Chapter 2

Application Layer

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2: Application Layer 1
Chapter 2: Application layer
 2.1 Principles of  2.6 P2P applications
network applications  2.7 Socket programming
 2.2 Web and HTTP with TCP
 2.3 FTP  2.8 Socket programming
 2.4 Electronic Mail with UDP
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
 2.5 DNS

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

2: Application Layer 3
Some network apps
 e-mail  voice over IP
 web  real-time video
 instant messaging conferencing
 remote login  grid computing
 P2P file sharing 

 multi-user network 
games 
 streaming stored video
clips

2: Application Layer 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 application
transport
No need to write software network
data link

for network-core devices

application
physical
transport
network
 Network-core devices do data link
physical

not run user applications

 applications on end systems
allows for rapid app
development, propagation
2: Application Layer 5
Chapter 2: Application layer
 2.1 Principles of  2.6 P2P applications
network applications  2.7 Socket programming
 2.2 Web and HTTP with TCP
 2.3 FTP  2.8 Socket programming
 2.4 Electronic Mail with UDP
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP  2.9 Building a Web
 2.5 DNS server

2: Application Layer 6
Application architectures
 Client-server
 Peer-to-peer (P2P)
 Hybrid of client-server and P2P

2: Application Layer 7
Client-server architecture
server:
 always-on host
 permanent IP address
 server farms for
scaling
clients:
 communicate with server
client/server
 may be intermittently
connected
 may have dynamic IP
addresses
 do not communicate directly
with each other

2: Application Layer 8
Pure P2P architecture
 no always-on server
 arbitrary end systems
directly communicate peer-peer
 peers are intermittently
connected and change IP
addresses

Highly scalable but

difficult to manage

2: Application Layer 9
Hybrid of client-server and P2P
Skype
 voice-over-IP P2P application
 centralized server: finding address of remote
party:
 client-client connection: direct (not through
server)
Instant messaging
 chatting between two users is P2P
 centralized service: client presence
detection/location
• user registers its IP address with central
server when it comes online
• user contacts central server to find IP
addresses of buddies
2: Application Layer 10
Processes communicating
Process: program running Client process: process
within a host. that initiates
 within same host, two communication
processes communicate Server process: process
using inter-process that waits to be
communication (defined contacted
by OS).
 processes in different  Note: applications with
hosts communicate by P2P architectures have
exchanging messages client processes &
server processes

2: Application Layer 11
App-layer protocol defines
 Types of messages Public-domain protocols:
exchanged,  defined in RFCs
 e.g., request, response  allows for
 Message syntax: interoperability
 what fields in messages &
 e.g., HTTP, SMTP
how fields are delineated
 Message semantics Proprietary protocols:
 e.g., Skype
 meaning of information in
fields
 Rules for when and how
processes send &
respond to messages
2: Application Layer 12
 What transport service does an app need?
Data loss Throughput
 some apps (e.g., audio) can  some apps (e.g., multimedia)
tolerate some loss require minimum amount of
 other apps (e.g., file throughput to be
transfer, telnet) require “effective”
100% reliable data  other apps (“elastic apps”)
transfer make use of whatever
Timing throughput they get
 some apps (e.g., Security
Internet telephony,  Encryption, data integrity, …
interactive games)
require low delay to be
“effective”

2: Application Layer 13
 Transport service requirements of 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 msec
video:10kbps-5Mbps
stored audio/video loss-tolerant same as above yes, few secs
interactive games loss-tolerant few kbps up yes, 100’s msec
instant messaging no loss elastic yes and no

2: Application Layer 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 connection setup,
 flow control: sender won’t reliability, flow control,
overwhelm receiver congestion control, timing,
throughput guarantee, or
 congestion control: throttle
security
sender when network
overloaded
 does not provide: timing, Q: why bother? Why is
minimum throughput there a UDP?
guarantees, security
2: Application Layer 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 (eg Youtube), TCP or UDP
RTP [RFC 1889]
Internet telephony SIP, RTP, proprietary
(e.g., Skype) typically UDP

2: Application Layer 16
Chapter 2: Application layer
 2.1 Principles of  2.6 P2P applications
network applications  2.7 Socket programming
 app architectures with TCP
 app requirements  2.8 Socket programming
 2.2 Web and HTTP
with UDP
 2.4 Electronic Mail
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
 2.5 DNS

2: Application Layer 17
Web and HTTP
First some jargon
 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
 Example URL:

[Link]/someDept/[Link]

host name path name

2: Application Layer 18
HTTP overview

HTTP: hypertext
transfer protocol HT
TP
req
 Web’s application layer PC running HT ues
TP t
protocol Explorer re sp
ons
 client/server model e

 client: browser that

st
que
requests, receives, Pr
e
n se Server
T o
“displays” Web objects HT r es
p running
TP Apache Web
 server: Web server HT
server
sends objects in
response to requests
Mac running
Navigator

2: Application Layer 19
HTTP overview (continued)
Uses TCP: HTTP is “stateless”
 client initiates TCP  server maintains no
connection (creates socket) information about
to server, port 80 past client requests
 server accepts TCP
connection from client aside
Protocols that maintain
 HTTP messages (application- “state” are complex!
layer protocol messages)  past history (state) must
exchanged between browser be maintained
(HTTP client) and Web  if server/client crashes,
server (HTTP server)
their views of “state” may
 TCP connection closed
be inconsistent, must be
reconciled

2: Application Layer 20
HTTP connections
Nonpersistent HTTP Persistent HTTP
 At most one object is  Multiple objects can
sent over a TCP be sent over single
connection. TCP connection
between client and
server.

2: Application Layer 21
 Nonpersistent HTTP
(contains text,
Suppose user enters URL [Link]/someDepartment/[Link]
references to 10
jpeg images)

1a. HTTP client initiates TCP

connection to HTTP server
(process) at
1b. HTTP server at host
[Link] waiting
[Link] on port 80
for TCP connection at port 80.
“accepts” connection,
notifying client
2. HTTP client sends HTTP request message
(containing URL) into TCP connection
socket. Message indicates that client
wants object someDepartment/[Link] 3. HTTP server receives request
message, forms response
message containing requested
object, and sends message
into its socket

time
2: Application Layer 22
 Nonpersistent 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

2: Application Layer 23
Non-Persistent HTTP: Response time
Definition of RTT: time for a
small packet to travel
from client to server and
back. initiate TCP
connection
Response time:
RTT
 one RTT to initiate TCP
request
connection file
time to
 one RTT for HTTP request RTT
transmit
and first few bytes of file
file

HTTP response to return received

 file transmission time
time time
total = 2RTT+transmit time

2: Application Layer 24
Persistent HTTP

Nonpersistent 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 parallel  subsequent HTTP messages
TCP connections to fetch between same
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

2: Application Layer 25
 HTTP request message
 two types of HTTP messages: request, response
 HTTP request message:
 ASCII (human-readable format)

request line
(GET, POST, GET /somedir/[Link] HTTP/1.1
HEAD commands) Host: [Link]
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0
header Connection: close
lines Accept-language:fr

Carriage return,
line feed (extra carriage return, line feed)
indicates end
of message
2: Application Layer 26
HTTP request message: general format

2: Application Layer 27
Uploading form input
Post method:
 Web page often
includes form input URL method:
 Input is uploaded to  Uses GET method
server in entity body  Input is uploaded in
URL field of request
line:

[Link]/animalsearch?monkeys&banana

2: Application Layer 28
Method types
HTTP/1.0 HTTP/1.1
 GET  GET, POST, HEAD
 POST  PUT
 HEAD  uploads file in entity
body to path specified
 asks server to leave
in URL field
requested object out of
response  DELETE
 deletes file specified in
the URL field

2: Application Layer 29
HTTP response message
status line
(protocol
status code HTTP/1.1 200 OK
status phrase) Connection close
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 1998 [Link] GMT
header Server: Apache/1.3.0 (Unix)
lines Last-Modified: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 …...
Content-Length: 6821
Content-Type: text/html

data, e.g., data data data data data ...

requested
HTML file

2: Application Layer 30
HTTP response status codes
In first line in server->client response message.
A few sample codes:

200 OK
 request succeeded, requested object later in this message
301 Moved Permanently
 requested object moved, new location specified later in
this message (Location:)
400 Bad Request
 request message not understood by server
404 Not Found
 requested document not found on this server
505 HTTP Version Not Supported
2: Application Layer 31
 Trying out HTTP (client side) for yourself

1. Telnet to your favorite Web server:

telnet [Link] 80 Opens TCP connection to port 80
(default HTTP server port) at [Link].
Anything typed in sent
to port 80 at [Link]

2. Type in a GET HTTP request:

GET /~ross/ HTTP/1.1 By typing this in (hit carriage
Host: [Link] return twice), you send
this minimal (but complete)
GET request to HTTP server

3. Look at response message sent by HTTP server!

2: Application Layer 32
User-server state: cookies
Example:
Many major Web sites
 Susan always access
use cookies
Four components: Internet always from PC
1) cookie header line of  visits specific e-
HTTP response message commerce site for first
2) cookie header line in time
HTTP request message
 when initial HTTP
3) cookie file kept on
user’s host, managed by requests arrives at site,
user’s browser site creates:
4) back-end database at  unique ID
Web site
 entry in backend
database for ID
2: Application Layer 33
 Cookies: keeping “state” (cont.)
client server
ebay 8734
usual http request msg
Amazon server
cookie file usual http response creates ID
Set-cookie: 1678 1678 for user create
ebay 8734 entry
amazon 1678
usual http request msg
cookie: 1678 cookie- access
specific
one week later: usual http response msg action backend
database
access
ebay 8734 usual http request msg
amazon 1678 cookie: 1678 cookie-
spectific
usual http response msg action

2: Application Layer 34
Cookies (continued)
aside
What cookies can bring: Cookies and privacy:
 authorization  cookies permit sites to
 shopping carts learn a lot about you
 you may supply name
 recommendations
and 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

2: Application Layer 35
 Web caches (proxy server)
Goal: satisfy client request without involving origin server

 user sets browser: Web origin

server
accesses via cache
 browser sends all HTTP Proxy
HT
requests to cache TP
req server ques t
H u P re
T
client TP e st T T on se
 object in cache: cache res H
res
p
pon P
returns object se H TT
e st
 else cache requests req
u
object from origin server, T P on se
HT p
res
then returns object to T TP
H
client
client
origin
server

2: Application Layer 36
More about Web caching
 cache acts as both Why Web caching?
client and server  reduce response time
 typically cache is for client request
installed by ISP  reduce traffic on an
(university, company, institution’s access
residential ISP) link.
 Internet dense with
caches: enables “poor”
content providers to
effectively deliver
content (but so does
P2P file sharing)
2: Application Layer 37
Caching example
origin
Assumptions servers
 average object size = 100,000
bits public
Internet
 avg. request rate from
institution’s browsers to origin
servers = 15/sec
 delay from institutional router 1.5 Mbps
to any origin server and back to access link
router = 2 sec institutional
network
Consequences 10 Mbps LAN
 utilization on LAN = 15%
 utilization on access link = 100%
 total delay = Internet delay +
access delay + LAN delay institutional
cache
= 2 sec + minutes + milliseconds

2: Application Layer 38
Caching example (cont)
origin
possible solution servers
 increase bandwidth of access
public
link to, say, 10 Mbps Internet
consequence
 utilization on LAN = 15%
 utilization on access link = 15% 10 Mbps
 Total delay = Internet delay + access link
access delay + LAN delay institutional
= 2 sec + msecs + msecs network
10 Mbps LAN
 often a costly upgrade

institutional
cache

2: Application Layer 39
Caching example (cont)
origin
possible solution: install servers
cache public
 suppose hit rate is 0.4 Internet
consequence
 40% requests will be
satisfied almost immediately
 60% requests satisfied by 1.5 Mbps
access link
origin server
 utilization of access link institutional
reduced to 60%, resulting in network
10 Mbps LAN
negligible delays (say 10
msec)
 total avg delay = Internet
delay + access delay + LAN institutional
delay = .6*(2.01) secs cache
+ .4*milliseconds < 1.4 secs

2: Application Layer 40
 Conditional GET

 Goal: don’t send object if cache server

cache has up-to-date cached HTTP request msg
version If-modified-since:
object
 cache: specify date of <date>
not
cached copy in HTTP request modified
HTTP response
If-modified-since: HTTP/1.0
<date> 304 Not Modified
 server: response contains no
object if cached copy is up-
HTTP request msg
to-date: If-modified-since:
HTTP/1.0 304 Not <date> object
Modified modified
HTTP response
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
<data>
2: Application Layer 41