Computer

Network
Application Layer
by Albert Sagala
 Outline


Application Layer

There is a need for support
protocols, to allow the
applications to function

Some network applications

DNS: handles naming within
the Internet

POP – IMAP – SMTP: handle
electronic mail

FTP: File Transfer over the
Internet

WWW – HTTP: Web world

Multimedia
 Domain Name System - DNS

IP addresses can be used to identify a host
machine on the Internet

As those machines move around, the addresses
need to be changed accordingly as well

ASCII names have been used to decouple host
names and their IPs to provide more flexibility

The network itself still understands only
numerical addresses

The DNS was invented to manage and resolve
host names into IP addresses
 DNS: Characteristics
 A file host.txt listed all the
hosts and their IP addresses,
but issue some problems:

File size, load and
latency

Host name conflict

Essence of DNS:

Hierarchical
 Domain-based
naming scheme
 A distributed
database system
 DNS: A Brief

To map a name onto an IP address, an
application program:

Calls a library procedure called the resolver, passing it
the name as a parameter

The resolver sends a UDP packet to a local DNS server

DNS server looks up the name and returns the IP
address to the resolver

Resolver returns it to the application

Armed with the IP address, the program can then
establish a TCP connection with the destination or
send it UDP packets
 DNS Name Space

A portion of the Internet domain name
space
 DNS naming

Domain names are case insensitive: edu, Edu,
EDU have the same meaning

Component name can be up to 63 characters

Full path names must not exceed 255 characters

Each domain name server manages its own

name space. It can create subdomain names
without asking for permission from upper
server. Examples: hcmut.edu.vn and
cse.hcmut.edu.vn
 Resource Records
• Every domain has a set of records associated with it
• The principal DNS resource records types.
 Resource Records (2)

A portion of a possible DNS database for cs.vu.nl.

 Resource Records (3)
hcmut.edu.vn. IN SOA hcmut-server.hcmut.edu.vn. webmaster.hcmut.edu.vn. (
2004110800; serial
7200; refresh
3600; retry
604800; expire
86400 ); minimum
hcmut.edu.vn. 86400 IN NS vnuserv.vnuhcm.edu.vn.
hcmut.edu.vn. 86400 IN NS server.vnuhcm.edu.vn.
hcmut.edu.vn. 86400 IN MX 0 webmailserv.hcmut.edu.vn.
hcmut.edu.vn. 86400 IN MX 5 vnuserv.vnuhcm.edu.vn.
hcmut-server.hcmut.edu.vn. 86400 IN A 172.28.2.2
stu-mailserv.hcmut.edu.vn. 86400 IN A 172.28.2.3
webmailserv.hcmut.edu.vn. 86400 IN A 172.28.2.4
pop3.student.hcmut.edu.vn. 86400 IN CNAME stu-mailserv.hcmut.edu.vn.
www.student.hcmut.edu.vn 86400 IN CNAME stu-mailserv.hcmut.edu.vn .
 Name Servers
• DNS Name Space is divided into non-overlapping zones
• Each zone has Name Servers holding information about it
 DNS - Query root name
server

2 iterated query
• recursive query 3
– puts burden of name 4
resolution on contacted
name server. 7
– heavy load ?
local name server intermediate name server
• iterated query dns.eurecom.fr dns.umass.edu
5 6
1 8
– contacted server
replies with name of
server to contact. authoritative name server
dns.cs.umass.edu
– “I don’t know this requesting host
name, but ask this surf.eurecom.fr
server”
gaia.cs.umass.edu
 Electronic Mail – Email (or E-mail)

HAS BEEN AROUND IS WIDELY USED INFORMAL FORM SIMPLE AND EASY
SINCE THE EARLY TODAY OF TO USE
DAYS OF INTERNET COMMUNICATION
 Electronic Mail (2)
Some smileys :-).
 Architecture and Services
Basic email functions
• Composition
• Transfer
• Reporting
• Displaying
• Disposition
 Some email terms
mailbox – storage where incoming emails are
saved for later processing
mailing list – a representative email address
of a group of people. Email sent to this
address will be forwarded to all of its
participants
CC, BCC ...
 Envelopes and messages.
Email Message Structure (a) Paper mail. (b)
Electronic mail.
 Email Systems

Has two basic parts:

Mail User Agent (MUA): a program that accepts a
variety of commands for composing, receiving,
and replying to messages, as well as for
manipulating mailboxes

Message Transfer Agents (MTA): relaying messages
from the originator to the recipient
 Reading E-mail
Address format: user@dns-address
An example display of the contents of a
mailbox.
 Message Formats
RFC 822 header fields related to message
transport.
 Message Formats (2)
Some fields used in the RFC 822 message
header.
 MIME – Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions
• Some problems when using ASCII formatted messages:
• Languages with accents
(French, German).
• Languages in non-Latin alphabets
(Hebrew, Russian).
• Languages without alphabets
(Chinese, Japanese).
• Messages not containing text at all
(audio or images).
• MINE adds structure to the message body and defines encoding
rules for non-ASCII messages
 MIME (2)
RFC 822 headers added by MIME.
 MIME (3)
The MIME types and subtypes defined in RFC 2045.
multipart/mixed
multipart/alternative
multipart/digest
 Message Transfer

Message transfer agents are daemons
running on mail servers

Use Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

Use TCP on port 25
 Message
Transfer (2)
Transferring a message
from
[email protected] to
[email protected]
Using SMTP.
 Final Delivery

(a) Sending and reading mail when the receiver has a permanent
Internet connection and the user agent runs on the same machine as
the message transfer agent. (b) Reading e-mail when the receiver has
a dial-up connection to an ISP.
 POP3
• Post Office Protocol
Version 3
• Use TCP on port 110
• Is used to download
messages from a mail
server to client
computers
• Example: Using POP3 to
fetch three messages.
 IMAP (Internet Message Access
Protocol)
• POP3 is not convenient when
users frequently use different
machines to read email from
servers, as emails have to be
downloaded to different
computers more or less
random
• IMAP can resolve this issues
as emails will be always on
the servers
• A comparison of POP3 and
IMAP.
 Web Mail
HTTP SMTP HTTP user
user
agent
agent
ordinary
ordinary
sender’s mail receiver’s mail Web browser
Web browser
server server

• Convenient for the user on the go (Internet Café, WebTV,

…)
• User can organize their hierarchy of folders on servers
• May be slow:
– server typically far from client
– interaction with server through CGI scripts