Computer networks rely on many forms of abstraction to scale–indeed, to operate at all. While at least some of this abstraction is visible, such as route aggregation and flooding domain boundary summarization, much of it is hidden in unexpected places, such as in the logical construction of a network device, in the operation of BGP route reflectors, and in the data plane protocol stack.

Abstraction in Computer Networks LiveLessons considers abstraction in theory and practice across many of the places it is used in building network devices, network software, and networks. Tradeoffs and common problems are considered, and the relationship between abstraction and complexity is discussed.

Viewers learn how to think about what abstraction hides, and why it is important to hide each of these things. They also learn how to look in unexpected places for abstraction, how to think about leaky abstractions, and how Keith’s Law and the first corollary to Keith’s Law impact abstraction, including unintended consequences. Abstraction also relates to the State/Optimization/Surface tradeoff triad, so a section of this LiveLesson considers that tradeoff and how abstraction controls the speed and amount of state, impacts the depth and breadth of interaction surfaces, and reduces optimization.

About the Instructor

Russ White has more than 25 years of experience in designing, deploying, breaking, and troubleshooting large-scale networks. In that time, he has co-authored more than 40 software patents, has spoken at venues throughout the world, has participated in the development of several Internet standards, has helped develop the CCDE and the CCAr, and has worked in Internet governance with the ISOC. Russ is currently a member of the artchitecture team at LinkedIn, where he works on next-generation data center designs, complexity, security, and privacy. His most recent books are The Art of Network Architecture, Navigating Network Complexity, and Problems and Solutions in Network Engineering.

MSIT Capella University, MACM Shepherds Theological Seminary, PhD in progress from Southeastern Theological Seminary
CCIE No. 2635, CCDE 2007:001, CCAr

Skill Level
Beginner-Intermediate

strong>Learn How To

• Find and understand abstraction, including hidden abstractions, in a network
• Find and understand the tradeoffs between abstraction, complexity, understandability, and network optimization
• Understand the relationship between Keith’s Law, the first corollary to Keith’s Law, the Law of Leaky Abstractions, and abstraction
• Relate unintended consequences to abstraction and interaction surfaces
• Relate abstraction to the state/optimization/surface tradeoff triad in network design

Who Should Take This Course

• Anyone who wants to go beyond configuring route aggregation, ABRs, redistribution, and virtual topologies so they can understand how these abstractions work to reduce complexity
• Anyone who wants to understand the many tradeoffs involved in all kinds of abstraction, and how to seek out and find those tradeoffs in order to make good design decisions
• Anyone who wants to be able to decide what kinds of abstraction to use to solve specific problems, how much abstraction to use, and where to apply it

Course Requirements

• A basic understanding of the operation of routed control planes, including flooding domain boundaries and route aggregation
• A basic understanding of routers and switches, including how routers and switches are used to build networks
• A basic understanding of network virtualization
• A basic understanding of IPv4 and IPv6 addressing and route aggregation

About Pearson Video Training

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