About this course: In the cloud networking course, we will see what the network needs to do to enable cloud computing. We will explore current practice by talking to leading industry experts, as well as looking into interesting new research that might shape the cloud network’s future. This course will allow us to explore in-depth the challenges for cloud networking—how do we build a network infrastructure that provides the agility to deploy virtual networks on a shared infrastructure, that enables both efficient transfer of big data and low latency communication, and that enables applications to be federated across countries and continents? Examining how these objectives are met will set the stage for the rest of the course. This course places an emphasis on both operations and design rationale—i.e., how things work and why they were designed this way. We're excited to start the course with you and take a look inside what has become the critical communications infrastructure for many applications today.
Created by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Taught by: P. Brighten Godfrey, Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science
Taught by: Ankit Singla, Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science, ETH Zürich
| Basic Info | Course 5 of 6 in the Cloud Computing Specialization |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Orientation
You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.
1 video, 5 readings
- Video: Welcome to Cloud Networking!
- Reading: Orientation Overview
- Reading: Syllabus
- Reading: Social Media
- Reading: Updating Your Profile
- Reading: About the Discussion Forums
- Discussion Prompt: Getting to Know Your Classmates
Graded: Orientation Quiz
Week 1
We will start by looking at the applications running in data centers and the traffic patterns resulting from them. This will help us differentiate the networking needs within data centers from computer networking in general and set the stage for other material in the course. We’ll then dive into the first of these topics, physical network structure, where we will look at how the increasing demand for bandwidth within data centers is influencing the network’s design.
5 videos, 3 readings, 1 practice quiz
- Reading: Week 1 Overview
- Video: 1.1.1 Application and Traffic Patterns
- Video: 1.1.2 Application and Traffic Patterns Discussion
- Video: 1.2.1 Physical Structure
- Video: 1.2.2 Physical Structure Discussion
- Video: Programming Assignment 1 Explanation
- Reading: Programming Assignment 1a
- Reading: Programming Assignment 1b (optional)
- Practice Quiz: Programming Assignment 1a Survey (optional)
Graded: Week 1 Quiz
WEEK 2
Week 2
This week, we will dive further into the data center network stack, looking at routing and switching for physical and virtual machines and congestion control. We’ll examine what concerns routing needs to address in these environments and how it’s done in practice. We’ll also see how the network is moving deeper into the physical hosts in order to address the networking needs of virtual machines. With regards to congestion control, we’ll learn what problems TCP’s congestion control faces in data centers and how these are being addressed.
8 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Week 2 Overview
- Video: 2.1.1. Host Virtualization
- Video: 2.1.2 Host Virtualization Discussion
- Video: 2.2.1 Routing and Traffic Engineering
- Video: 2.2.2 Routing and Traffic Engineering: Packet Forwarding on Multiple Paths
- Video: 2.3.1 Congestion Control - Part 1
- Video: 2.3.2 Congestion Control - Part 2
- Video: 2.3.3 Congestion Control - Part 3
- Video: 2.3.4 Congestion Control Discussion
Graded: Week 2 Quiz
WEEK 3
Week 3
This week focuses on management and sharing of network infrastructure in cloud data centers. Traditional networking technologies require complex, error-prone network configuration, and make sharing of the network across multiple tenants in a secure manner difficult. We’ll learn how software-defined networking and network virtualization are addressing these problems.
10 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Week 3 Overview
- Video: 3.1.1 Software-Defined Networking Architecture - Part 1
- Video: 3.1.2 Software-Defined Networking Architecture - Part 2
- Video: 3.2.1 Multi-Tenant Data Centers: The Challenges
- Video: 3.2.2 Multi-Tenant Data Centers Discussion
- Video: 3.3.1 Network Virtualization Case Study: VL2 - Part 1
- Video: 3.3.2 Network Virtualization Case Study: VL2 - Part 2
- Video: 3.3.3 Network Virtualization Case Study Discussion
- Video: 3.4.1 Network Virtualization Case Study: NVP
- Video: Interview - Rob Sherwood (2015)
- Video: Interview - Martin Casado (2015)
Graded: Week 3 Quiz
WEEK 4
Week 4
Zooming out from within data centers, this week will examine other pieces of the cloud networking ecosystem: inter-data center WAN connectivity, content distribution networks, end-user Internet connectivity, and application interactions with the network. We’ll learn what novel techniques in each of these areas are pushing the cloud’s capabilities farther.
11 videos, 1 reading
- Reading: Week 4 Overview
- Video: 4.1.1 Inter-Data Center Networking: The Problem
- Video: 4.1.2 Inter-Data Center Networking: Cutting-edge Solutions
- Video: 4.2.1 CDNs - Part 1
- Video: 4.2.2 CDNs - Part 2
- Video: 4.2.3 CDNs Discussion
- Video: 4.3.1 Client Connectivity
- Video: 4.3.2 Client Connectivity Discussion
- Video: 4.4.1 Coping With Network Performance: Application-layer Tweaks for Lower Latency
- Video: 4.4.2 Coping With Network Performance: Video Streaming Adaptation in the Face of Variable Bandwidth
- Video: Interview - Bruce Maggs (2015)
- Video: Interview - Roy Rapoport (2015)
Graded: Week 4 Quiz
WEEK 5
Week 5 - Programming Assignment Submission
There is no new content in this module. You can find all the information about the programming assignments here, as well as submit your programming assignments here.
3 videos, 1 reading, 3 practice quizzes
- Reading: Week 5 Overview
- Video: Programming Assignment 2 Explanation
- Practice Quiz: Programming Assignment 2 Survey (optional)
- Video: Programming Assignment 3 Explanation
- Practice Quiz: Programming Assignment 3 Survey (optional)
- Video: Programming Assignment 4 Explanation
- Practice Quiz: Programming Assignment 4 Survey (optional)
Graded: Programming Assignment 2 Submission
Graded: Programming Assignment 3 Submission
Graded: Programming Assignment 4 Submission
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Pricing
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|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Available |
Ratings and Reviews
Very interesting but a lot of material in few time... very complex to be covered (and to be assimilated)
Nice course.
I really enjoyed this class but be ready for some tough programming assignments.
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BR
Excellent content and well thought out Quizzes.
Programming assignments can be made a little more detailed.