Computer Networks - Hardcover

Tanenbaum, Andrew S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0130661023 ISBN 13: 9780130661029

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2002

Synopsis

Computer Networks, Fourth Edition is the ideal introduction to computer networks. Renowned author, educator, and researcher Andrew S. Tanenbaum has updated his classic best seller to reflect the newest technologies, including 802.11, broadband wireless, ADSL, Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, the Web, the wireless Web, streaming audio, IPsec, AES, quantum cryptography, and more. Using real-world examples, Tanenbaum explains how networks work on the inside, from underlying physical layer hardware up through today's most popular network applications.

About this title

About the Author

ANDREW S. TANENBAUM is Professor of Computer Science at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Scientific Director of ASCI, a Dutch graduate school established by leading universities throughout the Netherlands. He is also a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the ACM. Other books Tanenbaum has authored or co-authored include Structured Computer Organization, Fourth Edition; Operating Systems: Design and Implementation, Second Edition; Modern Operating Systems, Second Edition; and Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms (all from Prentice Hall).

From the Back Cover

The world's leading introduction to networking?fully updated for tomorrow's key technologies.

Computer Networks, Fourth Edition is the ideal introduction to today's networks?and tomorrow's. This classic best seller has been thoroughly updated to reflect the newest and most important networking technologies with a special emphasis on wireless networking, including 802.11, Bluetooth, broadband wireless, ad hoc networks, i-mode, and WAP. But fixed networks have not been ignored either with coverage of ADSL, gigabit Ethernet, peer-to-peer networks, NAT, and MPLS. And there is lots of new material on applications, including over 60 pages on the Web, plus Internet radio, voice over IP, and video on demand.Finally, the coverage of network security has been revised and expanded to fill an entire chapter.

Author, educator, and researcher Andrew S. Tanenbaum, winner of the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, carefully explains how networks work on the inside, from underlying hardware at the physical layer up through the top-level application layer. Tanenbaum covers all this and more:

• Physical layer (e.g., copper, fiber, wireless, satellites, and Internet over cable)
• Data link layer (e.g., protocol principles, protocol verification, HDLC, and PPP)
• MAC Sublayer (e.g., gigabit Ethernet, 802.11, broadband wireless, and switching)
• Network layer (e.g., routing algorithms, congestion control, QoS, IPv4, and IPv6)
• Transport layer (e.g., socket programming, UDP, TCP, RTP, and network performance)
• Application layer (e.g., e-mail, the Web, PHP, wireless Web, MP3, and streaming audio)
• Network security (e.g., AES, RSA, quantum cryptography, IPsec, and Web security)

The book gives detailed descriptions of the principles associated with each layer and presents many examples drawn from the Internet and wireless networks.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface

This book is now in its fourth edition. Each edition has corresponded to a different phase in the way computer networks were used. When the first edition appeared in 1980, networks were an academic curiosity. When the second edition appeared in 1988, networks were used by universities and large businesses. When the third edition appeared in 1996, computer networks, especially the Internet, had become a daily reality for millions of people. The new item in the fourth edition is the rapid growth of wireless networking in many forms.

The networking picture has changed radically since the third edition. In the mid-1990s, numerous kinds of LANs and WANs existed, along with multiple protocol stacks. By 2003, the only wired LAN in widespread use was Ethernet, and virtually all WANs were on the Internet. Accordingly, a large amount of material about these older networks has been removed.

However, new developments are also plentiful. The most important is the huge increase in wireless networks, including 802.11, wireless local loops, 2G and 3G cellular networks, Bluetooth, WAP, i-mode, and others. Accordingly, a large amount of material has been added on wireless networks. Another newly-important topic is security, so a whole chapter on it has been added.

Although Chap. 1 has the same introductory function as it did in the third edition, the contents have been revised and brought up to date. For example, introductions to the Internet, Ethernet, and wireless LANs are given there, along with some history and background. Home networking is also discussed briefly.

Chapter 2 has been reorganized somewhat. After a brief introduction to the principles of data communication, there are three major sections on transmission (guided media, wireless, and satellite), followed by three more on important examples (the public switched telephone system, the mobile telephone system, and cable television). Among the new topics covered in this chapter are ADSL, broadband wireless, wireless MANs, and Internet access over cable and DOCSIS.

Chapter 3 has always dealt with the fundamental principles of point-to-point protocols. These ideas are essentially timeless and have not changed for decades. Accordingly, the series of detailed example protocols presented in this chapter is largely unchanged from the third edition.

In contrast, the MAC sublayer has been an area of great activity in recent years, so many changes are present in Chap. 4. The section on Ethernet has been expanded to include gigabit Ethernet. Completely new are major sections on wireless LANs, broadband wireless, Bluetooth, and data link layer switching, including MPLS.

Chapter 5 has also been updated, with the removal of all the ATM material and the addition of additional material on the Internet. Quality of service is now also a major topic, including discussions of integrated services and differentiated services. Wireless networks are also present here, with a discussion of routing in ad hoc networks. Other new topics include NAT and peer-to-peer networks.

Chap. 6 is still about the transport layer, but here, too, some changes have occurred. Among these is an example of socket programming. A one-page client and a one-page server are given in C and discussed. These programs, available on the book's Web site, can be compiled and run. Together they provide a primitive remote file or Web server available for experimentation. Other new topics include remote procedure call, RTP, and transaction/TCP.

Chap. 7, on the application layer, has been more sharply focused. After a short introduction to DNS, the rest of the chapter deals with just three topics: e-mail, the Web, and multimedia. But each topic is treated in great detail. The discussion of how the Web works is now over 60 pages, covering a vast array of topics, including static and dynamic Web pages, HTTP, CGI scripts, content delivery networks, cookies, and Web caching. Material is also present on how modern Web pages are written, including brief introductions to XML, XSL, XHTML, PHP, and more, all with examples that can be tested. The wireless Web is also discussed, focusing on i-mode and WAP. The multimedia material now includes MP3, streaming audio, Internet radio, and voice over IP.

Security has become so important that it has now been expanded to a complete chapter of over 100 pages.

It covers both the principles of security (symmetric- and public-key algorithms, digital signatures, and X.509 certificates) and the applications of these principles (authentication, e-mail security, and Web security). The chapter is both broad (ranging from quantum cryptography to government censorship) and deep (e.g., how SHA-1 works in detail).

Chapter 9 contains an all-new list of suggested readings and a comprehensive bibliography of over 350 citations to the current literature. Over 200 of these are to papers and books written in 2000 or later.

Computer books are full of acronyms. This one is no exception. By the time you are finished reading this one, the following should ring a bell: ADSL, AES, AMPS, AODV, ARP, ATM, BGP, CDMA, CDN, CGI, CIDR, DCF, DES, DHCP, DMCA, FDM, FHSS, GPRS, GSM, HDLC, HFC, HTML, HTTP, ICMP, IMAP, ISP, ITU, LAN, LMDS, MAC, MACA, MIME, MPEG, MPLS, MTU, NAP, NAT, NSA, NTSC, OFDM, OSPF, PCF, PCM, PGP, PHP, PKI, POTS, PPP, PSTN, QAM, QPSK, RED, RFC, RPC, RSA, RSVP, RTP, SSL, TCP, TDM, UDP, URL, UTP, VLAN, VPN, VSAT, WAN, WAP, WDMA, WEP, WWW, and XML. But don't worry. Each will be carefully defined before it is used.

To help instructors using this book as a text for a course, the author has prepared various teaching aids, including

* A problem solutions manual.
* Files containing the figures in multiple formats.
* PowerPoint sheets for a course using the book.
* A simulator (written in C) for the example protocols of Chap. 3.
* A Web page with links to many tutorials, organizations, FAQs, etc.

The solutions manual is available directly from Prentice Hall (but only to instructors, not to students).

All the other material is on the book's Web site:phptr/tanenbaumcn4/

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0130661023
• ISBN 13: 9780130661029
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 950