Students will build up knowledge (at a different level of depth depending on the specific topic) and deep understanding of mechanisms and motivations underlying the following technologies and solutions: - IPv4 network design - IPv6 protocol and techniques to support its co-existence with IPv4. - IPv6 network design - Ethernet local area network design - The most popular techniques and protocols used to implement Virtual Private Networks (VPN), both customer-provisioned and provider-provisioned. - MPLS protocol architecture - Protocols and techniques for quality of service on IP networks - Optical networks

Attendance of this module requires fluent spoken and written English as a necessary pre-requisite: all lectures, lab sessions, and study material will be in English. Knowledge about computer networks as obtained in a bachelor degree (laurea) in computer engineering. In particular, excellent understanding of the TCP/IP protocol suite (IPv4, TCP and UDP) and basic concepts related to technologies used to realize local area networks (Ethernet).

- IPv4 network design (0.8 CFU) - IPv6 protocol, coexistence with IPv4, and IPv6 network design (1.8 CFU) - Routing in the Internet (0.8 CFU) - Virtual Private Networks (1 CFU) - Techniques for quality of service (QoS) support (0.2 CFU) - MPLS (0.6 CFU) - Optical networks (0.2 CFU)

The course consists mainly of classroom lectures. These are complemented by supervised classroom exercise sessions in which students can apply the concepts learned during the lectures to realistic use cases and discuss them with the instructor. Finally, for a subset of the topics, the course includes lab sessions to help retaining the concepts learned during the lectures by observing the corresponding technologies in action. Lab sessions cover the following topics: - Configuration and observing the operation of IPv4 and IPv6 hosts and routers - Traffic analysis in access VPN solutions.

Due to the advanced nature of the topics addressed by the course, they are not covered by a single textbook or a limited number of textbooks. The course website provides, besides the overheads used during lectures, a list of links to documents publicly available over the Internet and references to book chapters that address the various topics discussed during lectures.

Exam: Written test; Optional oral exam;

1-hour written exam, including 30 multiple-choice questions. The following evaluation criteria will be applied: correct answer: 1 point, wrong answer: -0.5 points, no answer provided: 0 points. A mark of the written test larger than or equal to 23/30 will give the right to take integrative oral test. The oral test is elective, however marks larger than 26/30 in the written test will result in a final grade of 26/30 when electing not to take an oral test. In both exams, the knowledge level of the concepts and topics presented during lectures will be evaluated, by means of both theoretical questions and numerical exercises, possibly presented in multiple-choice question form.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.