ECE 792 610 Routed Network Design
3 Credit Hours
The topics we will cover in this course include:
• OSPF
• Policy Based Routing
• Route redistribution
• BGP primer – emphasis only on its use in data centers (not the Internet)
• Switch Fabrics in data centers
• Virtualization (NVGRE, VxLAN, GENEVE data planes)
• Control planes (EVPN)
• Hyperconvergence (if time permits)
• Server load balancing
Across data centers
Within a data center
• Interconnecting data centers
Single Provider
Multicloud (if time permits)
• Virtualization in WAN – SDN solutions (if time permits)
• Telemetry (if time permits; guest lecture by Carlos Pignataro, Cisco DE)
Prerequisites
ECE/CSC577 is a prerequisite for this course; in particular, the virtualization topic covered in ECE/CSC577.
See the TA for watching the relevant lectures on virtualization, router architecture and subnetting, if you don’t have the background on these topics.
Experience in router/switch configuration (e.g., Cisco CLI, virtual switches) is required.
Course Objectives
The objectives of this course are to:
- Expose the students to (some of) the fundamental issues that arise in the design and management of routed networks, with special emphasis on enterprise networks and data center switch fabrics. Such issues include, among others:
- Business objectives and technical design requirements
- Design tradeoffs
- Provide the students with practical experience on routing protocols. Demos and several lab exercises are used for that purpose.
- Provide the students with practical experience on data center switch fabric design and operation protocols.
- Expose the students to the fundamental issues that arise in virtualization of WAN and switch fabrics.
Course Requirements
Examinations: There will be two 75 minute in-class exams; no final exam. An oral presentation will be required in lieu of a missed exam.
Homework: We will assign four to five homework assignments throughout the semester. All homework must be submitted online. Giving or receiving assistance on assignments is allowed, but you may not share any paper and/or electronic material (source code, data files, reports, charts, photos, screen-shots, etc. There will be no tolerance for cheating. An academic integrity violation report (https://studentconduct.dasa.ncsu.edu/wp- content/uploads/sites/39/2015/06/RAIV-for-New-Code.pdf) will be filed, in case of cheating.
Late Homework: Homework will be due at 11:59pm EST on the due date posted on the course web-site. There will be a 12 hour grace period, after which homework will not be accepted.
Project: None
Grading Policy
Your grade will be based upon:
- two midterm exams (25% each)
- homework (25%)
- lab exam (25%)
Grading Scale: All assignments will be graded on a 100-point scale. The average of these assignments (using the weights above) will be used to compute your final score. The following scale will then be used to assign your final grade:
| [97-100] | A+ | [93-97) | A | [90-93) | A- |
| [87-90) | B+ | [83-87) | B | [80-83) | B- |
| [77-80) | C+ | [73-77) | C | [70-73) | C- |
| [60-70) | D | ||||
| <60 | F | ||||
Audit Requirements: Students auditing this course are expected to complete the homework assignments with at least a score of 75. No need to take the midterms or complete the project.
Curving: We will curve if need be. Curving is not linear; lower grades will be curved more generously than higher ones.
Textbooks
Instructor notes will be available free of charge.
Selected handouts (for which you are responsible come exam time) will be available free of charge.
Updated 10/23/2023