Networking Laboratory (4140)

Home
Schedule
About
Resources
Webboard and grades
Projects
Glossary
Academic Honesty

Projects HOWTO

  1. Discuss with the instructor / TAs list of possible projects (March 28th)
  2. Select a project and team by March 31st. Submit a one page document listing problems statements, equirpment requirements, and deliverables.
  3. Send a weekly report (in ascii text) to instructor (due every Friday 11:59pm EDT). First report is due April 4th.
  4. Present your project in class on May 5th / demo your project and submit a short report.

Project 1: Comparison of packet reception techniques and MLFFR for a Linux router (2-3 persons)

Using Click software router, analyze the performance three packet reception mechanisms, i.e., interrupt driven, polling, and NAPI. Determine the MLFFR (maximum loss free forwarding rate) of a Linux router. Compare it with a Cisco router.

Related bibliography
Click software router
Linux packet reception

Project 2: BGP route view data analysis and trends (2 persons)

This project is for students who are interested in analyzing how BGP operates in practice. AS-level BGP messages will be collected from various vantage points or we will utilize some already existing e.g. from routeviews. The goal is to understand how BGP operates under normal circumstances and when there is a network problem such as a virus outbreak, a wrong prefix announcement etc. Extensive statistical treatment of the data will be required to find the emerging behavioral patterns and, if possible, to create an early warning tool for the operators upon detection of problems or deviations from "normal".

To be decided upon selection of the project. This project is more open-ended and requires more effort and knowledge of the networking material, especially BGP.

Related bibliography:
APNIC routing table analysis
CAIDA AS-level adjacency table
Route views project
NANOG
Potaroo

BGP reports from Potaroo

Project 3: Setup a VLAN for voice and data traffic (2-3 persons)

You will be provided with SIP phones. You will configure a simple SIP server with SIP phones and seperate 'voice' traffic from the 'data' traffic using VLAN.

Related bibliography
VLAN
SIP

Project 4: Throughput and delay comparison for various TCP flavors (2-3 persons)

In this project, you will compute link utilization as a function of number of FTP flows on the link.

Also, you will compare the throughput and delay performance of various TCP flavors such as New Reno, BIC, Westwood under configurable network conditions.

Related bibliography
BIC TCP
TCP Westwood
Network emulation

Project 4: Throughput and delay comparison for various TCP flavors (2-3 persons)

In this project, you will compute link utilization as a function of number of FTP flows on the link.

Also, you will compare the throughput and delay performance of various TCP flavors such as New Reno, BIC, Westwood under configurable network conditions.

Related bibliography
BIC TCP
TCP Westwood
Network emulation

Project 5: XORP router (2 persons)

Setup a XORP router on a Linux machine and configure RIP, BGP, and SNMP. Show that it works in a network running Quagga and Cisco routers.

Related bibliography
XORP

Project 6: Your project?