Web Essentials: Clients, Servers, and
Communication
World Wide Web
Originally, one of several systems for
organizing Internet-based information
Competitors: WAIS, Gopher, ARCHIE
Distinctive feature of Web: support for
hypertext (text containing links)
Communication via Hypertext Transport
Protocol (HTTP)
Document representation using Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML)
2
World Wide Web
The Web is the collection of machines
(Web servers) on the Internet that provide
information, particularly HTML documents,
via HTTP.
Machines that access information on the
Web are known as Web clients. A Web
browser is software used by an end user to
access the Web.
3
Hypertext Transport Protocol
(HTTP)
HTTP is based on the request-response
communication model:
Client sends a request
Server sends a response
HTTP is a stateless protocol:
The protocol does not require the server to
remember anything about the client between
requests.
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HTTP
Normally implemented over a TCP connection
(80 is standard port number for HTTP)
Typical browser-server interaction:
User enters Web address in browser
Browser uses DNS to locate IP address
Browser opens TCP connection to server
Browser sends HTTP request over connection
Server sends HTTP response to browser over connection
Browser displays body of response in the client area of
the browser window
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HTTP
The information transmitted using HTTP is
often entirely text
Can use the Internet’s Telnet protocol to
simulate browser request and view server
response
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HTTP
Connect { $ telnet [Link] 80
Trying [Link]...
Connected to [Link]
([Link]).
Escape character is ’^]’.
{
Send GET / HTTP/1.1
Request Host: [Link]
{
Receive HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Response Date: Thu, 09 Oct 2003 20:30:49 GMT
…
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HTTP Request
Structure of the request:
start line
header field(s)
blank line
optional body
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HTTP Request
Structure of the request:
start line
header field(s)
blank line
optional body
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HTTP Request
Start line
Example: GET / HTTP/1.1
Three space-separated parts:
HTTP request method
Request-URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)
HTTP version
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HTTP Request
Start line
Example: GET / HTTP/1.1
Three space-separated parts:
HTTP request method
Request-URI
HTTP version
We will cover 1.1, in which version part of start line
must be exactly as shown
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HTTP Request
Start line
Example: GET / HTTP/1.1
Three space-separated parts:
HTTP request method
Request-URI
HTTP version
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HTTP Request
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
Syntax: scheme : scheme-depend-part
Ex: In [Link]
the scheme is http
Request-URI is the portion of the requested URI
that follows the host name (which is supplied by
the required Host header field)
Ex:/ is Request-URI portion of
[Link]
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URI
URI’s are of two types:
Uniform Resource Name (URN)
Can be used to identify resources with unique names,
such as books (which have unique ISBN’s)
Scheme is urn
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
Specifies location at which a resource can be found
In addition to http, some other URL schemes are
https, ftp, mailto, and file
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HTTP Request
Start line
Example: GET / HTTP/1.1
Three space-separated parts:
HTTP request method
Request-URI
HTTP version
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HTTP Request
Common request methods:
GET
Used if link is clicked or address typed in browser
No body in request with GET method
POST
Used when submit button is clicked on a form
Form information contained in body of request
HEAD
Requests that only header fields (no body) be returned
in the response
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HTTP Response
Structure of the response:
status line
header field(s)
blank line
optional body
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HTTP Response
Structure of the response:
status line
header field(s)
blank line
optional body
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HTTP Response
Status line
Example: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Three space-separated parts:
HTTP version
status code
reason phrase (intended for human use)
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HTTP Response
Status code
Three-digit number
First digit is class of the status code:
1=Informational
2=Success
3=Redirection (alternate URL is supplied)
4=Client Error
5=Server Error
Other two digits provide additional information
See [Link]
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HTTP Response
Structure of the response:
status line
header field(s)
blank line
optional body
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HTTP Response
Common header fields:
Connection, Content-Type, Content-Length
Date: date and time at which response was generated
(required)
Location: alternate URI if status is redirection
Last-Modified: date and time the requested resource was
last modified on the server
Expires: date and time after which the client’s copy of
the resource will be out-of-date
ETag: a unique identifier for this version of the requested
resource (changes if resource changes)
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Client Caching
A cache is a local copy of information
obtained from some other source
Most web browsers use cache to store
requested resources so that subsequent
requests to the same resource will not
necessarily require an HTTP request/response
Ex: icon appearing multiple times in a Web page
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Client Client Caching Server
1. HTTP request for image
2. HTTP response containing image
Browser Web
Server
3. Store image
Cache
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Client Client Caching Server
Browser Web
Server
I need that
image
again…
Cache
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Client Client Caching Server
This…
HTTP request for image
Browser Web
HTTP response containing image Server
I need that
image
again…
Cache
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Client Client Caching Server
Browser Web
Server
I need that
image
again…
Get … or this
image
Cache
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Client Caching
Cache advantages
(Much) faster than HTTP request/response
Less network traffic
Less load on server
Cache disadvantage
Cached copy of resource may be invalid
(inconsistent with remote version)
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Client Caching
Validating cached resource:
Send HTTP HEAD request and check Last-
Modified or ETag header in response
Compare current date/time with Expires header
sent in response containing resource
If no Expires header was sent, use heuristic
algorithm to estimate value for Expires
Ex: Expires = 0.01 * (Date – Last-Modified) + Date
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Web Clients
Many possible web clients:
Text-only “browser” (lynx)
Mobile phones
Robots (software-only clients, e.g., search engine
“crawlers”)
etc.
We will focus on traditional web browsers
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Web Browsers
First graphical browser running on general-
purpose platforms: Mosaic (1993)
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Web Browsers
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Web Browsers
Primary tasks:
Convert web addresses (URL’s) to HTTP
requests
Communicate with web servers via HTTP
Render (appropriately display) documents
returned by a server
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HTTP URL’s
[Link]
host (FQDN) port path query fragment
authority Request-URI
Browser uses authority to connect via TCP
Request-URI included in start line (/ used
for path if none supplied)
Fragment identifier not sent to server (used
to scroll browser client area)
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Web Browsers
Standard features
Save web page to disk
Find string in page
Fill forms automatically (passwords, CC numbers, …)
Set preferences (language, character set, cache and
HTTP parameters)
Modify display style (e.g., increase font sizes)
Display raw HTML and HTTP header info (e.g., Last-
Modified)
Choose browser themes (skins)
View history of web addresses visited
Bookmark favorite pages for easy return
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Web Browsers
Additional functionality:
Execution of scripts (e.g., drop-down menus)
Event handling (e.g., mouse clicks)
GUI for controls (e.g., buttons)
Secure communication with servers
Display of non-HTML documents (e.g., PDF)
via plug-ins
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Web Servers
Basic functionality:
Receive HTTP request via TCP
Map Host header to specific virtual host (one of many
host names sharing an IP address)
Map Request-URI to specific resource associated with
the virtual host
File: Return file in HTTP response
Program: Run program and return output in HTTP response
Map type of resource to appropriate MIME type and use
to set Content-Type header in HTTP response
Log information about the request and response
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Web Servers
httpd: UIUC, primary Web server c. 1995
Apache: “A patchy” version of httpd, now the
most popular server (esp. on Linux platforms)
IIS: Microsoft Internet Information Server
Tomcat:
Java-based
Provides container (Catalina) for running Java servlets
(HTML-generating programs) as back-end to Apache or
IIS
Can run stand-alone using Coyote HTTP front-end
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Tomcat Web Server
HTML-based server administration
Browse to
[Link]
and click on Server Administration link
localhost is a special host name that means
“this machine”
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Tomcat Web Server
Context provides mapping from Request-URI
path to a web application
Document Base field is directory (possibly
relative to Application Base) that contains resources
for this web application
For this example, browsing to
[Link]
returns resource from
c:\jwsdp-1.3\webapps\ROOT
Returns [Link] (standard welcome file)
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Secure Servers
Man-in-the-Middle Attack
Fake Fake
DNS [Link]
Server [Link]
What’s IP
address for [Link] My credit card number is…
[Link]?
Real
Browser [Link]
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Secure Servers
Preventing Man-in-the-Middle
Fake Fake
DNS [Link]
Server [Link]
What’s IP
address for [Link] Send me a certificate of identity
[Link]?
Real
Browser [Link]
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Internet Protocol (IP)
IP is the fundamental protocol defining the
Internet (as the name implies!)
IP address:
32-bit number (in IPv4)
Associated with at most one device at a time
(although device may have more than one)
Written as four dot-separated bytes, e.g. [Link]
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 45
IP
IP function: transfer data from source device to
destination device
IP source software creates a packet representing the
data
Header: source and destination IP addresses, length of data,
etc.
Data itself
If destination is on another LAN, packet is sent to a
gateway that connects to more than one network
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 46
IP
Source
Network 1
Gateway
Destination
Gateway
Network 2 Network 3
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 47
IP
Source
LAN 1
Gateway
Destination
Gateway
Internet Backbone LAN 2
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 48
Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP)
Limitations of IP:
No guarantee of packet delivery (packets can be
dropped)
Communication is one-way (source to destination)
TCP adds concept of a connection on top of IP
Provides guarantee that packets delivered
Provide two-way (full duplex) communication
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 49
TCP
Establish
connection.
{ Can I talk to you?
OK. Can I talk to you?
OK.
{
Here’s a packet.
Send packet
Source Destination
with Got it.
acknowledgment.
Here’s a packet.
{
Resend packet if
no (or delayed) Here’s a resent packet.
acknowledgment.
Got it.
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 50
TCP
TCP also adds concept of a port
TCP header contains port number representing an
application program on the destination computer
Some port numbers have standard meanings
• Example: port 25 is normally used for email
transmitted using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
(SMTP)
Other port numbers are available first-come-first
served to any application
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 51
User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
Like TCP in that:
Builds on IP
Provides port concept
Unlike TCP in that:
No connection concept
No transmission guarantee
Advantage of UDP vs. TCP:
Lightweight, so faster for one-time messages
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 52
Domain Name Service (DNS)
DNS is the “phone book” for the Internet
Map between host names and IP addresses
DNS often uses UDP for communication
Host names
Labels separated by dots, e.g., [Link]
Final label is top-level domain
• Generic: .com, .org, etc.
• Country-code: .us, .il, etc.
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 53
DNS
Domains are divided into second-level
domains, which can be further divided into
subdomains, etc.
E.g., in [Link], example is a second-
level domain
A host name plus domain name information is
called the fully qualified domain name of the
computer
Above, www is the host name, [Link]
is the FQDN
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 54
DNS
nslookup program provides command-line
access to DNS (on most systems)
looking up a host name given an IP address is
known as a reverse lookup
Recall that single host may have multiple IP
addresses.
Address returned is the canonical IP address specified
in the DNS system.
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 55
DNS
ipconfig (on windows) can be used to find
the IP address (addresses) of your machine
ipconfig /displaydns displays the
contents of the DNS Resolver Cache
(ipconfig /flushdns to flush it)
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 56
Analogy to Telephone Network
IP ~ the telephone network
TCP ~ calling someone who answers, having a
conversation, and hanging up
UDP ~ calling someone and leaving a message
DNS ~ directory assistance
Guy-Vincent Jourdan :: CSI 3140 :: based on Jeffrey C. Jackson’s slides 57