Architecture of Network Systems (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design)


Product Description
If you've ever run a forced-hot air heating system, it's not too hard to understand by analogy the basics of Network Systems. Of course, your heating system needs a humidifier attached to it, but the humidifier in a state-of-the-art HVAC system only operates when the central processor determines it's necessary, given information needed to calculate indoor relative humidity from the indoor thermostat, humidistat, and outdoor thermometer.Network systems are network-attached, computational systems that receive, process and transmit data packets. The advances in high speed transmission technologies require high-speed link attachments that are able not only to receive and transmit data at high speed but subsystems that store and process packets as well, at speeds that are equivalent to the link speeds.
The architecture of network systems, i.e. adapters, switches, bridges, routers, etc., constitutes a new technical area that requires skills in computer architecture, design methodologies, algorithm design and networking. As an emerging field, the architecture of network systems enables a systematic approach for the definition and development of network systems, analogous to that of computing systems.
This book addresses the need for a systematic treatment of the technical aspects of network systems architecture.
* First book to provide comprehensive coverage of the technical aspects of Network Systems...bridges the gap between network operation and VLSI, providing professionals with structured approach to solving problems currently handled on an ad-hoc basis;
* A handy, "how-to" for anybody entering the field of Network Systems Architecture and a valuable reference for all practitioners...provides comprehensive coverage of practice and methodologies from two renowned authors, obviating need to locate and read numerous, research-level publications;
* Develops a systematic approach to Network Architectures, based on the OSI reference model...approach based on well-understood model, with widely accepted performance goals;
* Covers all necessary basics of Network Systems Architecture, followed by leading-edge topics, e.g., Quality of Service and Security for mobile, real-time P2P services (VoIP, e-commerce, etc.) and Low-Power Requirements for Mobile Systems (mobile phones, PDAs, etc.)...appeals to the widest possible audience;
Architecture of Network Systems (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Architecture and Design) Review
This book covers networking "soup to nuts" -- you'll learn not only about networking concepts and devices and protocols, but also how the hardware and software are designed to do it all efficiently. It was, for me, a bit mind-opening. They cover the architecture of switches, network interfaces, etc., protocols for packet classification, link scheduling, etc. -- at every level of a network they explain the issues and move you from a naive implementation toward how things are really done. They even cover chip design and specialized operating systems for routers.There are a few things you should know. First, the book makes no attempt to be chatty or friendly -- it is a densely packed, no-nonsense treatment of a lot of material in just 300 pages. It is a bit dry, but well written. Also, if you actually need to implement something -- e.g a router or a protocol handler -- you will need more than this book. Think of this book as going deeply into the *concepts* for a broad range of networking topics, but not so deep into the implementation that you could actually create what they are talking about.
One thing I really like about this book is its very generous use of diagrams. If you are a visual learner, you will like this book. There is still some room for improvement, e.g. in some cases the diagrams depend too much on information buried in paragraphs above. For example, in a diagram explaining the use of hierarchical trees for packet classification, the diagram should really state that we are trying to match 1010/0111; because it doesn't, I was confused about what the diagram was depicting until I found where they established the context for the diagram on the previous page. But despite minor issues with assuming too much context, the diagrams are well thought out and add greatly to the presentation.
It's an excellent book, and I learned a lot from it.
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