chapter 2

The internet and its

uses
Objectives
• Describe how the Internet is evolving and the
various ways that businesses are using the
Internet.
• To understand the importance of standards .
• Describe the purpose of an ISP and the
services that it offers.
• Describe the hierarchical structure of the
Internet.
• Identify the types of devices used in by ISP.
• Describe roles and responsibilities of ISP
 Internet and Its Uses
• is an international network of networks that links together billions
of computers.
• Is commonly referred to as the 'Net'.
• It enables individuals and businesses sectors, through
interconnected computers to the world and share information,
resources, and services.
• Internet used for
• not only for communication, but also just for day-to-day operation. Some of
the business uses of the Internet include:
• Information drives the internet
• E-Commerce
• Advertise
• Direct Communicate to the world
• Research against the competitor
- Training: interactive medium and long distance learning
• Communications
• Collaboration and Training
 The Internet and Standards
• With the increasing number of new devices and technologies
coming online, how is it possible to manage all the changes and
still reliably deliver services such as email? Internet standards.
• A standard is a set of rules for how something must be done.
• Networking and Internet standards ensure that all devices
connecting to the network use the same set of rules.
• Internet Standards are created and published by the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF).
• It closely work with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
• There are thousands of Internet standards that help define the
rules for how devices communicate on networks.
• These different standards are developed, published, and
maintained by a variety of different organizations
Evolution of the Internet
and Its Uses
• ISPs and the services they can offer.
ISP and ISP services

• An internet service provider is a company that offers it's customers

access to the internet. ISPs can offer internet through cable, DSL, dialup,
and even satellite.

• Regardless of the type of device that an individual or business uses to

connect to the Internet, the device must connect through an Internet
service provider (ISP).
• In addition to offering connection to the Internet, an ISP can offer other services
to subscribers including:
• Equipment co-location
• Web hosting
• FTP hosting
• Applications and media hosting
• Technical support
Internet Service Providers

• Connection options to the Internet

Delivering Internet
services to end-users
• To gain access to the Internet, it is first necessary to have a
connection to an ISP.
• ISPs offer various connection options. The main connection
methods used by home and small business users are:
• Dialup access
• Dialup access is an inexpensive option that uses any phone
line and a modem.
• DSL
• DSL is more expensive than dialup, but provides a faster
connection. DSL also uses telephone lines, but unlike dialup
access, DSL provides a continuous connection to the
Internet.
• Needs a special high speed modem to connect the host or
LAN
Delivering Internet
services to end-users
• Cable modem
• A cable modem is a connection option offered by
cable television service providers. The Internet
signal is carried on the same coaxial cable that
delivers cable television to homes and businesses.
• Satellite
• Satellite connection is an option offered by satellite
service providers. The user's computer connects
through Ethernet to a satellite modem that
transmits radio signals to the nearest POP within
the satellite network.
Internet Service Providers

• Describe Internet hierarchy

Describe Internet hierarchy
Internet Hierarchy
• The Internet has a hierarchical structure.
• At the top of this hierarchy are the ISP organizations.
The ISP POPs connect to an Internet Exchange Point
(IXP) also called a Network Access Point (NAP).
• An IXP or NAP is where multiple ISPs join together to
gain access to each other's networks and exchange
information.
• The Internet backbone is like an information super
highway that provides high-speed data links to
interconnect the POPs and IXPs in major metropolitan
areas around the world.
• A point of presence was a location where a long-distance carrier could
terminate services and provide connections into a local telephone network.
Internet Hierarchy

• The primary medium that connects the Internet

backbone is fiber-optic cable.
• ISPs are classified into different tiers according to
how they access the Internet backbone:
• Tier 1 ISPs are the top of the hierarchy.
• Tier 1 ISPs are huge organizations that connect
directly with each other through private peering,
physically joining their individual network
backbones together to create the global Internet
backbone.
• Has its own routers
Internet Hierarchy

• Tier 2 ISPs are the next tier in terms of backbone access.

• Tier 2 ISPs can also be very large, even extending across
several countries. To provide their customers with global
Internet access, some Tier 2 ISPs pay Tier 1 ISPs to carry
their traffic to other parts of the world.
• Tier 3 ISPs are the farthest away from the backbone.
• Tier 3 ISPs are generally found in major cities and provide
customers local access to the Internet. Tier 3 ISPs pay Tier 1
and 2 ISPs for access to the global Internet and Internet
services.
Roles and responsibilities
within an ISP
• ISP organizations consist of many teams and
departments who are responsible for ensuring that
the network operates smoothly and that the
services that the ISP offers are available.
• Network support services are involved in all aspects of
network management, including;
• Customer Service: Receives the order from the customer
and ensures that the customer's specified requirements
are accurately entered into the order tracking database.
• Planning and Provisioning: Determines whether the new
customer has existing network hardware and circuits or
whether new circuits need to be installed.
Roles and responsibilities
within an ISP
• The On-site Installation is advised of which circuits
and equipment to use and then installs them at the
customer site.
• The Network Operations Center (NOC) monitors
and tests the new connection and ensures that it is
performing properly.
• The Help Desk is notified by the NOC when the
circuit is ready for operation and then contacts the
customer to guide them through the process of
setting up passwords and other necessary account
information.
 Chapter 3 and 4
Internet, web and http
Internet and the web
Topics

• World Wide Web

• Client-server Architecture
• Active, Dynamic and Static pages
• Web server and security
• HTTP, FTP, & other protocols
History Of Internet

• Internet expansion
Month # of Web sites
1/93 5
12/93 623
6/95 23,500
1/96 100,000
1/97 646,160
8/97 1,269,800
Today the number of sites would be almost untraceable.
World Wide Web (WWW)

• A collection of interlinked multimedia documents that are

stored on the Internet and accessed using a common protocol
(HTTP)

•Many other Internet-based applications exist

•e.g., email, telnet, ftp, Instant Messenger, Napster,
Overview of Internet
Terms
• Web server -A Web server is a piece of computer software that
can respond to a browser's request for a page, and deliver the
page to the Web browser through the Internet
• Hypertext - Machine-readable text that is not sequential but is
organized so that related items of information are connected
• It is text which is not constrained to be linear.
• Text that, when clicked, sends you to another piece of text or location
• Internet Service Provider (ISP)
• A company that provides dial-in or some other type of access to the
Internet for a monthly fee
• Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
• An address on the Internet, such as http://www.wku.edu.et, which
enables computers and other devices to visit it.
Terms

• Web Address: the address of information and/or resources available

on the internet.
• http: http stands for hypertext transfer protocol.
• ftp: ftp stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is used to upload or
download various files.
Overview of Internet

•How does it work?

A server
machine running
a web server

Browser connects
A machine and requests a page
running a
browser
Server sends back
the requested page
Overview of Internet

• How does it work?

• Requesting the page http://www.yahoo.com
• The browser broke the URL into 3 parts:
• The protocol ("http")
• The server name ("www.yahoo.com")
• The file name ("index.html")
• Browser  DNS ……Name to IP translation
• Browser Server …..Creation of connection
• Browser sends a GET request to the server, asking for the
file "http:// www.yahoo.com/index.html".
• The server then sends the HTML text for the Web page to
the browser
• Browser displays the page based on the HTML tags
Overview of Internet

Top Level Domain (TLD) names

• com - Originally for commercial organizations, but now used by
individuals, government agencies, and nonprofits as well
• www.google.com
• Net - Internet service providers and other network-related
companies
• www.ethio.net
• org - Noncommercial (often nonprofit) organizations
• www.sourceforge.org
• gov - government agencies
• www.ena.gov.et
• mil - military
• edu - Educational domains
• www.wku.edu.et
• int - International organizations like NATO and the International Red
Cross
• Generaly top level domains classified as

1.Generic Top Level Domains

top-level domain that is used in particular by a specific type
of organization. like above
Restricted b/c eligiblity should be prooved
2. Sponsored Top Level Domain
proposed by private agencies or organizations
example .aero is sponsored by the
Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques
3. Country Code Top Level Domains
Overview of Internet

More three-or-more-letter TLDs are coming into use, such as these:

• aero - Airlines
- biz - Businesses
• coop - Cooperatives
• info - Anyone
• name – Individuals
Overview of Internet

Internet Address
• Each computer connected to the Internet must
have a unique address, known as IP address.
• Internet addresses are in the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
where xxx must be a number from 0 – 255
Overview of Internet
Servers
• Web server
- Every Web site sits on a computer known as a Web server
- Every Web server that is connected to the Internet is given a unique address
called ip address
- A computer program that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from
clients (user agents such as web browsers), and serving them HTTP
responses along with optional data contents, which usually are web pages
such as HTML documents and linked objects (images, etc.).
- A computer that runs a computer program as described above
• Common examples of web server software are
• Apache HTTP server
• MS Internet Information Server (IIS)
• Sun ONE web server
• Wamp(apache+ php+ mysql)
 Overview of Internet

• Firewall –
• A firewall is simply a program or hardware device that filters the
information coming through the Internet connection into your
private network or computer system.
• If an incoming packet of information is flagged by the filters, it is
not allowed to pass through
• Methods
• Packet filtering
• Proxy service
• Stateful inspection
World Wide Web
World Wide Web

• Definition
• The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext
documents (web pages) accessed via the Internet
• Architecture
• The WWW is a distributed client-server service, in which
a client using a browser can access a service using a
server. The service provided is distributed over many
locations called sites.
World Wide Web
 World Wide Web

• The documents in the WWW can be grouped into

three broad categories: static, dynamic, and
active. The category is based on the time the
contents of the document are determined
• Static Documents
• Dynamic Documents (server side)
• Active Documents (client side)
 World Wide Web
Static document
 World Wide Web
Dynamic document using CGI
 World Wide Web
Dynamic document using server-side script
 World Wide Web
Active document using Java applet
 World Wide Web
Active document using client-side script
World Wide Web

• Web applications
• Very wide range of functionality
• web mail
• online retail sales and auction sites
• wikis, discussion boards, weblogs
• online news, radio, tv, etc….
• multi-player online role-playing games, etc…
• software components of a web app
• web server
• configuration files
• general processor components
• e.g. PHP, ASP processors
World Wide Web

•software components of a web app

• databases
• possibly distributed or mirrored
• session information
• statefull servers retain session information
• may persist in a database
• global information
• shared by all or many web app processes
• e.g. number of hits on the site, user profiles
 Client-Server Architecture
• A network architecture in which each computer or
process on the network is either a client or a server
• Components of client/server architecture:
• Communication network
• Clients
• Servers
2-tier client-server architecture
 Client-Server Architecture

•2-tier client-server architecture

• client (browser) web
browser
• Web page request
• mainly for presentation of information
• serving mainly static HTML pages
• server (simple web server)
• Response the request by client
• web-server processing web page
• The business logic can be done either of in web
the client side or server side
server
3-tier client-server architecture
 Client-Server Architecture
• 3-tier client-server architecture
• data persists beyond request and response
• server layer
• Make logical decision ,Evaluate and calculations
• expanded functionality
• database connectivity
• user authentication and sessions
• perhaps multi-threading
• client layer (web browser)
• Top most level of the application
• Translate tasks and results as user understandable
form
• forms interface to interact with data
Client-Server Architecture

•multi-tier architecture
• middleware
• preprocessing and error handling
• sophisticated transaction management
• multiple middle-ware servers
• server farms linking to database layer
• web layer
• standard web server
• JSP/Servelets | ASP.NET |PHP
HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP):
application-level protocol for distributed,
collaborative, hypermedia information
systems
 generic, stateless, object-oriented
 can be used for many tasks, such as name
servers & distributed object management
systems
 underlying language of the Web
HTTP

HTTP/1.0 allowed only connectionless message

passing
 each request/response required a new connection
 to download a page with images required multiple connections
can overload the server, require lots of overhead

HTTP/1.1 provides persistent connection by default

 once client & server connect, remains open until told to close it
(or timeout)
reduces number of connections, saves overhead
 client can send multiple requests without waiting for responses
e.g., can request all images in a page at once
Format of the request message
 Example of an HTTP Request from a
Web browser

Command URL HTTP version

GET http://www.kelley.indiana.edu/ardennis/home.htm HTTP/1.1 ]- Request

Date: Mon 06 Aug 2001 17:35:46 GMT Line
User-Agent: Mozilla/6.0 ]- Web browser (this is Netscape)
Referer: http://www.indiana.edu/~aisdept/faculty.htm Request Header

URL that contained the link to the requested URL

 21.2 HTTP Request
Types
• GET (default) and POST do basically the same thing: Send data
from the client to the server. However, they have some
differences:
• GET
– Appends form data directly to the end of the URL—visible to users
(not suitable for sending passwords)
– Limited to 1024 characters for the entire URL
– Result page can be bookmarked and cached
• POST
– Sends form data in the HTTP request—invisible to users
– Virtually no limit (but check your specific configuration)
– Results are not cacheable or bookmarkable
• Head
• put
53
 HTTP Requist header fields

the client can specify additional information in

the request
User-Agent specifies the browser version
Referer -tells server where the user came from
useful for logging and customer tracking

•From -contains email address of user

generally not used for privacy reasons

•Authorization -can send username & password

used with documents that require authorization

•If-Modified-Since -only send document if newer than specified date

used for caching
 HTTP response from a Web
server
HTTP version Status code Reason
HTTP/1.1 200 OK ]- Response Status
Date: Mon 06 Aug 2001 17:35:46 GMT ]- Date
Response
Server: NCSA/1.3 ]- Web server
Header
Location: http:// www.kelley.indiana.edu/adennis/home.htm ]- URL
Content-type: text/html ]- Type of file
<html>
<head>
<title>Allen R. Dennis</title>
</head>
<body> Response
<H2> Allen R. Dennis </H2> Body
<P>Welcome to the home page of Allen R. Dennis</P>

</body>
</html>
(Fitzgerald and Dennis, 2005 Figure 2-10)
55
HTTP Response header fields

• The first line of the server’s response contains a status code

• 200 OK request was processed successfully
• 301 Moved permanently document has been moved
• 304 Not modified if cached version is up-to-date

• 400 Bad request syntax error in client’s request

• 403 Forbidden client is not allowed access
(e.g., protected)
• 404 Not found file could not be found

• 500 Internal server error server failed

• 503 Service unavailable server is overloaded
HTTP Response header fields

In addition to the status code, the server’s

response may include

Date, Server info, Last-modified, Content-length, Content-type ,

Expires
https (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure)

•Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)

•is a secure version of the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
(http).
•HTTPS allows secure ecommerce transactions, such as
online banking.
•Web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox
display a padlock icon to indicate that the website is
secure, as it also displays https:// in the address bar.
•
When a user connects to a website via HTTPS, the
website encrypts the session with a digital certificate.
•A user can tell if they are connected to a secure website
if the website URL begins with https:// instead of http://.
•“you never and ever enter your credit card number and
sensitive informations in an http website!”
Static vs. dynamic pages

Static Web Pages

most Web pages are static
 contents (text/links/images) are the same each time it is
accessed
e.g., online documents, most homepages
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is used to specify
text/image format
Dynamic Web Pages
• as the Web moves towards online services and e-commerce, Web pages must
also provide dynamic content
• pages must be fluid, changeable (e.g., rotating banners)
• must be able to react to the user's actions, request and process info, tailor services
e.g., amazon.com, www.yahoo.com
Caching

browsers cache pages to save downloading

maintain temporary storage (cache) for recent pages
• when a page is requested, check to see if already in cache if not
in the cache, issue GET request
– when response message arrives,
• display page and store in cache (along with header info)
• if already stored in the cache, send GET request with If-Modified-
Since header set to the data of the cached page
• when response message arrives,
• if status code 200, then display and store in cache
• if status code 304, then display cached version instead
Cookies

 a cookie is a collection of information about the user

 server can download a cookie to the client’s machine
using the “Set-cookie” header in a response
 many e-commerce apps require persistent memory of
customer interactions
e.g., amazon.com
remembers your name, credit card, past purchases,
interests
Designing Web Applications
Page Structure and Site Design
 Client-Side Scripting versus Server-Side
Scripting
•Client-side scripts
– Validate user input
• Reduce requests needed to be passed to server
• Access browser
• Enhance Web pages with DHTML, ActiveX controls, and
applets
• Eg. Java script, vb script etc
• Server-side scripts
– Executed on server
– Generate custom response for clients
– Wide range of programmatic capabilities
– Access to server-side software that extends server
functionality
– Eg ASP, PHP,prl,jsp 63
Designing Web Applications
• Challenging!!! Many languages to learn!
• Client side design
• visual and logical layout
• Validation
• JavaScript controls and content manipulation
• Server side:
• Database design
• Server-side language and design patterns
• Security
• State management
• Performance and Reliability (24/7)
Web site evaluation
• Accuracy
• How reliable is the information provided at the site? Have the facts been checked by
someone other than the site's author or creator?
• Authority
• Is the author or editor of the Web page qualified to write on the stated subject?
What are his/her credentials (education, occupation, previous publications
• Objectivity
• If the subject is controversial, is the information presented fairly (both pros and
cons) or in a one-sided manner? Examine the content carefully for possible bias.
• Currency
• Is the information provided at the site up-to-date or out-of-date? Currency is
particularly important in the sciences and medicine where knowledge is rapidly
changing, and in business and management where decision-making may depend on
current, reliable statistical data.
• Coverage
• What topics (subjects) are covered by the Web site?
• Are the topics discussed or analyzed in-depth, or merely highlighted or summarized?
Assignment

• Choose one of the most known website, and then evaluate the web
contents based on the following perspectives. You should submit
your review in e-mail including the adrress of the websites
Question??
Quiz 1

• 1. write at least 5 uses of internet

• 2. what are the services of ISP’s?
• 3. what is internet?
• 4. the difference between internet and www
• 5. describe a web server and name at least 3
Quiz
1. Write about get and post methods. Discus pros & cons and when we
use get and post methods and when not used them
2. Write different between static and dynamic pages.
3. Draw the architecture of 3-tier application.
4. What is HTTP?