' link or 'Little Brown Book' above) in any case please be consistent.
If there are any questions about expectations or appropriate criteria please do not hesitate to
ask, also refer to the student service agreement for more information.
Grading
The course grading is based on the following:
Questions & Weekly Summary/Communications - 20%
Article Reviews & Research Papers - 20%
LAN Workplace/Troubleshoot, NOS Papers, & Develop Project - 30%
Quizzes I & II - 30%
Point/grade equivalent:
100 - 90 = A
89 - 80 = B
79 - 70 = C
69 - 60 = D
Below 60 = F
Weekly Requirements
Assignments are due at midnight MST on the due date unless otherwise arranged, submit them as an
email attachment to me at the end of the scheduled week. Post the weekly summary and answers to
text questions as a note to the
'ikonboard' class
communications Web site. The summary should generally be an inclusive review but you may focus
on any topic or issue that you think appropriate. See below regarding information and an outline
of descriptions and requirements for the assignments.
When submitting assignments please label your file names as follows: "Last name_Abbreviated
assign.week#" For example a file name for the week four assignment would look something like the
following with no spaces: 'Brennen_LANWkplc.Wk4' It is helpful to be consistent with this
practice, it makes a significant difference when referring to assignment's - I do not want to
loose anyone's hard work! ;~ )
In addition, for each application (such as MS Word, Power Point, etc.) that you are working with
to create a course product, please fill in the title, name, date/week # in the 'properties'
fields. This is found in most applications at the top left menu ('file | properties') header,
then select the 'summary' tab. It is also helpful to include this same basic file information
in the 'subject' field when submitting your assignment via e-mail. This is a simple method to
easily and quickly identify documents and emails, it is also basically an industry standard since
formal products are generally required to be labeled appropriately with descriptive information.
The topic and assignment schedule is as follows:
Week One - Introduction, Basic Concepts, The OSI Model, & Signals
Please submit a short outline of your background or 'bio' that describes your general history in
school and/or work. You may list anything that you feel is relevant to class, as well as include
other information such as hobbies, interests, etc. If you have network or IT-related reference
information you would like to contribute, then this would be a good place to include it, if not
feel free to submit this at a later time.
Weeks One to Eight - Questions & Summary:
Each week I will provide a list of questions from the text and materials to be answered, or ask
you to make a selection of your choice. The weekly summary should be a short synopsis on the
topics to address the main points or anything in particular from the class assignments,
materials, or any discussion that you would like to write about. If possible to cover more areas,
answer a different question than someone else has already chosen.
Weeks One & Three - Article Review Paper:
Find an article on network systems that involves information processing techniques, an innovation,
or how the technology has helped or hindered an organization, was this a positive choice and is
it in the party's best interest, give a brief summary of the main points. Describe what you find
interesting and why, what are the associated applications, if this involves research what are the
expectations, is the writing objective and do you agree with what and how it is presented - why
or why not. Suggest an alternative product or technology if possible as well as summarize the
strong and weak points, is there something further that should be included, is this article
biased in any way? Briefly explain what you learned or what from the article was new information
to you, did it change your mind about anything?
Week Two - Technology Research Paper:
Select an article or other publication regarding a new network technology either proposed or one
that has been implemented recently. Summarize the situation and write a brief paper about its
intended use, cost, quality issues, timeframe involved, advantages/disadvantages or any potential
consequences to the technology world or in society, i.e. will this create or take away jobs and
in the short or long term? Consider the areas where this technology will be used, is it in a
public or private environment, what are the assumed benefits, could there be potential problems,
is it feasible or risky? Determine the full effects, realize to what extent the network or IT
field will be impacted.
Week Four - LAN in the Workplace Paper:
Write a summary on a LAN or other communications system in your workplace, describe its
components and characteristics. Review its function, i.e. how important is it, if a network
does not exist where you work choose another and include:
The physical extent of the network (area & number of buildings, etc).
The number of nodes or users and workstation types (i.e., 486, Pentium, etc).
The number of servers and the types i.e. application, Web, etc.
The applications used (i.e., e-mail, Windows, MS Office, etc).
The architecture (i.e., client/server, peer-to-peer, mainframe, segmented, etc).
The physical topology scheme (i.e., bus, ring, star, etc).
The media type (i.e., UTP, STP, Coaxial cable, Fiber, etc).
The connection architecture (i.e., Hubs, repeaters, bridges, gateways, etc).
The NOS incorporated (i.e., Novell, Windows NT, UNIX, etc).
The network management methods (i.e., administrator, help desk, etc).
Week Five - LAN Troubleshoot Paper:
A small LAN grew in a short time to more than 200 nodes with high volume use and traffic, it
started with 20 nodes where it worked efficiently. The users are now complaining that response
time and throughput on the LAN are too slow. Write a short paper that identifies the following
that an administrator would consider to address the situation:
Possible reasons for slow response, identify at least three causes.
The methods in which you plan to confirm each possible reason.
What would be the solution(s) for each possible reason?
Is this undesirable situation avoidable, if so how?
Week Six - Network Operating System Paper:
Complete the following chart, in the second and third columns below list the workstations and
protocols that each NOS or platform supports, and answer either 'Yes/No' in the last column.
Write a short paper comparing and contrasting two of the NOS's listed, give advantages and
disadvantages of each and describe their primary areas of use.
Week Seven - Security Research Paper:
Select a security occurrence or activity in a network or communications environment where
integrity has been compromised. Summarize the situation and write a brief paper about the
perceived details of the event that took place. Determine as much as possible the full
consequences, what is the total impact and scope (geographic, cost, logical/hardware damage,
etc.) that can be realized. Your considerations may include:
How much will it cost the organization(s) in the short and long-term, can all of the cost be
realized?
What can be learned from the event, did this happen in the past, if so why did it happen
again?
Who is responsible and what was their motive(s), was it due to poor equipment quality?
What technology is used by those responsible, describe the technology involved at the site.
What extent is the local or remote environment affected, can the full effect be realized?
What financial considerations or resources if any are involved for future prevention or
study?
Will there be full recovery and are there further threats locally as well as to industry in
general?
Week Eight - LAN Development/Implementation Project:
A high-tech start-up company that manufactures and markets sophisticated hardware products has
recently bought a new facility, they are making a relatively large expansion. You are the new
network administrator and are required to provide a detailed outline that will describe design,
develop, and implementation of a LAN to support the company's new operations as described in the
requirements listed below:
Department - Area in Meters / Users or Nodes / Business Function Type:
Administration - 40 x 60 / 10 Nodes / General Office
Accounting - 30 x 60 / 6 Nodes / General Office
Purchasing - 20 x 30 / 4 Nodes / General Office
Sales & PR - 20 x 50 / 4 Nodes / General Office
Engineering - 40 x 50 / 10 Nodes / Design: 8, General Office: 2
Dev/Test/QA - 30 x 40 / 16 Nodes / Technical: 10, General Office: 6
Manufacturing - 120 x 90 / 40 Nodes / Robots: 30, Data Processing: 5, General Office: 5
There are two buildings, the manufacturing area is located in building II, all other departments
are in building I. The distance between the two buildings is 300 meters. A public road exists
between them, the road is subject to short-notice construction that can involve digging activity.
This factor should be considered during design and planning.
The manufacturing division works seven days per week, twenty-four hours per day. There are
robotics devices supporting its operations between manufacturing stations, they require 100% up
time for local data transmissions from one machine to another. They will conduct data generally
in milliseconds along with producing heavy traffic and high bandwidth demands.
The testing area requires the transfer of large amounts of data between workstations on a
routine basis. EMI should also be considered in the design. The following should be included in
the paper:
Table of Contents.
An executive summary.
A logical design, include network Internet/Intranet connections, & leading out to the
ISP.
A physical map of the LAN indicating where the equipment and cables will be placed.
The number of servers & other relative hardware, their basic specifications &
information.
List the applications that will be used (i.e., e-mail, Windows, MS Office, etc).
Define the architectures (i.e., client/server, peer-to-peer, mainframe, segmented, etc).
Define the logical & physical topologies if more than one (i.e., bus, ring, star, etc).
Define the physical media (i.e., UTP, STP, coaxial cable, fiber, etc).
Define the various network connections (Hubs, repeaters, bridges, gateways, etc).
Select the NOS (i.e., Novell, Windows NT, UNIX, etc).
Describe LAN Management (i.e., administrator, help desk, security, disaster recovery, etc).
List the equipment & materials that must be purchased to complete the project.
Provide a rough cost estimate of the project, list any potential costs including hidden
factors.
Project files and applications to utilize:
MS Word file: Main body/text of paper.
MS PPT (or MS Visio) file: Supplement graphics, i.e. physical & logical drawing/plan of your LAN.
MS Project file: Supplement timeline & resource information.
MS Binder: Assemble files together with this application.
