Application Layer

The application layer in the OSI model is the closest layer to the end user which
means that the application layer and end user can interact directly with the
software application. The application layer programs are based on client and
servers.

The Application layer includes the following functions:

o Identifying communication partners: The application layer identifies the
availability of communication partners for an application with data to
transmit.
o Determining resource availability: The application layer determines
whether sufficient network resources are available for the requested
communication.
o Synchronizing communication: All the communications occur between the
applications requires cooperation which is managed by an application layer.

Services of Application Layers

o Network Virtual terminal: An application layer allows a user to log on to a
remote host. To do so, the application creates a software emulation of a
terminal at the remote host. The user's computer talks to the software
terminal, which in turn, talks to the host. The remote host thinks that it is
communicating with one of its own terminals, so it allows the user to log on.
o File Transfer, Access, and Management (FTAM): An application allows a
user to access files in a remote computer, to retrieve files from a computer
and to manage files in a remote computer. FTAM defines a hierarchical virtual
file in terms of file structure, file attributes and the kind of operations
performed on the files and their attributes.
o Addressing: To obtain communication between client and server, there is a
need for addressing. When a client made a request to the server, the request

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 contains the server address and its own address. The server response to the
client request, the request contains the destination address, i.e., client
address. To achieve this kind of addressing, DNS is used.
o Mail Services: An application layer provides Email forwarding and storage.
o Directory Services: An application contains a distributed database that
provides access for global information about various objects and services.

Authentication: It authenticates the sender or receiver's message or both.

Network Application Architecture

Application architecture is different from the network architecture. The network
architecture is fixed and provides a set of services to applications. The application
architecture, on the other hand, is designed by the application developer and
defines how the application should be structured over the various end systems.

Application architecture is of two types:

o Client-server architecture: An application program running on the local

machine sends a request to another application program is known as a client,
and a program that serves a request is known as a server. For example, when
a web server receives a request from the client host, it responds to the
request to the client host.

Characteristics Of Client-server architecture:

o In Client-server architecture, clients do not directly communicate with each

other. For example, in a web application, two browsers do not directly
communicate with each other.
o A server is fixed, well-known address known as IP address because the server
is always on while the client can always contact the server by sending a
packet to the sender's IP address.

Disadvantage Of Client-server architecture:

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It is a single-server based architecture which is incapable of holding all the requests
from the clients. For example, a social networking site can become overwhelmed
when there is only one server exists.

o P2P (peer-to-peer) architecture: It has no dedicated server in a data center.

The peers are the computers which are not owned by the service provider.
Most of the peers reside in the homes, offices, schools, and universities. The
peers communicate with each other without passing the information through
a dedicated server, this architecture is known as peer-to-peer architecture.
The applications based on P2P architecture includes file sharing and internet
telephony.

Features of P2P architecture

o Self scalability: In a file sharing system, although each peer generates a
workload by requesting the files, each peer also adds a service capacity by
distributing the files to the peer.
o Cost-effective: It is cost-effective as it does not require significant server
infrastructure and server bandwidth.

Client and Server processes

o A network application consists of a pair of processes that send the messages
to each other over a network.
o In P2P file-sharing system, a file is transferred from a process in one peer to a
process in another peer. We label one of the two processes as the client and
another process as the server.
o With P2P file sharing, the peer which is downloading the file is known as a
client, and the peer which is uploading the file is known as a server. However,
we have observed in some applications such as P2P file sharing; a process can

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 be both as a client and server. Therefore, we can say that a process can both
download and upload the files.

Client and Server model

o A client and server networking model is a model in which computers such as
servers provide the network services to the other computers such as clients to
perform a user based tasks. This model is known as client-server networking
model.
o The application programs using the client-server model should follow the
given below strategies:

o An application program is known as a client program, running on the local

machine that requests for a service from an application program known as a
server program, running on the remote machine.
o A client program runs only when it requests for a service from the server
while the server program runs all time as it does not know when its service is
required.

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 o A server provides a service for many clients not just for a single client.
Therefore, we can say that client-server follows the many-to-one relationship.
Many clients can use the service of one server.
o Services are required frequently, and many users have a specific client-server
application program. For example, the client-server application program
allows the user to access the files, send e-mail, and so on. If the services are
more customized, then we should have one generic application program that
allows the user to access the services available on the remote computer.

Client
A client is a program that runs on the local machine requesting service from the
server. A client program is a finite program means that the service started by the
user and terminates when the service is completed.

Server
A server is a program that runs on the remote machine providing services to the
clients. When the client requests for a service, then the server opens the door for
the incoming requests, but it never initiates the service.

A server program is an infinite program means that when it starts, it runs infinitely
unless the problem arises. The server waits for the incoming requests from the
clients. When the request arrives at the server, then it responds to the request.

Advantages of Client-server networks:

o Centralized: Centralized back-up is possible in client-server networks, i.e., all
the data is stored in a server.
o Security: These networks are more secure as all the shared resources are
centrally administered.
o Performance: The use of the dedicated server increases the speed of sharing
resources. This increases the performance of the overall system.

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 o Scalability: We can increase the number of clients and servers separately, i.e.,
the new element can be added, or we can add a new node in a network at
any time.

Disadvantages of Client-Server network:

o Traffic Congestion is a big problem in Client/Server networks. When a large
number of clients send requests to the same server may cause the problem of
Traffic congestion.
o It does not have a robustness of a network, i.e., when the server is down, then
the client requests cannot be met.
o A client/server network is very decisive. Sometimes, regular computer
hardware does not serve a certain number of clients. In such situations,
specific hardware is required at the server side to complete the work.
o Sometimes the resources exist in the server but may not exist in the client.
For example, If the application is web, then we cannot take the print out
directly on printers without taking out the print view window on the web.

DNS
An application layer protocol defines how the application processes running on
different systems, pass the messages to each other.

o DNS stands for Domain Name System.

o DNS is a directory service that provides a mapping between the name of a
host on the network and its numerical address.
o DNS is required for the functioning of the internet.
o Each node in a tree has a domain name, and a full domain name is a
sequence of symbols specified by dots.
o DNS is a service that translates the domain name into IP addresses. This
allows the users of networks to utilize user-friendly names when looking for
other hosts instead of remembering the IP addresses.
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 o For example, suppose the FTP site at EduSoft had an IP address of
132.147.165.50, most people would reach this site by specifying
ftp.EduSoft.com. Therefore, the domain name is more reliable than IP
address.

DNS is a TCP/IP protocol used on different platforms. The domain name space is
divided into three different sections: generic domains, country domains, and inverse
domain.

Generic Domains
o It defines the registered hosts according to their generic behavior.
o Each node in a tree defines the domain name, which is an index to the DNS
database.
o It uses three-character labels, and these labels describe the organization type.

Label Description

aero Airlines and aerospace companies

biz Businesses or firms

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 com Commercial Organizations

coop Cooperative business Organizations

edu Educational institutions

gov Government institutions

info Information service providers

int International Organizations

mil Military groups

museum Museum & other nonprofit organizations

name Personal names

net Network Support centers

org Nonprofit Organizations

pro Professional individual Organizations

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Country Domain
The format of country domain is same as a generic domain, but it uses two-
character country abbreviations (e.g., us for the United States) in place of three
character organizational abbreviations.

Inverse Domain
The inverse domain is used for mapping an address to a name. When the server has
received a request from the client, and the server contains the files of only
authorized clients. To determine whether the client is on the authorized list or not,
it sends a query to the DNS server and ask for mapping an address to the name.

Working of DNS

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 o DNS is a client/server network communication protocol. DNS clients send
requests to the. server while DNS servers send responses to the client.
o Client requests contain a name which is converted into an IP address known
as a forward DNS lookups while requests containing an IP address which is
converted into a name known as reverse DNS lookups.
o DNS implements a distributed database to store the name of all the hosts
available on the internet.
o If a client like a web browser sends a request containing a hostname, then a
piece of software such as DNS resolver sends a request to the DNS server to
obtain the IP address of a hostname. If DNS server does not contain the IP
address associated with a hostname, then it forwards the request to another
DNS server. If IP address has arrived at the resolver, which in turn completes
the request over the internet protocol.

FTP
o FTP stands for File transfer protocol.
o FTP is a standard internet protocol provided by TCP/IP used for transmitting
the files from one host to another.
o It is mainly used for transferring the web page files from their creator to the
computer that acts as a server for other computers on the internet.
o It is also used for downloading the files to computer from other servers.

Objectives of FTP
o It provides the sharing of files.
o It is used to encourage the use of remote computers.
o It transfers the data more reliably and efficiently.

Why FTP?

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Although transferring files from one system to another is very simple and
straightforward, but sometimes it can cause problems. For example, two systems
may have different file conventions. Two systems may have different ways to
represent text and data. Two systems may have different directory structures. FTP
protocol overcomes these problems by establishing two connections between
hosts. One connection is used for data transfer, and another connection is used for
the control connection.

Mechanism of FTP

The above figure shows the basic model of the FTP. The FTP client has three
components: the user interface, control process, and data transfer process. The
server has two components: the server control process and the server data transfer
process.

There are two types of connections in FTP:

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 o Control Connection: The control connection uses very simple rules for
communication. Through control connection, we can transfer a line of
command or line of response at a time. The control connection is made
between the control processes. The control connection remains connected
during the entire interactive FTP session.
o Data Connection: The Data Connection uses very complex rules as data
types may vary. The data connection is made between data transfer
processes. The data connection opens when a command comes for
transferring the files and closes when the file is transferred.

FTP Clients
o FTP client is a program that implements a file transfer protocol which allows
you to transfer files between two hosts on the internet.
o It allows a user to connect to a remote host and upload or download the files.
o It has a set of commands that we can use to connect to a host, transfer the
files between you and your host and close the connection.
o The FTP program is also available as a built-in component in a Web browser.
This GUI based FTP client makes the file transfer very easy and also does not
require to remember the FTP commands.

Advantages of FTP:

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 o Speed: One of the biggest advantages of FTP is speed. The FTP is one of the
fastest way to transfer the files from one computer to another computer.
o Efficient: It is more efficient as we do not need to complete all the
operations to get the entire file.
o Security: To access the FTP server, we need to login with the username and
password. Therefore, we can say that FTP is more secure.
o Back & forth movement: FTP allows us to transfer the files back and forth.
Suppose you are a manager of the company, you send some information to
all the employees, and they all send information back on the same server.

Disadvantages of FTP:
o The standard requirement of the industry is that all the FTP transmissions
should be encrypted. However, not all the FTP providers are equal and not all
the providers offer encryption. So, we will have to look out for the FTP
providers that provides encryption.
o FTP serves two operations, i.e., to send and receive large files on a network.
However, the size limit of the file is 2GB that can be sent. It also doesn't allow
you to run simultaneous transfers to multiple receivers.
o Passwords and file contents are sent in clear text that allows unwanted
eavesdropping. So, it is quite possible that attackers can carry out the brute
force attack by trying to guess the FTP password.
o It is not compatible with every system.

Telnet
o The main task of the internet is to provide services to users. For example,
users want to run different application programs at the remote site and
transfers a result to the local site. This requires a client-server program such
as FTP, SMTP. But this would not allow us to create a specific program for
each demand.

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 o The better solution is to provide a general client-server program that lets the
user access any application program on a remote computer. Therefore, a
program that allows a user to log on to a remote computer. A popular client-
server program Telnet is used to meet such demands. Telnet is an
abbreviation for Terminal Network.
o Telnet provides a connection to the remote computer in such a way that a
local terminal appears to be at the remote side.

There are two types of login:

Local Login

o When a user logs into a local computer, then it is known as local

login.

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 o When the workstation running terminal emulator, the keystrokes
entered by the user are accepted by the terminal driver. The
terminal driver then passes these characters to the operating
system which in turn, invokes the desired application program.
o However, the operating system has special meaning to special
characters. For example, in UNIX some combination of characters
have special meanings such as control character with "z" means
suspend. Such situations do not create any problem as the terminal
driver knows the meaning of such characters. But, it can cause the
problems in remote login.

Remote login

o When the user wants to access an application program on a remote

computer, then the user must perform remote login.

How remote login occurs

At the local site

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 The user sends the keystrokes to the terminal driver, the characters are then
sent to the TELNET client. The TELNET client which in turn, transforms the
characters to a universal character set known as network virtual terminal
characters and delivers them to the local TCP/IP stack

At the remote site

The commands in NVT forms are transmitted to the TCP/IP at the remote
machine. Here, the characters are delivered to the operating system and then
pass to the TELNET server. The TELNET server transforms the characters which
can be understandable by a remote computer. However, the characters
cannot be directly passed to the operating system as a remote operating
system does not receive the characters from the TELNET server. Therefore it
requires some piece of software that can accept the characters from the
TELNET server. The operating system then passes these characters to the
appropriate application program.

Network Virtual Terminal (NVT)

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 o The network virtual terminal is an interface that defines how data and
commands are sent across the network.
o In today's world, systems are heterogeneous. For example, the
operating system accepts a special combination of characters such as
end-of-file token running a DOS operating system ctrl+z while the
token running a UNIX operating system is ctrl+d.
o TELNET solves this issue by defining a universal interface known as
network virtual interface.
o The TELNET client translates the characters that come from the local
terminal into NVT form and then delivers them to the network. The
Telnet server then translates the data from NVT form into a form which
can be understandable by a remote computer.

SMTP
o SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
o SMTP is a set of communication guidelines that allow software to transmit an
electronic mail over the internet is called Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
o It is a program used for sending messages to other computer users based on
e-mail addresses.
o It provides a mail exchange between users on the same or different
computers, and it also supports:
o It can send a single message to one or more recipients.
o Sending message can include text, voice, video or graphics.
o It can also send the messages on networks outside the internet.
o The main purpose of SMTP is used to set up communication rules between
servers. The servers have a way of identifying themselves and announcing
what kind of communication they are trying to perform. They also have a way
of handling the errors such as incorrect email address. For example, if the

UNIT V APPLICATION LAYER Page 17

 recipient address is wrong, then receiving server reply with an error message
of some kind.

Components of SMTP

o First, we will break the SMTP client and SMTP server into two components
such as user agent (UA) and mail transfer agent (MTA). The user agent (UA)
prepares the message, creates the envelope and then puts the message in
the envelope. The mail transfer agent (MTA) transfers this mail across the
internet.

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 o SMTP allows a more complex system by adding a relaying system. Instead of
just having one MTA at sending side and one at receiving side, more MTAs
can be added, acting either as a client or server to relay the email.

o The relaying system without TCP/IP protocol can also be used to send the
emails to users, and this is achieved by the use of the mail gateway. The mail
gateway is a relay MTA that can be used to receive an email.

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Working of SMTP
1. Composition of Mail: A user sends an e-mail by composing an electronic
mail message using a Mail User Agent (MUA). Mail User Agent is a program
which is used to send and receive mail. The message contains two parts: body
and header. The body is the main part of the message while the header
includes information such as the sender and recipient address. The header
also includes descriptive information such as the subject of the message. In
this case, the message body is like a letter and header is like an envelope that
contains the recipient's address.
2. Submission of Mail: After composing an email, the mail client then submits
the completed e-mail to the SMTP server by using SMTP on TCP port 25.
3. Delivery of Mail: E-mail addresses contain two parts: username of the
recipient and domain name. For example, [email protected], where "vivek" is
the username of the recipient and "gmail.com" is the domain name.
If the domain name of the recipient's email address is different from the
sender's domain name, then MSA will send the mail to the Mail Transfer
Agent (MTA). To relay the email, the MTA will find the target domain. It
UNIT V APPLICATION LAYER Page 20
 checks the MX record from Domain Name System to obtain the target
domain. The MX record contains the domain name and IP address of the
recipient's domain. Once the record is located, MTA connects to the
exchange server to relay the message.
4. Receipt and Processing of Mail: Once the incoming message is received,
the exchange server delivers it to the incoming server (Mail Delivery Agent)
which stores the e-mail where it waits for the user to retrieve it.
5. Access and Retrieval of Mail: The stored email in MDA can be retrieved by
using MUA (Mail User Agent). MUA can be accessed by using login and
password.

SNMP
o SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol.
o SNMP is a framework used for managing devices on the internet.
o It provides a set of operations for monitoring and managing the internet.

SNMP Concept

o SNMP has two components Manager and agent.

UNIT V APPLICATION LAYER Page 21
 o The manager is a host that controls and monitors a set of agents such as
routers.
o It is an application layer protocol in which a few manager stations can handle
a set of agents.
o The protocol designed at the application level can monitor the devices made
by different manufacturers and installed on different physical networks.
o It is used in a heterogeneous network made of different LANs and WANs
connected by routers or gateways.

Managers & Agents

o A manager is a host that runs the SNMP client program while the agent is a
router that runs the SNMP server program.
o Management of the internet is achieved through simple interaction between
a manager and agent.
o The agent is used to keep the information in a database while the manager is
used to access the values in the database. For example, a router can store the
appropriate variables such as a number of packets received and forwarded
while the manager can compare these variables to determine whether the
router is congested or not.
o Agents can also contribute to the management process. A server program on
the agent checks the environment, if something goes wrong, the agent sends
a warning message to the manager.

Management with SNMP has three basic ideas:

o A manager checks the agent by requesting the information that reflects the
behavior of the agent.
o A manager also forces the agent to perform a certain function by resetting
values in the agent database.

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 o An agent also contributes to the management process by warning the
manager regarding an unusual condition.

Management Components
o Management is not achieved only through the SNMP protocol but also the
use of other protocols that can cooperate with the SNMP protocol.
Management is achieved through the use of the other two protocols: SMI
(Structure of management information) and MIB(management information
base).
o Management is a combination of SMI, MIB, and SNMP. All these three
protocols such as abstract syntax notation 1 (ASN.1) and basic encoding rules
(BER).

SMI
The SMI (Structure of management information) is a component used in network
management. Its main function is to define the type of data that can be stored in
an object and to show how to encode the data for the transmission over a network.

MIB
o The MIB (Management information base) is a second component for the
network management.
o Each agent has its own MIB, which is a collection of all the objects that the
manager can manage. MIB is categorized into eight groups: system, interface,

UNIT V APPLICATION LAYER Page 23

 address translation, ip, icmp, tcp, udp, and egp. These groups are under the
mib object.

SNMP
SNMP defines five types of messages: GetRequest, GetNextRequest, SetRequest,
GetResponse, and Trap.

UNIT V APPLICATION LAYER Page 24

GetRequest: The GetRequest message is sent from a manager (client) to the agent
(server) to retrieve the value of a variable.

GetNextRequest: The GetNextRequest message is sent from the manager to agent

to retrieve the value of a variable. This type of message is used to retrieve the
values of the entries in a table. If the manager does not know the indexes of the
entries, then it will not be able to retrieve the values. In such situations,
GetNextRequest message is used to define an object.

GetResponse: The GetResponse message is sent from an agent to the manager in

response to the GetRequest and GetNextRequest message. This message contains
the value of a variable requested by the manager.

SetRequest: The SetRequest message is sent from a manager to the agent to set a
value in a variable.

Trap: The Trap message is sent from an agent to the manager to report an event.
For example, if the agent is rebooted, then it informs the manager as well as sends
the time of rebooting.

HTTP
o HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.
o It is a protocol used to access the data on the World Wide Web (www).
o The HTTP protocol can be used to transfer the data in the form of plain text,
hypertext, audio, video, and so on.
o This protocol is known as HyperText Transfer Protocol because of its
efficiency that allows us to use in a hypertext environment where there are
rapid jumps from one document to another document.
o HTTP is similar to the FTP as it also transfers the files from one host to
another host. But, HTTP is simpler than FTP as HTTP uses only one
connection, i.e., no control connection to transfer the files.
o HTTP is used to carry the data in the form of MIME-like format.

UNIT V APPLICATION LAYER Page 25

 o HTTP is similar to SMTP as the data is transferred between client and server.
The HTTP differs from the SMTP in the way the messages are sent from the
client to the server and from server to the client. SMTP messages are stored
and forwarded while HTTP messages are delivered immediately.

Features of HTTP:
o Connectionless protocol: HTTP is a connectionless protocol. HTTP client
initiates a request and waits for a response from the server. When the server
receives the request, the server processes the request and sends back the
response to the HTTP client after which the client disconnects the connection.
The connection between client and server exist only during the current
request and response time only.
o Media independent: HTTP protocol is a media independent as data can be
sent as long as both the client and server know how to handle the data
content. It is required for both the client and server to specify the content
type in MIME-type header.
o Stateless: HTTP is a stateless protocol as both the client and server know
each other only during the current request. Due to this nature of the
protocol, both the client and server do not retain the information between
various requests of the web pages.

HTTP Transactions

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The above figure shows the HTTP transaction between client and server. The client
initiates a transaction by sending a request message to the server. The server
replies to the request message by sending a response message.

Messages
HTTP messages are of two types: request and response. Both the message types
follow the same message format.

Request Message: The request message is sent by the client that consists of a
request line, headers, and sometimes a body.

UNIT V APPLICATION LAYER Page 27

Response Message: The response message is sent by the server to the client that
consists of a status line, headers, and sometimes a body.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

o A client that wants to access the document in an internet needs an address
and to facilitate the access of documents, the HTTP uses the concept of
Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
o The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a standard way of specifying any kind
of information on the internet.
o The URL defines four parts: method, host computer, port, and path.

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 o Method: The method is the protocol used to retrieve the document from a
server. For example, HTTP.
o Host: The host is the computer where the information is stored, and the
computer is given an alias name. Web pages are mainly stored in the
computers and the computers are given an alias name that begins with the
characters "www". This field is not mandatory.
o Port: The URL can also contain the port number of the server, but it's an
optional field. If the port number is included, then it must come between the
host and path and it should be separated from the host by a colon.
o Path: Path is the pathname of the file where the information is stored. The
path itself contain slashes that separate the directories from the
subdirectories and files.

Computer Network Security

Computer network security consists of measures taken by business or some
organizations to monitor and prevent unauthorized access from the outside
attackers.

Different approaches to computer network security management have different

requirements depending on the size of the computer network. For example, a home
office requires basic network security while large businesses require high
maintenance to prevent the network from malicious attacks.

Network Administrator controls access to the data and software on the network. A
network administrator assigns the user ID and password to the authorized person.

Aspects of Network Security:

UNIT V APPLICATION LAYER Page 29
Following are the desirable properties to achieve secure communication:

o Privacy: Privacy means both the sender and the receiver expects
confidentiality. The transmitted message should be sent only to the intended
receiver while the message should be opaque for other users. Only the
sender and receiver should be able to understand the transmitted message
as eavesdroppers can intercept the message. Therefore, there is a
requirement to encrypt the message so that the message cannot be
intercepted. This aspect of confidentiality is commonly used to achieve secure
communication.
o Message Integrity: Data integrity means that the data must arrive at the
receiver exactly as it was sent. There must be no changes in the data content
during transmission, either maliciously or accident, in a transit. As there are
more and more monetary exchanges over the internet, data integrity is more
crucial. The data integrity must be preserved for secure communication.
o End-point authentication: Authentication means that the receiver is sure of
the sender?s identity, i.e., no imposter has sent the message.
o Non-Repudiation: Non-Repudiation means that the receiver must be able to
prove that the received message has come from a specific sender. The sender
must not deny sending a message that he or she send. The burden of proving
the identity comes on the receiver. For example, if a customer sends a
request to transfer the money from one account to another account, then the
bank must have a proof that the customer has requested for the transaction.

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