2024-2025 / INFO8011-1

Network infrastructures

Duration

30h Th, 8h Labo., 30h Proj.

Number of credits

 Master MSc. in Computer Science, professional focus in computer systems security5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science, professional focus in computer systems security (double diplômation avec HEC)5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science and Engineering, professional focus in management5 crédits 
 Master Msc. in computer science and engineering, professional focus in intelligent systems5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science, professional focus in management5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science and Engineering, professional focus in computer systems and networks5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science and Engineering, professional focus in computer systems and networks (double diplômation avec HEC)5 crédits 
 Master MSc. in Computer Science, professional focus in intelligent systems5 crédits 

Lecturer

Benoît Donnet, Guy Leduc, Laurent Mathy

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

This course aims at delivering a first vision of how data is processed and organized by large network organizations. In particular, it focuses on data and network traffic management within a data center (a facility composed of networked computers and storage used to organize, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data), wireless and mobile networks, and infrastructures for multimedia content delivery to users.
Table of Content:
Part 1: Data Center Networking (B. Donnet, L. Mathy)
Part 2: Wireless and Mobile Networks (G. Leduc)
Part 3: Multimedia Networking (G. Leduc)

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Upon completing this course, students will understand modern network infrastructures (Data centers, wireless and mobile networks), as well as the way multimedia content can be delivered to end-users.

This course contributes to the learning outcomes I.1, I.2, I.3, II.1, II.2, III.1, III.3, III.4, IV.1, IV.2, VI.1, VI.2, VII.1, VII.2, VII.4, VII.5, VII.6 of the MSc in data science and engineering.


This course contributes to the learning outcomes I.1, I.2, II.1, II.2, III.1, III.3, III.4, IV.1, IV.2, IV.3, IV.4, VI.1, VI.2, VII.1, VII.2, VII.4, VII.5, VII.6 of the MSc in computer science and engineering.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

A good knowledge of basics of Computer Networking (INFO0010 or equivalent) is required.

Being comfortable with programming (e.g., Python) is also suitable.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course is organized as follows:

  • Lectures describing in details the theoretical and practical concepts of the course
  • Lab sessions (4 sessions over the semester) are supervised practical sessions. Students are expected to prepare, at home, those sessions by making sure all requirements are installed on their own computer. Labs are done individually and a short report (simple text file to fill in and/or piece of code) must be completed by the end of the lab session.
  • An assignment by teams of 2 students,i.e., a larger problem to be solved.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course


Further information:

Face-to-face course


Additional information:

The face-to-face lectures are complemented by lab sessions, an introduction to Python libraries (Panda, Matplotlib) and several seminars.  The assignments are carried out remotely.

The course is entirely given in English.

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Slides, labs and assignments subjects will be made available on eCampus.

Following books have been used for building the course:

  • J. Kurose, K. Roth. Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, 8th edition, Pearson, 2020.
Additional references are provided throughout the slides, labs assignments subjects.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam


Further information:

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

oral exam


Additional information:

Students are graded in two ways: continuous evaluation (40% of the final grade) and oral exam (60% of the final grade).

Continuous Evaluation

During the semester, students will be evaluated several times through practical sessions:

  • Lab reports.  Several labs are organized during the semester and are graded (20% of the final grade) through reporting (a simple text file to fill in during/just after the lab with student's answers).
  • Assignment.  One assignment is organized during the semester and is graded (20% of the final grade). 
Labs are done individually, while assignements are done by teams of two students. 

Presence at the labs is mandatory.  Attending all labs and doing all assignements is required for attending the oral exam.  In case of lab absence and/or assignement not provided, the student will receive an "Absence" grade (and automatically be postponed to the resit).

Oral Exam

The oral exam (on the theoretical part of the course) accounts for 60% of the final grade.  

Resit

In case of failure in June, students must improve their assignement for the resit (deadline 1st day of the resit session) if the grade was below 10/20.  This must be done individually (note that no support will be provided, either by the TA or the lecturers, during summer).  Labs cannot be redone.

If the grades of the labs are favorable to the students, the resit session is identical to the first one, with the same weighting.  On the other hand, if the labs grades are detrimental to the student, it will not be taken into account in the weighting in September.

Oral exam must be redone.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

The course is organized during the first term (from mid-September to end of December), on Friday afternoon. All lectures are in English.

Contacts

Professors:

  • Benoit Donnet (mail -- office 1.87b/B28)
  • Guy Leduc (mail -- office 1.73a/B28)
  • Laurent Mathy (mail -- office 1.15/B37)
Teaching assistant:

Association of one or more MOOCs

Items online

Course Web Site
The course web site contains PDF of the slides, labs/assignments subjects, details about gradings, and the course agenda.  It also allows students to interact with the Pedagogical Team through the Discussion forum.