Computer Networks - A Systems Approach

Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Fifth Edition, explores the key principles of computer networking, with examples drawn from the real world of network and protocol design. Using the Internet as the primary example, this best-selling and classic textbook explains various protocols and networking technologies. The systems-oriented approach encourages students to think about how individual network components fit into a larger, complex system of interactions.
This book has a completely updated content with expanded coverage of the topics of utmost importance to networking professionals and students, including P2P, wireless, network security, and network applications such as e-mail and the Web, IP telephony and video streaming, and peer-to-peer file sharing. There is now increased focus on application layer issues where innovative and exciting research and design is currently the center of attention. Other topics include network design and architecture; the ways users can connect to a network; the concepts of switching, routing, and internetworking; end-to-end protocols; congestion control and resource allocation; and end-to-end data.
Each chapter includes a problem statement, which introduces issues to be examined; shaded sidebars that elaborate on a topic or introduce a related advanced topic; What's Next? discussions that deal with emerging issues in research, the commercial world, or society; and exercises.
This book is written for graduate or upper-division undergraduate classes in computer networking. It will also be useful for industry professionals retraining for network-related assignments, as well as for network practitioners seeking to understand the workings of network protocols and the big picture of networking.

• Completely updated content with expanded coverage of the topics of utmost importance to networking professionals and students, including P2P, wireless, security, and applications
• Increased focus on application layer issues where innovative and exciting research and design is currently the center of attention
• Free downloadable network simulation software and lab experiments manual available

Larry L. Peterson is the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, as well as Vice President and Chief Scientist at Verivue, Inc. He serves as Director of the PlanetLab Consortium, which focuses on the design of scalable network services and next-generation network architectures. He is a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, recipient of the IEEE Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Professor Peterson recently served as Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, he has been on the Editorial Board for the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking and the IEEE Journal on Select Areas in Communication, and he has served as program chair for SOSP, NSDI, and HotNets. Peterson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, and the 2010 recipient of the IEEE Kobayahi Computer and Communication Award. He received his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University in 1985.