Chapter 2
Application Layer
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Computer
Networking: A Top
Down Approach
6th edition
Jim Kurose, Keith Ross
Addison-Wesley
March 2012
Thanks and enjoy! JFK/KWR
All material copyright 1996-2012
J.F Kurose and K.W. Ross, All Rights Reserved
Application Layer 2-1
Chapter 2: outline
2.1 principles of network
applications
2.2 Web and HTTP
2.3 FTP
2.4 electronic mail
2.6 P2P applications
2.7 socket programming
with UDP and TCP
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
2.5 DNS
Application Layer 2-2
Some network apps







e-mail
web
text messaging
remote login
P2P file sharing
multi-user network games
streaming stored video
(YouTube, Hulu, Netflix)






voice over IP (e.g., Skype)
real-time video
conferencing
social networking
search
…
…
Application Layer 2-3
Creating a network app
write programs that:
 run on (different) end systems
 communicate over network
 e.g., web server software
communicates with browser
software
no need to write software for
network-core devices
 network-core devices do not
run user applications
 applications on end systems
allows for rapid app
development, propagation
application
transport
network
data link
physical
application
transport
network
data link
physical
application
transport
network
data link
physical
Application Layer 2-4
Application architectures
possible structure of applications:
 client-server
 peer-to-peer (P2P)
Application Layer 2-5
Client-server architecture
server:



always-on host
permanent IP address
data centers for scaling
clients:

client/server



communicate with server
may be intermittently
connected
may have dynamic IP
addresses
do not communicate directly
with each other
Application Layer 2-6
P2P architecture




no always-on server
arbitrary end systems
directly communicate
peers request service from
other peers, provide service
in return to other peers
 self scalability – new
peers bring new service
capacity, as well as new
service demands
peers are intermittently
connected and change IP
addresses
 complex management
peer-peer
Application Layer 2-7
Processes communicating
process: program running
within a host


within same host, two
processes communicate
using inter-process
communication (defined by
OS)
processes in different hosts
communicate by exchanging
messages
clients, servers
client process: process that
initiates communication
server process: process that
waits to be contacted

aside: applications with P2P
architectures have client
processes & server
processes
Application Layer 2-8
Sockets


process sends/receives messages to/from its socket
socket analogous to door
 sending process shoves message out door
 sending process relies on transport infrastructure on
other side of door to deliver message to socket at
receiving process
application
process
socket
application
process
transport
transport
network
network
link
physical
Internet
link
controlled by
app developer
controlled
by OS
physical
Application Layer 2-9
Addressing processes



to receive messages,
process must have identifier
host device has unique 32bit IP address
Q: does IP address of host
on which process runs
suffice for identifying the
process?


identifier includes both IP
address and port numbers
associated with process on
host.
example port numbers:
 HTTP server: 80
 mail server: 25

 A: no, many processes
can be running on same
host
to send HTTP message to
gaia.cs.umass.edu web
server:
 IP address: 128.119.245.12
 port number: 80

more shortly…
Application Layer 2-10
App-layer protocol defines




types of messages
exchanged,
 e.g., request, response
message syntax:
 what fields in messages
& how fields are
delineated
message semantics
 meaning of information
in fields
rules for when and how
processes send & respond
to messages
open protocols:
 defined in RFCs
 allows for interoperability
 e.g., HTTP, SMTP
proprietary protocols:
 e.g., Skype
Application Layer 2-11
What transport service does an app need?
data integrity
 some apps (e.g., file transfer,
web transactions) require
100% reliable data transfer
 other apps (e.g., audio) can
tolerate some loss
timing
 some apps (e.g., Internet
telephony, interactive
games) require low delay
to be “effective”
throughput
 some apps (e.g.,
multimedia) require
minimum amount of
throughput to be
“effective” (bandwidthsensitive)
 other apps (“elastic apps”)
make use of whatever
throughput they get
security
 encryption, data integrity,
…
Application Layer 2-12
Transport service requirements: common apps
application
data loss
throughput
file transfer
e-mail
Web documents
real-time audio/video
no loss
no loss
no loss
loss-tolerant
stored audio/video
interactive games
text messaging
loss-tolerant
loss-tolerant
no loss
elastic
no
elastic
no
elastic
no
audio: 5kbps-1Mbps yes, 100’s
video:10kbps-5Mbps msec
same as above
few kbps up
yes, few secs
elastic
yes, 100’s
msec
yes and no
time sensitive
Application Layer 2-13
Internet transport protocols services
TCP service:
UDP service:






reliable transport between
sending and receiving
process
flow control: sender won’t
overwhelm receiver
congestion control: throttle
sender when network
overloaded
does not provide: timing,
minimum throughput
guarantee, security(?)
connection-oriented: setup
required between client and
server processes

unreliable data transfer
between sending and
receiving process
does not provide:
reliability, flow control,
congestion control,
timing, throughput
guarantee, security, or
connection setup,
Q: why bother? Why is
there a UDP?
Application Layer 2-14
Internet apps: application, transport protocols
application
e-mail
remote terminal access
Web
file transfer
streaming multimedia
Internet telephony
application
layer protocol
underlying
transport protocol
SMTP [RFC 2821]
Telnet [RFC 854]
HTTP [RFC 2616]
FTP [RFC 959]
HTTP (e.g., YouTube),
RTP [RFC 1889]
SIP, RTP, proprietary
(e.g., Skype)
TCP
TCP
TCP
TCP
TCP or UDP
TCP or UDP
Application Layer 2-15
Securing TCP
TCP & UDP
 no encryption
 cleartext passwds sent
into socket traverse
Internet in cleartext
SSL
 provides encrypted
TCP connection
 data integrity
 end-point
authentication
SSL is at app layer
 Apps use SSL libraries,
which “talk” to TCP
SSL socket API
 cleartext passwds sent
into socket traverse
Internet encrypted
 See Chapter 8
Application Layer 2-16
DNS: domain name system
people: many identifiers:
 SSN, name, passport #
Internet hosts, routers:
 IP address (32 bit) used for addressing
datagrams
 “name”, e.g.,
www.yahoo.com used by humans
Q: how to map between IP
address and name, and
vice versa ?
Domain Name System:


distributed database
implemented in hierarchy of
many name servers
application-layer protocol: hosts,
name servers communicate to
resolve names (address/name
translation)
 note: core Internet function,
implemented as applicationlayer protocol
 complexity at network’s
“edge”
Application Layer 2-17
DNS: services, structure
DNS services


hostname to IP address
translation
host aliasing
 canonical, alias names


mail server aliasing
load distribution
 replicated Web
servers: many IP
addresses correspond
to one name
why not centralize DNS?




single point of failure
traffic volume
distant centralized database
maintenance
A: doesn’t scale!
Application Layer 2-18
DNS: a distributed, hierarchical database
Root DNS Servers
…
com DNS servers
yahoo.com
amazon.com
DNS servers DNS servers
…
org DNS servers
pbs.org
DNS servers
edu DNS servers
poly.edu
umass.edu
DNS serversDNS servers
client wants IP for www.amazon.com; 1st approx:



client queries root server to find com DNS server
client queries .com DNS server to get amazon.com DNS server
client queries amazon.com DNS server to get IP address for
www.amazon.com
Application Layer 2-19
DNS: root name servers


contacted by local name server that can not resolve name
root name server:
 contacts authoritative name server if name mapping not known
 gets mapping
 returns mapping to local name server
c. Cogent, Herndon, VA (5 other sites)
d. U Maryland College Park, MD
h. ARL Aberdeen, MD
j. Verisign, Dulles VA (69 other sites )
e. NASA Mt View, CA
f. Internet Software C.
Palo Alto, CA (and 48 other
sites)
a. Verisign, Los Angeles CA
(5 other sites)
b. USC-ISI Marina del Rey, CA
l. ICANN Los Angeles, CA
(41 other sites)
g. US DoD Columbus,
OH (5 other sites)
k. RIPE London (17 other sites)
i. Netnod, Stockholm (37 other sites)
m. WIDE Tokyo
(5 other sites)
13 root name
“servers”
worldwide
Application Layer 2-20
TLD, authoritative servers
top-level domain (TLD) servers:
 responsible for com, org, net, edu, aero, jobs, museums,
and all top-level country domains, e.g.: uk, fr, ca, jp
 Network Solutions maintains servers for .com TLD
 Educause for .edu TLD
authoritative DNS servers:
 organization’s own DNS server(s), providing
authoritative hostname to IP mappings for organization’s
named hosts
 can be maintained by organization or service provider
Application Layer 2-21
Local DNS name server


does not strictly belong to hierarchy
each ISP (residential ISP, company, university) has
one
 also called “default name server”

when host makes DNS query, query is sent to its
local DNS server
 has local cache of recent name-to-address translation
pairs (but may be out of date!)
 acts as proxy, forwards query into hierarchy
Application Layer 2-22
DNS name
resolution example

root DNS server
2
host at cis.poly.edu
wants IP address for
gaia.cs.umass.edu
iterated query:


contacted server
replies with name of
server to contact
“I don’t know this
name, but ask this
server”
3
TLD DNS server
4
5
local DNS server
dns.poly.edu
1
8
7
6
authoritative DNS server
dns.cs.umass.edu
requesting host
cis.poly.edu
gaia.cs.umass.edu
Application Layer 2-23
DNS name
resolution example
root DNS server
recursive query:


puts burden of name
resolution on
contacted name
server
heavy load at upper
levels of hierarchy?
3
2
7
6
TLD DNS
server
local DNS server
dns.poly.edu
1
5
4
8
authoritative DNS server
dns.cs.umass.edu
requesting host
cis.poly.edu
gaia.cs.umass.edu
Application Layer 2-24
DNS: caching, updating records

once (any) name server learns mapping, it caches
mapping
 cache entries timeout (disappear) after some time (TTL)
 TLD servers typically cached in local name servers
• thus root name servers not often visited

cached entries may be out-of-date (best effort
name-to-address translation!)
 if name host changes IP address, may not be known
Internet-wide until all TTLs expire

update/notify mechanisms proposed IETF standard
 RFC 2136
Application Layer 2-25
DNS records
DNS: distributed db storing resource records (RR)
RR format: (name,
type=A
 name is hostname
 value is IP address
type=NS
 name is domain (e.g.,
foo.com)
 value is hostname of
authoritative name
server for this domain
value, type, ttl)
type=CNAME
 name is alias name for some
“canonical” (the real) name
 www.ibm.com is really
servereast.backup2.ibm.com
 value is canonical name
type=MX
 value is name of mailserver
associated with name
Application Layer 2-26
DNS protocol, messages

query and reply messages, both with same message
format
2 bytes
2 bytes
msg header


identification: 16 bit # for
query, reply to query uses
same #
flags:
 query or reply
 recursion desired
 recursion available
 reply is authoritative
identification
flags
# questions
# answer RRs
# authority RRs
# additional RRs
questions (variable # of questions)
answers (variable # of RRs)
authority (variable # of RRs)
additional info (variable # of RRs)
Application Layer 2-27
DNS protocol, messages
2 bytes
2 bytes
identification
flags
# questions
# answer RRs
# authority RRs
# additional RRs
name, type fields
for a query
questions (variable # of questions)
RRs in response
to query
answers (variable # of RRs)
records for
authoritative servers
authority (variable # of RRs)
additional “helpful”
info that may be used
additional info (variable # of RRs)
Application Layer 2-28
Inserting records into DNS


example: new startup “Network Utopia”
register name networkuptopia.com at DNS registrar
(e.g., Network Solutions)
 provide names, IP addresses of authoritative name server
(primary and secondary)
 registrar inserts two RRs into .com TLD server:
(networkutopia.com, dns1.networkutopia.com, NS)
(dns1.networkutopia.com, 212.212.212.1, A)

create authoritative server type A record for
www.networkuptopia.com; type MX record for
networkutopia.com
Application Layer 2-29
Attacking DNS
DDoS attacks
 Bombard root servers
with traffic
 Not successful to date
 Traffic Filtering
 Local DNS servers
cache IPs of TLD
servers, allowing root
server bypass

Bombard TLD servers
 Potentially more
dangerous
Redirect attacks
 Man-in-middle
 Intercept queries

DNS poisoning
 Send bogus relies to
DNS server, which
caches
Exploit DNS for DDoS
 Send queries with
spoofed source
address: target IP
 Requires amplification
Application Layer 2-30
Chapter 2: outline
2.1 principles of network
applications
 app architectures
 app requirements
2.6 P2P applications
2.7 socket programming
with UDP and TCP
2.2 Web and HTTP
2.3 FTP
2.4 electronic mail
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
2.5 DNS
Application Layer 2-31
Pure P2P architecture



no always-on server
arbitrary end systems
directly communicate
peers are intermittently
connected and change IP
addresses
examples:
 file distribution
(BitTorrent)
 Streaming (KanKan)
 VoIP (Skype)
Application Layer 2-32
File distribution: client-server vs P2P
Question: how much time to distribute file (size F) from
one server to N peers?
 peer upload/download capacity is limited resource
us: server upload
capacity
file, size F
server
uN
dN
us
u1
d1
u2
di: peer i download
capacity
d2
network (with abundant
bandwidth)
di
ui
ui: peer i upload
capacity
Application Layer 2-33
File distribution time: client-server

server transmission: must
sequentially send (upload) N
file copies:
 time to send one copy: F/us
us
di
 time to send N copies: NF/us

F
network
ui
client: each client must
download file copy
 dmin = min client download rate
 min client download time: F/dmin
time to distribute F
to N clients using
client-server approach
Dc-s > max{NF/us,,F/dmin}
increases linearly in N
Application Layer 2-34
File distribution time: P2P

server transmission: must
upload at least one copy
 time to send one copy: F/us

F
us
client: each client must
download file copy
di
network
ui
 min client download time: F/dmin

clients: as aggregate must download NF bits
 max upload rate (limting max download rate) is us + Sui
time to distribute F
to N clients using
P2P approach
DP2P > max{F/us,,F/dmin,,NF/(us + Sui)}
increases linearly in N …
… but so does this, as each peer brings service capacity
Application Layer 2-35
Client-server vs. P2P: example
client upload rate = u, F/u = 1 hour, us = 10u, dmin ≥ us
Minimum Distribution Time
3.5
P2P
Client-Server
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
N
Application Layer 2-36
P2P file distribution: BitTorrent
 file divided into 256Kb chunks
 peers in torrent send/receive file chunks
tracker: tracks peers
participating in torrent
torrent: group of peers
exchanging chunks of a file
Alice arrives …
… obtains list
of peers from tracker
… and begins exchanging
file chunks with peers in torrent
Application Layer 2-37
P2P file distribution: BitTorrent





peer joining torrent:
 has no chunks, but will
accumulate them over time
from other peers
 registers with tracker to get
list of peers, connects to
subset of peers
(“neighbors”)
while downloading, peer uploads chunks to other peers
peer may change peers with whom it exchanges chunks
churn: peers may come and go
once peer has entire file, it may (selfishly) leave or
(altruistically) remain in torrent
Application Layer 2-38
BitTorrent: requesting, sending file chunks
requesting chunks:



at any given time, different
peers have different subsets
of file chunks
periodically, Alice asks each
peer for list of chunks that
they have
Alice requests missing
chunks from peers, rarest
first
sending chunks: tit-for-tat

Alice sends chunks to those
four peers currently sending her
chunks at highest rate
 other peers are choked by Alice
(do not receive chunks from her)
 re-evaluate top 4 every10 secs

every 30 secs: randomly select
another peer, starts sending
chunks
 “optimistically unchoke” this peer
 newly chosen peer may join top 4
Application Layer 2-39
BitTorrent: tit-for-tat
(1) Alice “optimistically unchokes” Bob
(2) Alice becomes one of Bob’s top-four providers; Bob reciprocates
(3) Bob becomes one of Alice’s top-four providers
higher upload rate: find better
trading partners, get file faster !
Application Layer 2-40