Scribd
Upload
145 views

Hypertext Transport Protocol: CS - 328 Dick Steflik

HTTP is the protocol for communication between web browsers and servers. It uses TCP port 80 and defines methods like GET and POST to retrieve or submit data. HTTP requests contain headers with information like the request method, URL, and browser details. Responses contain status codes and headers about content type, length, and encoding.

Uploaded by

akirank1
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
145 views

Hypertext Transport Protocol: CS - 328 Dick Steflik

HTTP is the protocol for communication between web browsers and servers. It uses TCP port 80 and defines methods like GET and POST to retrieve or submit data. HTTP requests contain headers with information like the request method, URL, and browser details. Responses contain status codes and headers about content type, length, and encoding.

Uploaded by

akirank1
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 20

Hypertext Transport Protocol

CS - 328
Dick Steflik
HTTP

• Hypertext Transport Protocol


• Language of the Web
– protocol used for communication between web
browsers and web servers
• TCP port 80
• RFC 1945
HTTP - URLs

• URL
– Uniform Resource Locator
• protocol (http, ftp, news)
• host name (name.domain name)
• port (usually 80)
• directory path to the resource
• resource name
– http://www.myplace.com/www/index.html
– http://www.myplace.com:80/cgi-bin/t.exe
HTTP - methods

• Methods
– GET
• retrieve a URL from the server
– simple page request
– run a CGI program
– run a CGI with arguments attached to the URL
– POST
• preferred method for forms processing
• run a CGI program
• parameterized data in sysin
•
HTTP - methods

• Methods (cont.)
– HEAD
• requests URLs status header only
• used for conditional URL handling for performance
enhancement schemes
– retrieve URL only if not in local cache or date is more
recent than cached copy
HTTP Request Packets

• Consists of HTTP header


– header is hidden in browser environment
– contains:
• content type / mime type
• content length
• user agent - browser issuing request
• content types user agent can handle
• and a URL
HTTP Request Headers

• Precede HTTP Method requests


• headers are terminated by a blank line
• Header Fields:
– From
– Accept
– Accept-Encoding
– Accept Language
HTTP Request Headers (cont.)
– Referer
– Authorization
– Charge-To
– If-Modified-Since
– Pragma
From:

• In internet mail format, the requesting user


• Does not have to correspond to requesting
host name (might be a proxy)
• should be a valid e-mail address
Accept:
– List of schemes which will be accepted by client
– <field> = Accept: <entry> * [,<entry>]
– <entry> = <content type> *[;<param>]
– <param> = <attr> = <float>
– <attr> = q / mxs / mxb
– <float> = <ANSI-C floating point >
– Accept: text/html
– Accept: audio/basic q-1
– if no Accept is found; plain/text is assumed
– may contain wildcards (*)
Accept-Encoding

• Like Accept but list is a list of acceptable


encoding schemes
• Ex
– Accept-Encoding: x-compress;x-zip
User-Agent

• Software product used by original client


• <field> = User-Agent: <product>
• <product> = <word> [/<version>]
• <version> = <word>
• Ex.
– User-Agent: IBM WebExplorer DLL /v960311
Referer

• For Server’s benefit, client lists URL od


document (or document type) from which
the URL in request was obtained.
• Allows server to generate back-links,
logging, tracing of bad links…
• Ex.
– Referer: http:/www.w3.com/xxx.html
Authorization:

• For Password and authentication schemes


• Ex.
– Authorization: user fred:mypassword
– Authorization: kerberos kerberosparameters
ChargeTo:

• Accounting information
• Accounting system dependent
Pragma:

• Same format as accept


• for servers
• should be passed through proxies, but used
by proxy
• only pragma currently defined is no-cache;
proxy should get document from owning
server rather than cache
Modified-Since:

• Used with GET to make a conditional GET


• if requested document has not been
modified since specified date a Modified
304 header is sent back to client instead of
document
– client can then display cached version
Status Header

• Returned by server
• “HTTP/1.0 sp code”
• Codes:
– 1xx - reserved for future use
– 2xx - successful, understood and accepted
– 3xx - further action needed to complete
– 4xx - bad syntax in client request
– 5xx - server can’t fulfill good request
HTTP Response Headers

• Status Header
• Entity
– Content-Encoding:
– Content-Length:
– Content-Type:
– Expires:
– Last-Modified:
– extension-header
• Server
Status Codes
• 200 OK • 401 unauthorized
• 201 created • 403 forbidden
• 202 accepted • 404 not found
• 204 no content • 500 int. server error
• 301 moved perm. • 501 not implemented
• 302 moved temp • 502 bad gateway
• 304 not modified • 503 svc not avail
• 400 bad request

You might also like