Data and Computer
Communications
Chapter 23 – Internet Applications
Internet Directory Service and
the World Wide Web
Eighth Edition
by William Stallings
Lecture slides by Lawrie Brown
Internet Applications
Internet Directory Service and
the World Wide Web
Life in the modern world is coming to depend more and
more upon technical means of communication. Without
such technical aids the modern city-state could not
exist, for it is only by means of them that trade and
business can proceed; that goods and services can be
distributed where needed; that railways can run on
schedule; that law and order are maintained; that
education is possible. Communication renders true
social life practicable, for communication means
organization.
—On Human Communication, Colin Cherry
DNS
The Internet Directory Service
the Domain Name Service (DNS) provides
mapping between host name & IP address
defined in RFCs 1034 / 1035
key elements
domain name space
DNS database
name servers
name resolvers
Domain Names
DNS Database
hierarchical database
containing resource records (RRs)
features
variable-depth hierarchy for names
distributed database
distribution controlled by database
provides name-to-address directory
service for network applications
Resource Records (RRs)
DNS Operation
DNS Server Hierarchy
DNS database is distributed hierarchically
may extend as deep as needed
any organization owning a domain can run
name servers
each server manages authoritative name
data for a zone
13 root name servers at top of hierarchy
share responsibility for top level zones
Name Resolution
query begins with name resolver on host
knows name/address of local DNS server
given a name request, the resolver can:
return name from cache if already known
send DNS query to local server which may
return answer, or query other servers
recursive technique - server queries other
servers for resolver
iterative technique - resolver queries
servers in turn as needed
DNS Messages
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
HTTP
base protocol for World Wide Web
for any hypertext client/server application
is a protocol for efficiently transmitting
information to make hypertext jumps
can transfer plain text, hypertext, audio,
images, and Internet accessible information
versions 0.9, 1.0, & now 1.1 (RFC2616)
HTTP Overview
transaction oriented client/server protocol
between Web browser (client) and Web server
uses TCP connections
stateless
each transaction treated independently
each new TCP connection for each transaction
terminate connection when transaction complete
flexible format handling
client may specify supported formats
Key Terms
cache
client
connection
entity
gateway
message
origin server
proxy
resource
server
tunnel
user agent
Examples of HTTP Operation
HTTP Operation - Caches
often have a web cache
stores previous requests/ responses
may return stored response to subsequent
requests
may be a client, server or intermediary
system
not all requests can be cached
Intermediate HTTP Systems
HTTP Messages
HTTP Messages BNF Format
HTTP-Message = Simple-Request | Simple-Response |
Full-Request | Full-Response
Full-Request = Request-Line
*( General-Header | Request-Header | Entity-Header )
CRLF
[ Entity-Body ]
Full-Response = Status-Line
*( General-Header | Response-Header | Entity-Header )
CRLF
[ Entity-Body ]
Simple-Request = "GET" SP Request-URL CRLF
Simple-Response = [ Entity-Body ]
HTTP General Header Fields
Cache-Control
Connection
Data
Forwarded
Keep-Alive
Mime-Version
Pragma
Upgrade
Request Methods
request-line has
method
Request URL
HTTP version
Request-Line = Method Request-URL HTTP-Version
CRLF
HTTP/1.1 methods:
OPTIONS, GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, PATCH,
COPY, MOVE, DELETE, LINK, UNLINK,
TRACE, WRAPPED, Extension-method
Request Header Fields
Accept, Accept-Charset, Accept-Encoding,
Accept-Language, Authorization, From,
Host, If-Modified-Since, Proxy-
Authentication, Range, Referrer, Unless,
User-Agent
Response Messages
status line plus one or more general,
response, entity headers, then optional
entity body
status line contains
HTTP version
status code
reason phrase
Status-Line = HTTP-Version SP Status-Code SP
Reason-Phrase CRLF
Status Codes
informational - headers only
successful - headers & body if relevant
redirection - further action needed
client error - has syntax or other error
server error - failed to satisfy valid request
Response Header Fields
Location
Proxy-Authentication
Public
Retry-After
Server
WWW-Authenticate
Entity Header Fields
Allow Expires
Content-Encoding Last-Modified
Content-Language Link
Content-Length
Title
Content-MD5
Transfer-Encoding
Content-Range
Content-Type URL-Header
Content-Version Extension-Header
Derived-From
Entity Body
entity body is an arbitrary sequence of octets
HTTP can transfer any type of data including:
text, binary data, audio, images, video
data is content of resource identified by URL
interpretation data determined by header fields:
Content-Type - defines data interpretation
Content-Encoding - applied to data
Transfer-Encoding - used to form entity body
Summary
domain name service (DNS)
names, database, name resolution, messages
HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP )
overview
request and response messages
