Computer Networks Protocols

Lecture No.2: Application layer Protocols

• Allows user to interface with the network.
• Provides the interface between the applications on either end of the network.
 Protocols Description
DNS Matches domain names with IP addresses
HTTP Used to transfer data between clients/servers using a web browser
SMTP & POP3 used to send email messages from clients to servers over the internet
FTP allows the download/upload of files between a client/server
Telnet allows users to login to a host from a remote location and take control as if they
were sitting at the machine (virtual connection)
DHCP assigns IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateways, DNS servers, etc. To users as
they login the network

Application layer software(2 types)

• Applications – Provide the human (user) interface.
• Services – establish an interface to the network where protocols provide the rules and formats
that govern how data is treated.

Q/ How data requests occur & are filled in application layer?

• Client/server model
• Application layer services and protocols
• Peer-to-peer networking and applications

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Network Model

• Two or more computers are connected and are able to share resources without having a
dedicated server
• Every end device can function as a client or server .
• Difficult to enforce security and policies
• User accounts and access rights have to be set individually on each peer device.
• Each device must provide a user interface and run a background service.

• P2P Applications Example:

 Common Port Numbers

TCP UDP
• FTP – 20-21 • DHCP – 67 & 68
• Telnet – 23 • POP – 110
• SMTP – 25
• DNS – 53 (Both TCP & UDP)
• HTTP – 80

WWW Service and HTTP(Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

• The (HTTP) is a protocol used mainly to access data on the World Wide Web.
• HTTP use TCP connection and port 80.
• HTTP messages are not destined to be read by humans; (read and interpreted by the HTTP
server and HTTP client (browser).
• is a stateless protocol, which means that the server does not keep information about the client.
The client initializes the transaction by sending a request. The server replies by sending a
response.

• A client that wants to access a Web page needs the file name and the address.
• The uniform resource locator (URL) is a standard locator for specifying any kind of
information on the Internet, The URL defines four things:
 Steps:
1) URL is typed in the address bar.
2)Browser checks with DNS server to convert it to an IP address
3)Connects to the server requested
4)Using HTTP or HTTPS protocol requirements, the browser sends a GET request to the server to ask
for the desired html document (usually index.html)
5)The server sends the HTML code for the web page to the browser.
6)The browser interprets the HTML code and formats the page to fit the browser window.
HTTPS(HTTP + SSL)

• HTTPS = HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (SSL), or
HTTP over SSL.
• HTTPS by default uses port 443.
• URL's beginning with HTTPS indicate that the connection is encrypted using SSL.

• Disadvantage of HTTPS:
• HTTPS is slightly slower than HTTP because of the encryption of data.

Q/ Compare between HTTP & HTTPS?

HTTP HTTPS
1. URL begins with “http://" 1. URL begins with “https://”
2. unsecured 2. secured
3. uses port 80 for communication 3. uses port 443 for communication.
4. operates at Application Layer 4. operates at Transport and application Layer.
5. No encryption 5. uses encryption
6. No certificates required 6. certificates required
 Domain Name Service (DNS)
• is a client-server application that identifies each host on the Internet with a unique user-
friendly name.
• the names must be unique because the addresses are unique.
• DNS Servers resolve names to IP addresses. It would be difficult to remember the IP address of
every website we like to visit, but we can remember names.

• HOW DNS work?

• One DNS server can’t response to all of the demands that coming from all over the world.
• The problem is how we can distribute the traffic among more DNS servers, This problem
solved by Domain Name Space.

Q/ what are the Types of Domain Name Space?

Flat name space Hierarchical name space

1. a name is assigned to an address 1. each name is made of several parts

2. A name in this space is an sequence of 2. The first part can define the nature of the
characters without structure. organization, the second part can define
the name of an organization, the third
part can define departments in the
organization.

3. Don’t use in Internet because there is no

centrally controlled. 3. Use at internet
Hierarchical Domain name space(structure)

• DNS organizes the name space in a hierarchical structure to decentralize the responsibilities
involved in naming. Distributed the traffic between more than one DNS server.
• hierarchical tree structure with one root

• The tree can have only 128 levels: level 0 (root) to level 127

• A domain is a sub tree of the domain name space.

• Zone in name space

• DNS IN THE INTERNET

• Generic domains :There are fourteen generic domains, each specifying an organization type.
• Country domains (uses two character country abbreviations, Second labels can be
organizational and so on)
 E-mail services and SMTP/POP protocols

• E-mail is the most popular network service.

• E-mail client (when people compose e-mail) is called Mail User Agent (MUA)
• MUA allows messages to be sent/retrieved to and from your mailbox
• Requires several applications and services:
-POP or POP3 – deliver email from server to client (incoming messages) post office prot .
–SMTP – handles outbound messages from clients

E-mail services and SMTP/POP protocols

What do servers require?

1)Must be running SMTP.
2)Also operates
o Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) – used to forward email
o Receives email from the clients MUA
o Uses SMTP to route email between SERVERS
o Passes email to the MDA for final delivery

3)For two e-mail servers to talk – MUST run SMTP and MTA in order to transfer mail between the 2
servers!
 • SMTP uses commands and responses to transfer messages between an MTA client and an
MTA server.

• Commands are sent from the client to the server.

1- HELO.
2- MAIL FROM.
3- RCPT TO.
4- DATA.
5- QUIT.

• Connection Termination

MESSAGE ACCESS AGENT: POP AND IMAP

The first and the second stages of mail delivery use SMTP. However, SMTP is not involved in the
third stage because SMTP is a push protocol; it pushes the message from the client to the server.
 E-mail Server Processes - MTA and MDA and the SMTP protocol
• The e-mail server operates two separate processes:
1- Mail Transfer Agent (MTA)
2- Mail Delivery Agent (MDA)
• The Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) process is used to forward e-mail.
• The MTA receives messages from the MUA or from another MTA on another e-mail server.
• Based on the message header, it determines how a message has to be forwarded to reach its
destination.
• If the mail is addressed to a user whose mailbox is on the local server, the mail is passed to the
MDA. If the mail is for a user not on the local server, the MTA routes the e-mail to the MTA
on the appropriate server.
 FTP
• Commonly used application layer protocol
• Allows for the transfer of files between clients/servers.
• Requires 2 connections to the server:
Commands – uses TCP port 21
Actual data – uses TCP port 20
 Telnet

• Allows users to emulate text-based terminal devices over the network using software.
• A connection is known as a ‘virtual terminal ’ session.
• Can be run from the command prompt on a PC.
• You can use the device as if you were sitting there with all the rights and priorities that you
username will offer you.
• Disadvantages: Doesn’t support encryption like SSH. All data is transferred as plain text. It
can be easily intercepted and understood.
• If security is a concern, you should use Secure Shell (SSH) protocol. Provides for remote
logins with stronger authentication than telnet.

File Sharing Services and SMB(Server Message Block) protocol

• SMB has become a mainstay of Microsoft networking, even more so since the introduction of
Windows 2000 software.
• Allows servers to share their resources with clients
• Linux and Unix also share with Microsoft networks using a version of SMB called SAMBA.
• Apple also supports sharing resources using an SMB protocol
• What can SMB do?

–Start, authenticate, and terminate sessions

–Control file and printer access
–Allow applications to send/receive messages to/from another device
 SECURE SHELL PROTOCOL (SSH)
• popular remote login application program is Secure Shell (SSH).
• SSH, like TELNET, uses TCP as the underlying transport protocol, but SSH is more secure
and provides more services than TELNET.
• Covers authentication, encryption.
• Solve the security issues : at remote login of Telnet, during file transfer at FTP.
• There are two versions of SSH: SSH-1 and SSH-2, which are totally incompatible.
• The first version, SSH-1 is now deprecated because of security problems in it .
• SSH is a proposed application-layer protocol with four components.

Q/ Compare between SSL and SSH?

SSL SSH
is TCP-based and always used in WEB is TCP-based and always used with Telnet and
applications, with HTTP. FTP

SSH-2 components

SSH Transport-Layer Protocol (SSH-TRANS)

• Privacy or confidentiality of the message exchanged.

• Data integrity.
• Server authentication.
 • Compression of the messages that improve the efficiency of the system and makes attack more
difficult.

SSH Authentication Protocol (SSH-AUTH)

After a secure channel is established between the client and the server and the server is authenticated
for the client, SSH can call another software that can authenticate the client for the server.

SSH Applications

• Remote login
• file transfer

Port Forwarding

Format of the SSH Packets

• Length: This 4-byte field defines the length of the packet including the type, the data, and the
CRC field, but not the padding and the length field.
• Padding: One to eight bytes of padding is added to the packet to make the attack on the
security provision more difficult.
• Type: This one-byte field defines the type of the packet used by SSH protocols.
• CRC: The cyclic redundancy check filed is used for error detection.