This course aims to broaden the knowledge of system managers in relation to the Internet. It is designed to enable system managers to communicate with staff in ISPs and network centers. It will allow them to understand why they are required to carry out certain procedures or to configure their machines in particular ways. The course is about understanding the main aspects required for a machine to operate smoothly on the Internet. It is not about how to set up Internet access on any particular machine.
Topics covered include physical networks, protocols, addressing, name lookup and network management.
Both theoretical and practical problems are addressed, and the course includes some hands-on experimentation. Further details The first day starts by reviewing the Internet and the sort of services that it has to provide. Various terms and concepts are introduced, in particular, the idea of protocol stacks and addresses. The rest of the day looks at the telnet and TCP protocols, and RFCs. The course concludes with sections on routing and advanced services.