PROTOCOLS GOVERNING THE WEB

The Internet relies on a number of protocols in order to function properly. A

protocol is simply a standard for enabling the connection, communication, and
data transfer between two places on a network. Here are some of the key
protocols that are used for transferring data across the Internet.

TCP :

 TCP or Transmission Control Protocol is a standard that defines how to

establish and maintain a network conversation via which application
programs can exchange data.
 TCP works with the Internet Protocol (IP), which defines how computers
send packets of data to each other.
 Together, TCP and IP are the basic rules defining the Internet.
 TCP is a connection-oriented protocol, which means a connection is
established and maintained until the application programs at each end
have finished exchanging messages.
IP

 Internet Protocol provides the packet delivery services for TCP, UDP, and
ICMP. The IP layer protocol is unreliable (called a best-effort protocol).
 There is no guarantee that IP packets arrive, or that they arrive only once
and are error-free.
 Such reliability is built into the TCP protocol, but not into the UDP
protocol.
 If you need reliable transport between two UDP applications, you must
ensure that reliability is built into the UDP applications.
 The Internet Protocol (IP) is the method or protocol by which data is sent
from one computer to another on the Internet.
 Each computer which is known as a host on the Internet has at least one IP
address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the Internet.
 The communications protocol of the public Internet, many wide area
networks (WANs) and most local area networks (LANs).
 The Internet Protocol (IP) is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite, and the terms
"IP network" and "TCP/IP network" are synonymous.
 Packet Switching : IP uses a packet-switched architecture, in which data
are broken up into smaller "packets," with each packet containing a source
address and destination address. IP packets are handed over to a data link
layer protocol, such as Ethernet, for the actual, physical transmission to the
next node in the network path.

 IP is the Network Layer

 While "IP" refers to the entire TCP/IP protocol suite, the term "IP layer"
refers to just the network-to-network part, occupying layer 3 in the
"protocol stack" (see below). To learn about IP networking, see OSI model,
TCP/IP, TCP/IP abc's, IP address and IP on Everything.
The TCP/IP Protocol Suite :

 Conceptually, the TCP/IP protocol stack consists of four layers, each layer
consisting of one or more protocols.
 A protocol is a set of rules or standards that two entities must follow so as
to allow each other to receive and interpret messages sent to them.
 The entities could, for example, be two application programs in an
application protocol, or the entities might be two TCP protocol layers in two
different IP hosts (the TCP protocol).

 TCP/IP is the set of communications protocols used for the Internet and
other similar networks.

 Named from two most important protocols (TCP & IP )

 TCP, the Transmission Control Protocol, responsible for data delivery

 IP, the Internet Protocol, responsible from breaking data into packets.
 The TCP/IP protocol stack

ICMP :

 Internet control message protocol or ICMP provides management and

error reporting to help manage the process of sending data between
computers. (Management).
 This protocol is used to report connection status back to computers that
are trying to connect other computers.
 For example, it may report that a destination host is not reachable.
 Internet Control Message Protocol is used to handle error and control
information at the IP layer. The ICMP is most often used by network
control applications that are part of the TCP/IP software product itself, but
ICMP can be used by authorized user processes as well.
 PING and TRACEROUTE are examples of network control applications that
use the ICMP protocol.
ICMP error message format.
ICMP error messages of Type: 3 represent a "destination unreachable"
situation, where code values clarify the type of unreachability, as follows:
0 = net unreachable; 1 = host unreachable; 2 = protocol unreachable;
3 = port unreachable; 4 = fragmentation needed and DF is set; 5 = source route
failed

FTP : FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is used to transfer files across the
Internet. FTP is commonly used by web developers to publish updates to a
website, i.e. to upload a new version of the website. Where HTTP is used for
displaying the file in your browser, FTP is used simply to transfer the file from
one computer to a specified location on another computer. You can use FTP to
transfer the files from your computer to a remote computer (such as a web
server), or to transfer from the remote computer to your local computer.
UDP : UDP stands for User Datagram Protocol. It is an alternative
communications protocol to Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) used primarily
for establishing low-latency and loss tolerating connections between applications
on the Internet. Both UDP and TCP run on top of the Internet Protocol (IP) and
are sometimes referred to as UDP/IP or TCP/IP. Both protocols send short packets
of data, called datagrams.

User Datagram Protocol is a connectionless protocol providing datagram

services. UDP is less reliable because there is no guarantee that a UDP datagram
ever reaches its intended destination, or that it reaches its destination only once
and in the same condition as it was passed to the sending UDP layer by a UDP
application.

ARP
ARP stands for Address Resolution Protocol. It is used for mapping an Internet
Protocol address (IP address) to a physical machine address that is recognized in
the local network.

The IPv4 networking layer uses the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to map an
IP address into a hardware address. In the IPv6 networking layer, this mapping is
performed by the Neighbor Discovery (ND function). On local area networks
(LANs), such an address would be called a media access control (MAC) address.

RARP

Reverse Address Resolution Protocol is used to reverse the operation of the ARP
protocol. It maps a hardware address into an IPv4 address. Note that both ARP
packets and RARP packets are not forwarded in IP packets, but are themselves
media level packets. ARP and RARP are not used on all network types, as some
networks do not need these protocols.

DNS
DNS or Domain Name System is the way that internet domain names are located
and translated into internet protocol (IP) addresses. The domain name system
maps the name people use to locate a website to the IP address that a computer
uses to locate a website. For example, if someone types TechTarget.com into a
web browser, a server behind the scenes will map that name to the IP address
206.19.49.149.

DHCP

 DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.

 It is used to provide quick, automatic, and central management for the
distribution of IP addresses within a network.
 DHCP is also used to configure the proper subnet mask, default gateway,
and DNS server information on the device.

HTTP

 HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

 It is the standard protocol for transferring web pages and their content
across the Internet.
 When accessing any web page entering http:// in front of the address tells
the browser to communicate over HTTP.
  The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is an application protocol for distributed,
collaborative, hypermedia information systems that allows users to
communicate data on the World Wide Web.
 As a request-response protocol, HTTP gives users a way to interact with
web resources such as HTML files by transmitting hypertext messages
between clients and servers. HTTP clients generally use Transmission
Control Protocol (TCP) connections to communicate with servers.

HTTP utilizes specific request methods in order to perform various tasks:

 GET requests a specific resource in its entirety

 HEAD requests a specific resource without the body content
 POST adds content, messages, or data to a new page under an existing web
resource
 PUT directly modifies an existing web resource or creates a new URI if need
be
 DELETE gets rid of a specified resource
 TRACE shows users any changes or additions made to a web resource
 OPTIONS shows users which HTTP methods are available for a specific URL
 CONNECT converts the request connection to a transparent TCP/IP tunnel
 PATCH partially modifies a web resource

All HTTP servers use the GET and HEAD methods, but not all support the rest of
these request methods.
SSL

Secure Sockets Layer or SSL is a computer networking protocol for securing

connections between network application clients and servers over an insecure
network, such as the internet.

SSL uses a combination of public key and symmetric key encryption to secure a
connection between two machines, typically a web or mail server and a client
system, communicating over the internet or another TCP/IP network.
SSL provides a mechanism for encrypting and authenticating data sent between
processes running on a client and server.

HTTPS

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer. Think of
it as a secure version of HTTP.

HTTPS is used primarily on web pages that ask you to provide personal or
sensitive information such as a password or your credit card details. When we
browse a web page using HTTPS, we are using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) .

For a website to use HTTPS it needs to have an SSL certificate installed on the
server. These are usually issued by a trusted 3rd party, referred to as a Certificate
Authority (CA).
PPP : Point To Point Protocol is a network protocol that allow data
communication between two network entities or points. The Point-to-Point
Protocol (PPP) provides a standard method for transporting multi-protocol
datagrams over point-to-point links.

The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provides a standard method for transporting

multi-protocol datagrams over point-to-point links. PPP is comprised of three
main components:

● A method for encapsulating multi-protocol datagrams.

● A Link Control Protocol (LCP) for establishing, configuring, and testing the data-
link connection.

● A family of Network Control Protocols (NCPs) for establishing and configuring

different network-layer protocols.

PPP (Point-to-point protocol) is a WAN protocol that is often used on point-to-

point links. Originally, PPP was often used for dial-up connections. Nowadays it's
still used for DSL with PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet) and PPPoA (PPP over ATM).
POP3 :

Pop3 stands for Post Office Protocol and has been around for many years. Pop3
downloads your mail as you view it on your email client. It was great for users
who only want to access their mail from one client. It is now out-of-date and
impractical. Post Office Protocol version 3 is used by clients to access an internet
mail server to get mail. It is not a transport layer protocol.

POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) is the most recent version of a standard protocol for
receiving e-mail. POP3 is a client/server protocol in which e-mail is received and
held for you by your Internet server. Periodically, you (or your client e-mail
receiver) check your mail-box on the server and download any mail, probably
using POP3. This standard protocol is built into most popular e-mail products,
such as Eudora and Outlook Express. It's also built into the Netscape and
Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers.

POP3 is designed to delete mail on the server as soon as the user has downloaded
it. However, some implementations allow users or an administrator to specify
that mail be saved for some period of time. POP can be thought of as a "store-
and-forward" service.
An alternative protocol is Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP). IMAP
provides the user more capabilities for retaining e-mail on the server and for
organizing it in folders on the server. IMAP can be thought of as a remote file
server.

POP and IMAP deal with the receiving of e-mail and are not to be confused with
the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), a protocol for transferring e-mail across
the Internet. You send e-mail with SMTP and a mail handler receives it on your
recipient's behalf. Then the mail is read using POP or IMAP.

IMAP

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. It is a standard email protocol
that stores email messages on a mail server, but allows the end user to view and
manipulate the messages as though they were stored locally on the end user's
computing device(s). This allows users to organize messages into folders, have
multiple client applications know which messages have been read, flag messages
for urgency or follow-up and save draft messages on the server.
SMTP

Email is emerging as one of the most valuable services on the internet today.
Most of the internet systems use SMTP as a method to transfer mail from one
user to another. SMTP is a push protocol and is used to send the mail whereas
POP (post office protocol) or IMAP (internet message access protocol) are used to
retrieve those mails at the receiver’s side.

SMTP Fundamentals : SMTP is an application layer protocol. The client who wants
to send the mail opens a TCP connection to the SMTP server and then sends the
mail across the connection. The SMTP server is always on listening mode. As soon
as it listens for a TCP connection from any client, the SMTP process initiates a
connection on that port (25). After successfully establishing the TCP connection
the client process sends the mail instantly

SMTP Protocol

The SMTP model is of two type :

 End-to- end method

 Store-and- forward method

The end to end model is used to communicate between different organizations

whereas the store and forward method are used within an organization. A SMTP
client who wants to send the mail will contact the destination’s host SMTP
directly in order to send the mail to the destination. The SMTP server will keep
the mail to itself until it is successfully copied to the receiver’s SMTP.

The client SMTP is the one which initiates the session let us call it as the client-
SMTP and the server SMTP is the one which responds to the session request and
let us call it as receiver-SMTP. The client- SMTP will start the session and the
receiver-SMTP will respond to the request.
A Protocols is a set of rules. Protocols allows two computers to communicate
over media such as wireless or hardwired technologies.

Protocol Stack

When computers communicate with each other,there needs to be a common set

of rules and instruction that each computer follows. ;

Protocols are the language of computers.

Some types of Protocols:-

(Internet layer)

Hyper Text Transfer Protocols (HTTP) : This protocol is used to access,send and
receive Hypertext markup language (HTML) files on the Internet.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol(SMTP) : This protocol is used for transferring e-

mail between computers.

File Transfer Protocol(FTP): FTP is used to upload files on server and download
files from server.

Transmission Control Protocol(TCP): This protocol ensure the delivery of

information packets across network.

Internet Protocol(IP): This protocol is responsible logical addressing called IP

address to route information between network.