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Computer Networks cover

Computer Science

Computer Science

Computer Networks

Andrew S. Tanenbaum; Nick Feamster; David J. Wetherall

A long-standing textbook that explains how computer networks work from the inside out, organised by the layered model from the physical layer up to applications. The sixth edition covers the wired and wireless Internet, modern transport protocols, content delivery and network security, with the Internet used as the running example throughout.

Prerequisites: Introductory programming and some familiarity with operating systems; probability is used lightly in the sections on channel capacity and queueing.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
computer networksinternet protocolstcp/ipwirelessnetwork securityTextbook

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Tanenbaum, A. S., Feamster, N., & Wetherall, D. J. (2020). Computer Networks (6th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The book has eight chapters that move up the protocol stack, followed by a closing section of reading suggestions and a bibliography. The publisher describes the approach as explaining "how networks work from the inside out": each chapter presents key principles and then illustrates them with real examples, chiefly the Internet and wireless networks (LANs, broadband wireless and Bluetooth).

Chapter 1: Introduction

The opening chapter surveys the uses of computer networks, types of networks, and network technology from local to global scale. It then presents examples of networks, network protocols, reference models, standardization, and policy, legal and social issues, and ends with a note on metric units and an outline of the rest of the book.

Chapter 2: The Physical Layer

The chapter starts with guided transmission media and wireless transmission, then covers how the spectrum is used and how waveforms are turned into bits. It continues with the public switched telephone network, cellular networks, cable networks and communication satellites, compares the different access networks, and closes with a section on policy at the physical layer.

Chapter 3: The Data Link Layer

Chapter 3 deals with data link layer design issues, error detection and correction, elementary data link protocols, ways of improving efficiency, and data link protocols in practice.

Chapter 4: The Medium Access Control Sublayer

This chapter takes up the channel allocation problem and multiple access protocols, and then the main link technologies that apply them: Ethernet, wireless LANs, Bluetooth and DOCSIS. It ends with data link layer switching.

Chapter 5: The Network Layer

The network layer chapter covers design issues, routing algorithms within a single network, traffic management, and quality of service with application quality of experience. It then turns to internetworking, software-defined networking and the network layer in the Internet, and ends with policy at the network layer.

Chapter 6: The Transport Layer

The chapter begins with the transport service and the elements of transport protocols, then covers congestion control. It treats the Internet transport protocols in two parts (UDP; then TCP, QUIC and BBR), and finishes with performance monitoring and delay-tolerant networking.

Chapter 7: The Application Layer

Chapter 7 covers DNS, electronic mail, the World Wide Web, HTTP/2, streaming audio and video, and content delivery networks and distributed cloud services.

Chapter 8: Security

The security chapter starts with the fundamentals of network security and the core ingredients of an attack, then firewalls and intrusion detection systems. It proceeds through cryptography (symmetric-key algorithms, public-key algorithms, digital signatures, management of public keys), authentication protocols, and communication, email and web security, and closes with social issues. The publisher says the chapter was revised in this edition to focus on modern security principles and actions.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–2: Introduction and Physical Layer

  • Reference models and standardization: the layered models used to organize protocols, and the bodies that standardize them.
  • Transmission and access networks: how bits are carried over wire, radio, cable and satellite, including telephone, cellular and cable access.

Chapters 3–4: Data Link Layer and MAC Sublayer

  • Error detection and correction: how a link recognizes and repairs damaged frames.
  • Multiple access: how stations share one channel, with Ethernet, wireless LANs, Bluetooth and DOCSIS as examples.
  • Link-layer switching: forwarding frames between LANs.

Chapters 5–6: Network and Transport Layers

  • Routing and traffic management: routing algorithms, congestion and quality of service.
  • Internetworking and software-defined networking: connecting networks and separating control from forwarding.
  • Congestion control and the Internet transport protocols: UDP, TCP, QUIC and BBR.

Chapters 7–8: Application Layer and Security

  • Web, mail, DNS and content delivery: the main application protocols and the infrastructure that serves them.
  • Cryptography and authentication: symmetric and public-key methods, signatures and authentication protocols.
  • Network defences: firewalls and intrusion detection.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • A clean layered structure. The eight chapters follow the stack from the physical layer to security, and each chapter name matches one layer or sublayer, so the contents double as a map of the subject. Chapter 4 separates the medium access control sublayer from the data link layer, which gives LAN technologies their own chapter.
  • Wide coverage of access technologies. The physical-layer and MAC chapters between them list telephone, cellular, cable and satellite access, Ethernet, wireless LANs, Bluetooth and DOCSIS, so wired and wireless links are treated together.
  • Current protocol topics. The contents include software-defined networking, application quality of experience, QUIC and BBR, HTTP/2, and content delivery networks and distributed cloud services. The publisher states that the sixth edition has been updated to reflect current technologies.
  • A self-contained security chapter. Chapter 8 includes its own treatment of cryptography, key management and authentication, so it can be read on its own.
  • Attention to policy. Policy, legal and social issues have a section in Chapter 1, and the physical-layer and network-layer chapters each end with a policy section, so non-technical constraints are part of the subject.

Limitations

  • Applications come last. Because the book is bottom-up, the application layer is Chapter 7. Readers who learn best from familiar applications may find the early chapters on media, modulation and framing abstract; the top-down alternative reverses this.
  • No programming thread in the contents. The published contents list no section on socket programming or other hands-on work, unlike books built around early application development. Readers who want to program against the protocols will need to add labs or packet captures.
  • A single chapter for applications. The application layer is covered in one chapter with six headed sections (DNS, email, the Web, HTTP/2, streaming, content delivery). Readers who want to learn application development or protocol design at that layer in depth need another source.

Where It Fits in the Course

Tanenbaum, Feamster and Wetherall is the bottom-up general textbook among the course books. Kurose and Ross's Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach teaches the same layers in the opposite order, starting from applications and sockets, and the two are most useful as alternatives or as a pair: one for the physical and link layers, which are given a full chapter here, and the other for early network programming. Forouzan's Data Communications and Networking with TCP/IP Protocol Suite is also bottom-up and is described as an introduction that relies on figures and worked examples, so it suits readers who want a gentler start. Comer's The Internet Book is a non-mathematical overview for those who want the big picture before any textbook.

Fall and Stevens's TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1 examines each protocol through packet traces and works well after the transport and network chapters here. Varghese and Xu's Network Algorithmics is a graduate text on making routers and end hosts fast and assumes a first networking course such as this one.

How to Use This Book

The book fits a first or second networking course for computer science and engineering students, and readers who want a complete reference on how networks work from signals to security. The publisher presents it as an introduction to the subject, so no prior networking knowledge is expected; a general computing background helps with the examples.

A practical reading plan:

  • Core: Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in order; they cover the link, network and transport layers that every networking course needs. Chapter 2 can be read lightly if the course starts from the link layer, but its sections on access networks (cellular, cable, satellite) are useful context for readers interested in how users reach the Internet.
  • Application and security: Chapter 7 for the protocols students meet daily, and Chapter 8, which can be read independently.
  • Policy sections: these can be read as short discussions alongside the technical chapters or skipped in a technically focused course.
  • Alongside the text: capture traffic with a packet analyser while reading the transport and application chapters, and consider writing a small client and server in a language of your choice, since the contents do not provide this. The closing reading list and bibliography point to further sources.