Network Arcitecture (R02) Papers

This course is mainly based around reading papers and learning how to find the positive and negative (in that order) in those papers.

Here's some jolly good advice on How to read a paper by Keshav from Waterloo, plus how to write a great paper and give a great talk about it by Simon Peyton-Jones, ex Microsoft.

We'll go through these topics at roughly one per week. There should also be some guest slots.

One thing I'd like readers to bear in mind is that one can take an evolutionary approach to network architecture change, or one can try to be revolutionary. In discussing a given paper, try to see which approach it is taking and whether this supports or undermines the viability of the proposed idea - this notion originated with Constantine Dovrolis and Jenifer Rexford in this nice counterpoint discussion. An important evolutionary refinement is Punctuated Equilibrium: which may be how technology (including networks) evolve really.

A very interesting complex systems/systems bio/eco/evolutionary view on how layered architectures evolve is this paper on Architecture, constraints, and behavior by John C. Doyle & Marie Cseteb.

Internet Architecture

This paper by Dave Clark of MIT is the starting point for all network architecture papers in form and content: The Design Philosophy of the DARPA Internet Protocols

Further background