The course text is Peterson & Davie, Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, published by Morgan-Kaufmann. The numbered exercises refer (as of today, August 27 2003) to the second edition, although the book just came out in a third edition. If you're buying the book new, the third edition is the way to go; I'll be updating the exercise references here very soon. However, the second edition is still quite good, and as far as the topics covered by this course are concerned the two editions are very similar. You can get the book at Beck's bookstore, or else order it online from any of the usual places.
Listed below are a sequence of outline sections for the chapters to Peterson & Davie. The basic structure of this online course is to read the indicated material in the chapters, following the suggestions on the outline pages here. Each chapter outline page contains both study questions and exercises.
You should submit written solutions to both, but the study questions are intended to be less formal, and those questions should be read before you read the applicable section of the text. Some of the study questions are also simply intended to generate some discussion; there may not in fact be a hard-and-fast answer.
A few exercises call for the submission of diagrams. This is sometimes tricky in an online course. People have, in the past, successfully emailed me word documents with embedded figures, and also postal-mailed me diagrams hand-written on paper.
The current errata sheet for Peterson & Davie is here.
After I receive one section's worth of material from you, I grade it and return it. If appropriate, I may ask you to redo a couple of the exercises, or do a couple additional ones. I do not assign a point value to your study-question answers, though I will often suggest some clarification. Sometimes I'll provide feedback that may address the following section.
So far I've avoided a strict calendar for due dates. There are eight sections here and fourteen weeks in the semester. So allow between one and two weeks per section. I am, for online classes, always willing to let things run on a little past the end of the semester.
After you finish all the sections, I will send you the final exam. This consists of, in effect, more exercises. If you've done well on all the sections up until then, I may waive the final exam.
A good place to start reading is with my LAN, IP, and TCP summary. This should give you some overview of the terminology, and some idea as to where all this is heading. After that, you should start in on chapter 1.
Section outline: