Chapter 2

Application Layer

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Application Layer 2-1

Chapter 2: outline
2.1 principles of network 2.6 socket programming
applications with UDP and TCP
2.2 Web and HTTP
2.3 FTP
2.4 electronic mail
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
2.5 DNS

Application Layer 2-2

Chapter 2: application layer
our goals:  learn about protocols by
 conceptual, examining popular
implementation aspects application-level
of network application protocols
protocols  HTTP
 transport-layer  FTP
service models  SMTP / POP3 / IMAP
 client-server  DNS
paradigm  creating network
 peer-to-peer applications
paradigm  socket API

Application Layer 2-3

Some network apps
 e-mail  voice over IP (e.g., Skype)
 web  real-time video
 text messaging conferencing
 remote login  social networking
 P2P file sharing  search
 multi-user network games  …
 streaming stored video  …
(YouTube, Hulu, Netflix)

Application Layer 2-4

Creating a network app application
transport
network
data link

write programs that: physical

 run on (different) end systems

 communicate over network
 e.g., web server software
communicates with browser
software
no need to write software for application

network-core devices transport

network
data link application
 network-core devices do not physical transport
network
run user applications data link
physical

 applications on end systems

allows for rapid app
development, propagation

Application Layer 2-5

Application architectures
possible structure of applications:
 client-server
 peer-to-peer (P2P)

Application Layer 2-6

 Client-server architecture
server:
 always-on host
 permanent IP address
 data centers for scaling

clients:
 communicate with server
client/server  may be intermittently
connected
 may have dynamic IP
addresses
 do not communicate directly
with each other
Application Layer 2-7
P2P architecture
 no always-on server peer-peer
 arbitrary end systems
directly communicate
 peers request service from
other peers, provide service
in return to other peers
 self scalability – new
peers bring new service
capacity, as well as new
service demands
 peers are intermittently
connected and change IP
addresses
 complex management

Application Layer 2-8

Processes communicating
process: program running clients, servers
within a host client process: process that
 within same host, two initiates communication
processes communicate server process: process that
using inter-process waits to be contacted
communication (defined by
OS)
 processes in different hosts
communicate by exchanging  aside: applications with P2P
messages architectures have client
processes & server
processes

Application Layer 2-9

Sockets
 process sends/receives messages to/from its socket
 socket analogous to door
 sending process shoves message out door
 sending process relies on transport infrastructure on
other side of door to deliver message to socket at
receiving process

application application
socket controlled by
process process app developer

transport transport
network network controlled
link by OS
link Internet
physical physical

Application Layer 2-10

Addressing processes
 to receive messages,  identifier includes both IP
process must have identifier address and port numbers
 host device has unique 32- associated with process on
bit IP address host.
 Q: does IP address of host  example port numbers:
on which process runs  HTTP server: 80
suffice for identifying the  mail server: 25
process?  to send HTTP message to
 A: no, many processes gaia.cs.umass.edu web
can be running on same server:
host  IP address: 128.119.245.12
 port number: 80
 more shortly…

Application Layer 2-11

App-layer protocol defines
 types of messages open protocols:
exchanged,  defined in RFCs
 e.g., request, response  allows for interoperability
 message syntax:  e.g., HTTP, SMTP
 what fields in messages proprietary protocols:
& how fields are
 e.g., Skype
delineated
 message semantics
 meaning of information
in fields
 rules for when and how
processes send & respond
to messages

Application Layer 2-12

What transport service does an app need?
data integrity throughput
 some apps (e.g., file transfer,  some apps (e.g.,
web transactions) require multimedia) require
100% reliable data transfer minimum amount of
 other apps (e.g., audio) can
throughput to be
tolerate some loss “effective”
 other apps (“elastic apps”)
timing make use of whatever
throughput they get
 some apps (e.g., Internet
telephony, interactive security
games) require low delay
to be “effective”  encryption, data integrity,
…

Application Layer 2-13

 Transport service requirements: common apps

application data loss throughput time sensitive

file transfer no loss elastic no

e-mail no loss elastic no
Web documents no loss elastic no
real-time audio/video loss-tolerant audio: 5kbps-1Mbps yes, 100’s
video:10kbps-5Mbps msec
stored audio/video loss-tolerant same as above
interactive games loss-tolerant few kbps up yes, few secs
text messaging no loss elastic yes, 100’s
msec
yes and no

Application Layer 2-14

Internet transport protocols services

TCP service: UDP service:

 connection-oriented: setup  unreliable data transfer
required between client and between sending and
server processes receiving process
 reliable transport between  does not provide:
sending and receiving
process reliability, flow control,
 flow control: sender won’t congestion control,
overwhelm receiver timing, throughput
 congestion control: throttle guarantee, security,
sender when network orconnection setup,
overloaded
 does not provide: timing,
minimum throughput
guarantee, security

Application Layer 2-15

Internet apps: application, transport protocols

application underlying
application layer protocol transport protocol

e-mail SMTP [RFC 2821] TCP

remote terminal access Telnet [RFC 854] TCP
Web HTTP [RFC 2616] TCP
file transfer FTP [RFC 959] TCP
streaming multimedia HTTP (e.g., YouTube), TCP or UDP
RTP [RFC 1889]
Internet telephony SIP, RTP, proprietary
(e.g., Skype) TCP or UDP

Application Layer 2-16

Securing TCP

TCP & UDP SSL is at app layer

 no encryption  Apps use SSL libraries,
 cleartext passwds sent which “talk” to TCP
into socket traverse SSL socket API
Internet in cleartext  cleartext passwds sent
SSL into socket traverse
 provides encrypted Internet encrypted
TCP connection  See Chapter 8
 data integrity
 end-point
authentication
Application Layer 2-17
Chapter 2: outline
2.1 principles of network 2.6 socket programming
applications with UDP and TCP
 app architectures
 app requirements
2.2 Web and HTTP
2.3 FTP
2.4 electronic mail
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
2.5 DNS

Application Layer 2-18

Web and HTTP
First, a review…
 web page consists of objects
 object can be HTML file, JPEG image, Java applet,
audio file,…
 web page consists of base HTML-file which
includes several referenced objects
 each object is addressable by a URL, e.g.,
www.someschool.edu/someDept/pic.gif

host name path name

Application Layer 2-19

HTTP overview
HTTP: hypertext
transfer protocol
 Web’s application layer
protocol PC running
Firefox browser
 client/server model
 client: browser that
requests, receives,
(using HTTP protocol) server
and “displays” Web running
objects Apache Web
 server: Web server server
sends (using HTTP
protocol) objects in iphone running
response to requests Safari browser

Application Layer 2-20

HTTP overview (continued)
uses TCP: HTTP is “stateless”
 client initiates TCP  server maintains no
connection (creates information about
socket) to server, port 80 past client requests
 server accepts TCP
connection from client aside
protocols that maintain
 HTTP messages “state” are complex!
(application-layer protocol
 past history (state) must be
messages) exchanged maintained
between browser (HTTP  if server/client crashes, their
client) and Web server views of “state” may be
(HTTP server) inconsistent, must be
 TCP connection closed reconciled

Application Layer 2-21

HTTP connections
non-persistent HTTP persistent HTTP
 at most one object  multiple objects can
sent over TCP be sent over single
connection TCP connection
 connection then between client, server
closed
 downloading multiple
objects required
multiple connections

Application Layer 2-22

 Non-persistent HTTP
suppose user enters URL: (contains text,
www.someSchool.edu/someDepartment/home.index references to 10
jpeg images)
1a. HTTP client initiates TCP
connection to HTTP server
(process) at 1b. HTTP server at host
www.someSchool.edu on port www.someSchool.edu waiting
80 for TCP connection at port 80.
“accepts” connection, notifying
2. HTTP client sends HTTP request client
message (containing URL) into
TCP connection socket. 3. HTTP server receives request
Message indicates that client message, forms response
wants object message containing requested
someDepartment/home.index object, and sends message into
its socket
time
Application Layer 2-23
 Non-persistent HTTP (cont.)
4. HTTP server closes TCP
connection.
5. HTTP client receives response
message containing html file,
displays html. Parsing html file,
finds 10 referenced jpeg objects

time
6. Steps 1-5 repeated for each of
10 jpeg objects

Application Layer 2-24

Non-persistent HTTP: response time

RTT (definition): time for a

small packet to travel from
client to server and back
HTTP response time: initiate TCP
connection
 one RTT to initiate TCP
connection RTT
request
 one RTT for HTTP request file
and first few bytes of HTTP RTT
time to
response to return transmit
file
 file transmission time file
received
 non-persistent HTTP
response time =
time time
2RTT+ file transmission
time

Application Layer 2-25

Persistent HTTP

non-persistent HTTP issues: persistent HTTP:

 requires 2 RTTs per object  server leaves connection
 OS overhead for each TCP open after sending
connection response
 browsers often open  subsequent HTTP
parallel TCP connections messages between same
to fetch referenced objects client/server sent over
open connection
 client sends requests as
soon as it encounters a
referenced object
 as little as one RTT for all
the referenced objects

Application Layer 2-26

 HTTP request message

 two types of HTTP messages: request, response

 HTTP request message:
 ASCII (human-readable format)
carriage return character
line-feed character
request line
(GET, POST, GET /index.html HTTP/1.1\r\n
HEAD commands) Host: www-net.cs.umass.edu\r\n
User-Agent: Firefox/3.6.10\r\n
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml\r\n
header Accept-Language: en-us,en;q=0.5\r\n
lines Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate\r\n
Accept-Charset: ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7\r\n
carriage return, Keep-Alive: 115\r\n
line feed at start Connection: keep-alive\r\n
\r\n
of line indicates
end of header lines
Application Layer 2-27
HTTP request message: general format

method sp URL sp version cr lf request

line
header field name value cr lf
header
~
~ ~
~ lines

header field name value cr lf

cr lf

~
~ entity body ~
~ body

Application Layer 2-28

Uploading form input
POST method:
 web page often includes
form input
 input is uploaded to
server in entity body

URL method:
 uses GET method
 input is uploaded in URL
field of request line:
www.somesite.com/animalsearch?monkeys&banana

Application Layer 2-29

Method types
HTTP/1.0: HTTP/1.1:
 GET  GET, POST, HEAD
 POST  PUT
 HEAD  uploads file in entity
 asks server to leave body to path specified
requested object out in URL field
of response  DELETE
 deletes file specified in
the URL field

Application Layer 2-30

 HTTP response message
status line
(protocol
status code HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n
status phrase) Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:09:20 GMT\r\n
Server: Apache/2.0.52 (CentOS)\r\n
Last-Modified: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:00:02
GMT\r\n
header ETag: "17dc6-a5c-bf716880"\r\n
Accept-Ranges: bytes\r\n
lines Content-Length: 2652\r\n
Keep-Alive: timeout=10, max=100\r\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\r\n
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-
1\r\n
\r\n
data, e.g., data data data data data ...
requested
HTML file
Application Layer 2-31
HTTP response status codes
 status code appears in 1st line in server-to-
client response message.
 some sample codes:
200 OK
 request succeeded, requested object later in this msg
301 Moved Permanently
 requested object moved, new location specified later in this msg
(Location:)
400 Bad Request
 request msg not understood by server
404 Not Found
 requested document not found on this server
505 HTTP Version Not Supported
Application Layer 2-32
Trying out HTTP (client side) for yourself
1. Telnet to your favorite Web server:

telnet cis.poly.edu 80 opens TCP connection to port 80

(default HTTP server port) at cis.poly.edu.
anything typed in sent
to port 80 at cis.poly.edu

2. type in a GET HTTP request:

GET /~ross/ HTTP/1.1 by typing this in (hit carriage
Host: cis.poly.edu return twice), you send
this minimal (but complete)
GET request to HTTP server

3. look at response message sent by HTTP server!

(or use Wireshark to look at captured HTTP request/response)
Application Layer 2-33
User-server state: cookies
example:
many Web sites use cookies  Susan always access Internet
four components: from PC
1) cookie header line of  visits specific e-commerce
HTTP response site for first time
message  when initial HTTP requests
2) cookie header line in arrives at site, site creates:
next HTTP request  unique ID
message  entry in backend
3) cookie file kept on database for ID
user’s host, managed
by user’s browser
4) back-end database at
Web site
Application Layer 2-34
 Cookies: keeping “state” (cont.)
client server

ebay 8734
usual http request msg Amazon server
cookie file creates ID
usual http response
1678 for user create backend
ebay 8734
set-cookie: 1678 entry database
amazon 1678
usual http request msg
cookie: 1678 cookie- access
specific
usual http response msg action

one week later:

access
ebay 8734 usual http request msg
amazon 1678 cookie: 1678 cookie-
specific
usual http response msg action
Application Layer 2-35
Cookies (continued)
aside
what cookies can be used cookies and privacy:
for:  cookies permit sites to
 authorization learn a lot about you
 shopping carts
 you may supply name and
 recommendations
e-mail to sites
 user session state (Web
e-mail)

how to keep “state”:

 protocol endpoints: maintain state at
sender/receiver over multiple
transactions
 cookies: http messages carry state

Application Layer 2-36

Web caches (proxy server)
goal: satisfy client request without involving origin server
 user sets browser: Web
accesses via cache
 browser sends all HTTP proxy
requests to cache server
 object in cache: cache client
origin
returns object server
 else cache requests
object from origin
server, then returns
object to client
client origin
server

Application Layer 2-37

More about Web caching
 cache acts as both why Web caching?
client and server  reduce response time
 server for original for client request
requesting client
 client to origin server  reduce traffic on an
 typically cache is institution’s access link
installed by ISP  Internet dense with
(university, company, caches: enables “poor”
residential ISP) content providers to
effectively deliver
content.

Application Layer 2-38

Caching example:
assumptions:
 avg object size: 100K bits origin
 avg request rate from browsers to servers
origin servers:15/sec public
 avg data rate to browsers: 1.50 Mbps Internet
 RTT from institutional router to any
origin server: 2 sec
 access link rate: 1.54 Mbps 1.54 Mbps
access link
consequences:
 LAN utilization: 15% problem! institutional
network
 access link utilization = 99% 1 Gbps LAN
 total delay = Internet delay + access
delay + LAN delay
= 2 sec + minutes + usecs

Application Layer 2-39

Caching example: fatter access link
assumptions:
 avg object size: 100K bits origin
 avg request rate from browsers to servers
origin servers:15/sec public
 avg data rate to browsers: 1.50 Mbps Internet
 RTT from institutional router to any
origin server: 2 sec
 access link rate: 1.54 Mbps
154 Mbps 1.54 Mbps
154 Mbps
access link
consequences:
 LAN utilization: 15% institutional
access link utilization = 99% 9.9% network
 1 Gbps LAN
 total delay = Internet delay + access
delay + LAN delay
= 2 sec + minutes + usecs
msecs
Cost: increased access link speed (not cheap!)
Application Layer 2-40
Caching example: install local cache
assumptions:
 avg object size: 100K bits origin
 avg request rate from browsers to servers
origin servers:15/sec public
 avg data rate to browsers: 1.50 Mbps Internet
 RTT from institutional router to any
origin server: 2 sec
 access link rate: 1.54 Mbps 1.54 Mbps
access link
consequences:
 LAN utilization: 15% institutional
access link utilization = 100% network
 ? 1 Gbps LAN
 ?
total delay = Internet delay + access
delay + LAN delay local web
How to compute link
= 2 sec + minutes + usecs cache
utilization, delay?
Cost: web cache (cheap!)
Application Layer 2-41
Caching example: install local cache
Calculating access link
utilization, delay with cache: origin
 suppose cache hit rate is 0.4 servers
 40% requests satisfied at cache, public
Internet
60% requests satisfied at origin
 access link utilization:
 60% of requests use access link
 data rate to browsers over access link 1.54 Mbps
= 0.6*1.50 Mbps = .9 Mbps access link
 utilization = 0.9/1.54 = .58 institutional
 total delay network
1 Gbps LAN
 = 0.6 * (delay from origin servers) +0.4
* (delay when satisfied at cache) local web
 = 0.6 (2.01) + 0.4 (~msecs) cache
 = ~ 1.2 secs
 less than with 154 Mbps link (and
cheaper too!)
Application Layer 2-42
Conditional GET
client server
 Goal: don’t send object if
cache has up-to-date
cached version HTTP request msg
object
If-modified-since: <date>
 no object transmission not
delay modified
 lower link utilization HTTP response
before
HTTP/1.0
 cache: specify date of 304 Not Modified <date>
cached copy in HTTP
request
If-modified-since:
<date> HTTP request msg
 server: response contains If-modified-since: <date> object
modified
no object if cached copy after
HTTP response
is up-to-date: HTTP/1.0 200 OK <date>
HTTP/1.0 304 Not <data>
Modified
Application Layer 2-43