Description

     Student Level: Intermediate to Advanced to Working Professionals, Beginners in Coding pls excuse this course.

     Talk to your Prof: Use this Project as your Final Year Under-Grad Project

     Note: If you are buying this course, pls do not buy my other course on – “Integrate CLI interface to you C/C+++ Project”. It’s all videos that are already included in this course.

This is a 100% Coding based Course in C in which we will develop a TCP/IP Stack from scratch having Data Link Layer, Network Layer and Application Layer in Operation. This is one big project split up into 6 mini-projects. The development of the sister course (Part-B) is in progress.

This Course will set you ready for a core network developer’s role in the industry. If you are thorough with basics of L2 Routing including ARP, L3 routing, then probably you already have the required knowledge for this project-based course. If not, you should enroll in to my course – “Networking Concepts and Programming from Scratch” and at-least do section number : 3 to 5. For VLANs implementation section 6,7, and 8 is required.We shall be implementing this theory in C now. If you have some other favorite language, feel free to do this course in that, I don’t mind, but I shall be explaining logic and showing the demos in C only.

In this course, We shall be implementing a TCP/IP Stack demo through 6 Networking Projects. All Below Projects should be done in the same sequence as listed.

Project 1 : Build a MultiNode Topology Emulation of Routers and Switches

Project 2 : Implement DataLink Layer (L2 routing), including ARP

Project 3 : Implement L2 Switching (Mac-based Learning and Forwarding)

Project 4 : Implement Vlan Based Mac learning and Forwarding

Project 5 : Implement Network Layer (L3 routing)

Project 6 : Case Study : Implement IP-Tunnelling (Optional)

In these mini Projects, we shall be implementing the packet Journey Upwards and Downwards through layers of TCP/IP Stack (= OSI Model). We shall be implementing the TCP/IP Stack !! There is minimal Socket Programming in this course. Not every Networking project has to be socket programming based.

Along the way, we shall be discussing and implementing the solution to new challenges we encounter while solving the problem. Based on how this course is accepted by students, I would add more projects to this course based on the student’s feedback.

After Doing These Projects, you shall be able to :

1. Tell why you need Data link layer and Network Layer

2. How to design a new Application protocol on a TCP/IP stack (just like ICMP, HTTP, etc all work on TCP/IP Stack)

3. Get your hands dirty with industry-level network programming.

4. Learn cooking up, parsing and reading the packet buffers

5. Understand End-To-End Architecture and Design of Network Application and TCP/IP Stack

6. Conquer Interviews for the role of Network Developer Engineer

7. Decorate your GitHub, and add a strong project to your HAT, Expected LOCs of this course shall exceed 10k !

This project will fill up the gap between theoretical knowledge and the Implementation version of it. How does it sound that you have written code by your own hands to resolve ARP, packet forwarding, etc. Decorate your resume and GitHub with this project.

This course is divided into Two Parts :

Part A – In this part of the course, we shall be building up the Network topology Infrastructure comprising of routers, switches, and links connecting them. Nodes can also exchange packets with their neighbors. Basically, we want to simulate a fully programmable and configurable network topology in this part of the course. This is Project 1.

Part B – The Configurable Network Topology build in Part A of the course shall be used to implement the Remaining five Projects [2-6] as listed above.

We shall be setting up all the required infrastructure to mimic the network topology – and that itself is a mini project altogether. We shall be creating nodes, links connecting nodes, configuring network parameters on nodes, sending and receiving traffic streams – All in one project. This is Megaproject, expected LOC may go to tens of thousands if we keep on adding TCP/IP stack features onto it. The sky is the limit.

The best thing about this project is – You will learn many other things along the journey, including setting up Timers, Network Topology Construction, Glthreads – A Glue way of Linked lists, Building Project using Makefile and I am not even talking about learning Software Designing skills. Additional Material has been added in the Appendix Section of the course. We shall be modularizing the project in separate folders, each folder contains code implementing a particular OSI Layer functionality, and Yes, We shall be doing it all from scratch.

Warning :

1. Absolute beginners, struggling with basic data structures and pointers, pls excuse this course. You are not prepared for this project. Pls, invest your time into learning basics first.

2. Machine Used: Ubuntu 19.04, GCC compiler.  So my codes may not compile on your machine if you are using some other compiler or machine.

Table Of Contents :

********

PART A

********

[ PROJECT 1]

Section 1. KYC (Know your Course)                          

Section 2. Developing a Generic Graph Topology

   Graph Data structures
   Graph related APIs
   Creating our first static graph

Section 3. Construction of a Network Graph Topology

   Adding Network topology details to the graph
   APIs to configure Network Topology
   Get ready without first Hello World Network Topology                            

Section 4. Command-Line Integration

   Integrate CLI Interface to the project
   Write Custom Commands to Display Network Topology detail

Section 5. Communication Setup

   Sending a packet to Nbr node on the outgoing interface  
   Listening and Monitoring Multiple Sockets
   Receiving a packet on an interface

   ********

    PART B

   ********

Section 6. Agenda of Part B

[ PROJECT 2]

Section 7. Getting Started with TCP/IP Stack Development

   Interface Modes
   Ethernet Header Format
   Assignment on Ethernet Header Manipulation
   Packet Processing Criteria
   Packet Buffer Management

Section 8. Implement Layer 2 (DataLink Layer) – ARP                        

   Get started with ARP Implementation
   ARP Message Format and Example
   Creating ARP Tables
   CRUD APIs on ARP Tables
   CLIs to work with ARP                                                        
   ARP Cycle and ARP APIs
   Preparing and Sending ARP Broadcast request msg
   Processing ARP Broadcast Request msg
   Sending ARP reply Msg
   API to Start Ingress Journey of the Frame
   Processing ARP reply msg and create an ARP entry in ARP table
   ARP in Action

[ PROJECT 3]

Section 9. Implement Layer 2 (DataLink Layer) – L2 Switching                

   APIs to configure node as L2 switches
   Setting up the new Topology with L2 switches and host machines
   Implementing MAC learning and Forwarding algorithms
   MAC Table Management of L2 switches
   Testing L2 switching behavior using ARP

[ PROJECT 4]

Section 10. Layer 2 – Implementing Vlan Based Forwarding

   Goals and Pre-requisites
   802.1Q Vlan hdr format
   Vlan Tagged Ethernet Header Data Structures
   API to determine Tagged Vs Untagged frames
   Tagged <–> Untagged Frame Conversion                      
   Vlan Based MAC Forwarding – Further Roadmap
   Frame Ingress Condition Table
   Frame Ingress Completion
   Frame Egress Condition Table
   Egress Frame Completion
   Test Vlan Based Forwarding

[ PROJECT 5]

Section 11. Setting Up Layer 3 Routing Infrastructure (Network Layer)                                

   Goals and Pre-requisites
   L3 Routing Table Setup
   CRUD APIs for Routing Table Mgmt
   L3 Route Installation
   Defining IP HDr format                  
   Adding Ping CLI
   Network and Application Layer Interaction
   L3 Routing Concepts Revisited
       Forwarding Case
       Direct Host Delivery Case
       Local Delivery Case
       Self-Ping Case
   L3 Routing Flowcharts

Section 12. Layer 3 Routing Flowcharts Implementation                  

   Payload Data Transfer from L2 to L3                                  
   Layer 3 Flowchart Implementation – Step by Step
   Layer 3 Operations Flowchart Implementation
   Layer 2 Operations Flowchart Implementation
   Testing Beta Version of our Project

Section 13. On-Demand ARP Resolution

   Problem Statement
   Solution Strategy                                  
   Data Structure Enhancements
   ARP Sane Entry Creation
   ARP Pending List Processing
   Final Demo of our Complete Project

[Project 6]

Section 14. Implement IP-IN-IP Encapsulation (Tunneling)

   Implement IP-IN-IP Encapsulation (Tunneling)

Future Extension of the Project. Students are supposed to take this forward on their own.

Section 15. Routing between two Vlans (Inter Vlan Routing)
Who this course is for:

   Students who have done Networking Course in their UG
   Working Professionals trying to break into Networking Development Role
   Those who want to separate them from the crowd
   Those who want to achieve excellence , at par from others

Requirements

   Basic L2 and L3 routing knowledge is very essential
   Good in Coding in C or any one main stream language
   Must know how to work with git – atleast basics
   Good with Pointers and Memory management Skills in C

Last Updated 11/2020