Computer Networks: A Systems Approach

Computer Networks, Fourth Edition, continues to provide an enduring, practical understanding of networks and their building blocks through rich, example-based instruction. This expanded and completely updated edition covers the why of network design, focusing not just the specifications comprising today's systems but how key technologies and protocols actually work in the real world to solve specific problems. It is the only introductory computer networking book written by authors who have had first-hand experience with many of the protocols discussed in the text, who have actually designed some of them as well, and who are still actively designing the computer networks today.

The book makes less use of computer code to explain protocols than earlier editions. Moreover, this new edition shifts the focus somewhat higher in the protocol stack where there is generally more innovative and exciting work going on at the application and session layers than at the link and physical layers. Other new features are: increased accessibility by clearly separating the advanced material from more fundamental via special headings and boxed features; the material is structured in such a way as to make it easier to teach top-down. Furthermore, the book outstrips the competitors in offering a more robust ancillary package for student and instructor support. The text is complemented with figures as well as links to networking resources on the Web and links to author-created materials on author-maintained Web site.

Computer Networks, Fourth Edition, will be an invaluable resource for networking professionals and upper level undergraduate and graduate students in CS, EE, and CSE programs.

• Completely updated with new sidebar discussions that cover the deployment status of protocols described in the book.
• Addition of sizeable number of new exercises and solutions.

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.

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.