Computer Networks and Internets, 5e

By Douglas E. Comer

Lecture PowerPoints
By Lami Kaya, [email protected]

© 2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. 1
 Chapter 3

Internet Applications
and
Network Programming

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 Topics Covered
• 3.1 Introduction
• 3.2 Two Basic Internet Communication Paradigms
• 3.3 Connection-Oriented Communication
• 3.4 The Client-Server Model of Interaction
• 3.5 Characteristics of Clients and Servers
• 3.6 Server Programs and Server-Class Computers
• 3.7 Requests, Responses, and Direction of Data Flow
• 3.8 Multiple Clients and Multiple Servers
• 3.9 Server Identification and Demultiplexing
• 3.10 Concurrent Servers
• 3.11 Circular Dependencies Among Servers
• 3.12 Peer-to-Peer Interactions
• 3.13 Network Programming and the Socket API

© 2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. 3
 Topics Covered
• 3.14 Sockets, Descriptors, and Network I/O
• 3.15 Parameters and the Socket API
• 3.16 Socket Calls in a Client and Server
• 3.17 Socket Functions Used by Both Client and Server
• 3.18 The Connection Function Used Only by a Client
• 3.19 Socket Functions Used Only by a Server
• 3.20 Socket Functions Used with the Message Paradigm
• 3.21 Other Socket Functions
• 3.22 Sockets, Threads, and Inheritance

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 3.1 Introduction
• The Internet offers users a rich diversity of services
– none of the services is part of the underlying communication
infrastructure
• Internet provides a general purpose mechanism on which
– all services are built
– and individual services are supplied by application programs that run
on computers attached to the Internet
• It is possible to devise new services without changing the
Internet
• Chapter covers two key concepts of Internet applications:
– describes the conceptual paradigm that applications follow when
they communicate over the Internet
– presents the details of the socket Application Programming Interface
(socket API) that Internet applications use

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 3.1 Introduction
• Internet application programmers can get started easily
• It is possible to create Internet applications without knowing
how networks operate
– However, understanding network protocols and technologies allows
them to write efficient and reliable code that enables applications to
scale across many sites
• Later parts of the text provide the necessary information by
explaining data communications and protocols used to form
the Internet

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 3.2 Two Basic Internet Communication
Paradigms
• The Internet supports two basic communication paradigms:
– 3.2.1 Stream Transport in the Internet
– 3.2.2 Message Transport in the Internet
• Figure 3.1 summarizes the differences

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 3.2.1 Stream Transport in the Internet
• Stream denotes a paradigm in which a sequence of bytes
flows from one application program to another
• Internet's mechanism arranges two streams between a pair
of communicating applications, one in each direction
• The network accepts input from either application, and
delivers the data to the other application
• The stream mechanism transfers a sequence of bytes
without attaching meaning to the bytes and without inserting
boundaries
• A sending application can choose to generate one byte at a
time, or can generate blocks of bytes
• The network chooses the number of bytes to deliver at any
time
– the network can choose to combine smaller blocks into one large
block or can divide a large block into smaller blocks

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3.2.2 Message Transport in the Internet
• In a message paradigm, the network accepts and delivers
messages
• Each message delivered to a receiver corresponds to a
message that was transmitted by a sender
– the network never delivers part of a message, nor does it join
multiple messages together
– if a sender places exactly n bytes in an outgoing message, the
receiver will find exactly n bytes in the incoming message
• The message paradigm allows delivery in different forms:
– Unicast
• a message can be sent from an application on one computer directly to an
application on another, 1-to-1
– Multicast
• a message can be multicast to some of the computers on a network, 1-to-
many
– Broadcast
• a message can be broadcast to all computers on a given network, 1-to-all

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3.2.2 Message Transport in the Internet
• Message service does not make any guarantees
• So messages may be
– Lost (i.e., never delivered)
– Duplicated (more than one copy arrives)
– Delivered out-of-order
• A programmer who uses the message paradigm must
insure that the application operates correctly
– even if packets are lost or reordered
• Most applications require delivery guarantees
• Programmers tend to use the stream service except in
special situations
– such as video, where multicast is needed and the application
provides support to handle packet reordering and loss
• Thus, we will focus on the stream paradigm
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3.3 Connection-Oriented Communication
• The Internet stream service is connection-oriented
• It operates analogous to a telephone call:
– two applications must request that a connection be created
– once it has been established, the connection allows the applications
to send data in either direction
– finally, when they finish communicating, the applications request that
the connection be terminated
• Algorithm 3.1 summarizes the interaction

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3.4 The Client-Server Model of Interaction

• The first step in Algorithm 3.1 raises a question:

– how can a pair of applications that run on two independent
computers coordinate to guarantee that they request a connection at
the same time?
• The answer lies in a form of interaction known as the client-
server model
– A server starts first and awaits contact
– A client starts second and initiates the connection
• Figure 3.2 summarizes the interaction
• Subsequent sections describe how specific services use the
client-server model
• Application programs known as clients and servers handle
all services in the Internet

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3.4 The Client-Server Model of Interaction

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 3.5 Characteristics of Clients and
Servers
• Most instances of client-server interaction have the same
general characteristics
• A client software:
– Is an arbitrary application program that becomes a client temporarily
when remote access is needed, but also performs other computation
– Is invoked directly by a user, and executes only for one session
– Runs locally on a user's personal computer
– Actively initiates contact with a server
– Can access multiple services as needed, but usually contacts one
remote server at a time
– Does not require especially powerful computer hardware

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 3.5 Characteristics of Clients and
Servers
• A server software:
– Is a special-purpose, privileged program
– Is dedicated to providing one service that can handle multiple remote
clients at the same time
– Is invoked automatically when a system boots, and continues to
execute through many sessions
– Runs on a large, powerful computer
– Waits passively for contact from arbitrary remote clients
– Accepts contact from arbitrary clients, but offers a single service
– Requires powerful hardware and a sophisticated operating system
(OS)

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 3.6 Server Programs and Server-Class
Computers
• Term server refers to a program that waits passively for
communication
– Not to the computer on which it executes
• However, when a computer is dedicated to running one or
more server programs,
– the computer itself is sometimes called a server
• Hardware vendors contribute to the confusion
– because they classify computers that have fast CPUs, large
memories, and powerful operating systems as server machines
• Figure 3.3 illustrates the definitions

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3.6 Server Programs and Server-Class
Computers

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3.7 Requests, Responses, and Direction
of Data Flow
• Client and server?
• Which side initiates contact?
• Once contact has been established, two-way
communication is possible (i.e., data can flow from a client
to a server or from a server to a client)
• In some cases, a client sends a series of requests and the
server issues a series of responses (e.g., a database client
might allow a user to look up more than one item at a time)

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3.8 Multiple Clients and Multiple Servers

• Allowing a given computer to operate multiple servers is

useful because
– the hardware can be shared
– a single computer has lower system administration overhead than
multiple computer systems
– experience has shown that the demand for a server is often sporadic
• a server can remain idle for long periods of time
• an idle server does not use the CPU while waiting for a request to arrive
• If demand for services is low, consolidating servers on a
single computer can dramatically reduce cost
– without significantly reducing performance

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3.8 Multiple Clients and Multiple Servers

• A computer can run:

– A single client
– A single server
– Multiple copies of a client that contact a given server
– Multiple clients that each contact a particular server
– Multiple servers, each for a particular service
• Allowing a computer to operate multiple clients is useful
– because services can be accessed simultaneously
• For example, a user can have three (3) windows open
simultaneously running three (3) applications:
– one that retrieves and displays email
– another that connects to a chat service
– and a third running a web browser

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3.9 Server Identification and Demultiplexing

• How does a client identify a server?

• The Internet protocols divide identification into two pieces:
– An identifier for the computer on which a server runs
– An identifier for a service on the computer
• Identifying a computer?
– Each computer in the Internet is assigned a unique 32-bit identifier
known as an Internet Protocol address (IP address)
– A client must specify the server’s IP address
– To make server identification easy for humans, each computer is
also assigned a name, and the Domain Name System (DNS)
• described in Chapter 4 is used to translate a name into an address
– Thus, a user specifies a name such as www.cisco.com rather than
an integer address

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3.9 Server Identification and Demultiplexing

• Identifying a service?
– Each service available in the Internet is assigned a unique 16-bit
identifier known as a protocol port number (or port number)
• Examples, email  port number 25, and the web  port number 80
– When a server begins execution
• it registers with its local OS by specifying the port number for its service
– When a client contacts a remote server to request service
• the request contains a port number
– When a request arrives at a server
• software on the server uses the port number in the request to determine
which application on the server computer should handle the request
• Figure 3.4 summarizes the basic steps

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3.9 Server Identification and Demultiplexing

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 3.10 Concurrent Servers
• The steps in Figure 3.4 imply that a server handles one
client at a time
• Although a serial approach works in a few trivial cases, most
servers are concurrent
– That is, a server uses more than one thread of control
• Concurrent execution depends on the OS being used
• Concurrent server code is divided into two pieces
– a main program (thread)
– a handler
• The main thread accepts contact from a client and creates a
thread of control for the client
• Each thread of control interacts with a single client and runs
the handler code
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 3.10 Concurrent Servers
• After handling one client the thread terminates
• The main thread keeps the server alive after creating a
thread to handle a request
– the main thread waits for another request to arrive
• If N clients are simultaneously using a concurrent server,
N+1 threads will be running:
– the main thread (1) is waiting for additional requests
– and N threads are each interacting with a single client

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3.11 Circular Dependencies Among Servers
• In practice, the distinction blurs because a server for one service can act
as a client for another
– For example, before it can fill in a web page, a web server may need to
become a client of a database
– A server may also become the client of a security service (e.g., to verify that
a client is allowed to access the service).
• Programmers must be careful to avoid circular dependencies among
servers
– For example, consider what can happen if a server for service X becomes a
client of service X, which becomes a client of service X, which becomes a
client of X
– The chain of requests can continue indefinitely until all three servers exhaust
resources
• The potential for circularity is especially high when services are
designed independently
– because no single programmer controls all servers

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 3.12 Peer-to-Peer Interactions
• If a single server provides a given service
– the network connection between the server and the Internet can
become a bottleneck
• Figure 3.5 illustrates the architecture

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 3.12 Peer-to-Peer Interactions
• Can Internet services be provided without creating a central
bottleneck?
– One way to avoid a bottleneck forms the basis of file sharing known
as a peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture
• The scheme avoids placing data on a central server
– data is distributed equally among a set of N servers
– and each client request is sent to the appropriate server
– a given server only provides 1/N of the data
• the amount of traffic between a server and the Internet is 1/N as much as in
the single-server architecture
• Server software can run on the same computers as clients
• Figure 3.6 illustrates the architecture

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 3.12 Peer-to-Peer Interactions

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 3.13 Network Programming
and the Socket API
• The interface an application uses to specify communication
is known as an Application Program Interface (API)
– Appendix 1 contains a simplified API (with only seven functions)
• example code that demonstrates how such an API can be used to create
Internet applications, including a working web server
• Details of an API depend on the OS
• One particular API has emerged as the de facto standard for
software that communicates over the Internet
– known as the socket API, and commonly abbreviated sockets
• The socket API is available for many OS
– such as Microsoft's Windows systems
– as well as various UNIX systems, including Linux

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3.14 Sockets, Descriptors, and Network I/O

• Because it was originally developed as part of the UNIX OS,

the socket API is integrated with I/O
• When an application creates a socket to use for Internet
– OS returns a small integer descriptor that identifies the socket
• The application then passes the descriptor as an argument
– when it calls functions to perform an operation on the socket (e.g., to
transfer data across the network or to receive data)
• In many OS, socket descriptors are integrated with other I/O
descriptors
– as a result, an application can use the read and write operations for
socket I/O or I/O to a file

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 3.15 Parameters and the Socket API
• Socket programming differs from conventional I/O
• An application must specify many details, such as
– the address of a remote computer
– the protocol port number
– and whether the application will act as a client or as a server
• To avoid having a single socket function with many parameters,
designers of the socket API chose to define many functions
• An application creates a socket, and then invokes functions for details
• The advantage of the socket approach is that most functions have three
or fewer parameters
• The disadvantage is that a programmer must remember to call multiple
functions when using sockets
• Figure 3.7 summarizes key functions in the socket API

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© 2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. 33
3.16 Socket Calls in a Client and Server
• Figure 3.8 illustrates the sequence of socket calls made by
a typical client and server that use a stream connection
– The client sends data first and the server waits to receive data
• In practice, some applications arrange for the server to send
first (i.e., send and recv are called in the reverse order)

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© 2009 Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. 35
 3.17 Socket Functions Used by Both
Client and Server
• Readers are encouraged to check the book for the details of
these functions
– 3.17.1 The Socket Function
– 3.17.2 The Send Function
– 3.17.3 The Recv Function
– 3.17.4 Read and Write with Sockets
– 3.17.5 The Close Function

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 3.18 The Connection Function Used
Only by a Client
• Clients call connect to establish a connection with a specific
server. The form is:
connect (socket, saddress, saddresslen)
• Argument socket is the descriptor of a socket to use for the
connection

• Readers are encouraged to check the book for the details

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 3.19 Socket Functions Used Only by a
Server
• Readers are encouraged to check the book for the details of
these functions
– 3.19.1 The Bind Function
– 3.19.2 The Listen Function
– 3.19.3 The Accept Function

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 3.20 Socket Functions Used with the
Message Paradigm
• The socket functions used to send and receive messages
are more complicated than those used with the stream
paradigm because many options are available
– For example, a sender can choose whether to store the recipient’s
address in the socket and merely send data or to specify the
recipient’s address each time a message is transmitted
– Furthermore, one function allows a sender to place the address and
message in a structure and pass the address of the structure as an
argument, and another function allows a sender to pass the address
and message as separate arguments
• Readers are encouraged to check the book for the details
– 3.20.1 Sendto and Sendmsg Socket Functions
– 3.20.2 Recvfrom and Recvmsg Functions

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 3.21 Other Socket Functions
• The socket API contains a variety of support functions
– getpeername
– gethostname
– setsockopt
– getsockopt g
– gethostbyname
– gethostbyaddr

• Readers are encouraged to check the book for the details

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 3.22 Sockets, Threads, and Inheritance
• The socket API works well with concurrent servers
• Implementations of the socket API adhere to the following
inheritance principle:
– Each new thread that is created inherits a copy of all open sockets
from the thread that created it
– The socket implementation uses a reference count mechanism to
control each socket
– When a socket is first created
• the system sets the socket’s reference count to 1
• and the socket exists as long as the reference count remains positive.
– When a program creates an additional thread
• the thread inherits a pointer to each open socket the program owns
• and the system increments the reference count of each socket by 1
– When a thread calls close
• the system decrements the reference count for the socket
• if the reference count has reached zero, the socket is removed

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