BUSINESS DATA

COMMUNICATIONS &
NETWORKING

Chapter 2
Chapter Layer
2
Application
Application Layer

FitzGerald Dennis Durcikova

Prepared by Taylor M. Wells: College of Business Administration, California State University, Sacramento
Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Outline

Application Architectures
The Web
Email
Other Application-Layer Protocols
Implications for Management

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Application Layer
Layer 5 in the Internet model
The software that enables
users to interact with the
network and accomplish tasks

Internet
Model

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Application Architecture
The way the functions of the application layer are spread
out across the client and server
Four components of applications:
1. Presentation logic
2. Application logic
3. Data access logic
4. Data Storage

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Host-Based Architecture
Server contains all components (server-based)
Common in the 1960s with mainframes and terminals

CLIENT

SERVE
R

Presentation Logic
Application Logic
Data Access Logic
Data Storage
Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Host-Based Architecture
Advantages
Very simple
Single point of control
Disadvantages
Host (server) can become a bottleneck
Upgrades typically expensive

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Client-Based Architecture
Client contains presentation, application, and data access
logic
Most common in the 1980s
CLIENT

Presentation Logic
Application Logic
Data Access Logic

SERVE
R

Data Storage

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Client-Based Architecture
Advantages
Hardware and applications less expensive
Simple architecture
Disadvantages
Data must travel back and forth between server and
client

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Client-Server Architecture
Most common architecture today

SERVE
R

CLIENT

OR
Presentation Logic
Application Logic

Application Logic
Data Access Logic
Data Storage

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Client-Server Architecture
Thin clients are easier to manage, thick clients have more
functionality
Thick-Client Architecture
CLIENT

Presentation
Logic
Application
Logic

SERVE
R

Data Access
Logic
Data Storage

Thin-Client Architecture
CLIENT

Presentation
Logic

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

SERVE
R

Application
Logic
Data Access
Logic

Client-Server Architecture
Advantages
More efficient because of distributed processing
Allows hardware/software from different vendors to be
used together
Less bandwidth required
Disadvantages
May be challenges in configuring hardware/software
from different vendors to work together
In many cases, middleware is required

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Client-Server Architecture
Middleware is software acts as an intermediary by sitting
between client and server applications
Provides a standard way of translating between software from
different vendors
Manages message transfers
Insulates network changes from the clients (e.g., adding a
new server)

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Client-Server Architecture
Example of threearchitecture
twon-tier

tier
tier
CLIENT

Presentation
Logic

Applicati
Web
SERVE
SERVER
on
R
SERVER

Database
Applicati
SERVER
on
SERVER

Database
SERVER

Application
Logic
Data Access
Logic
Data Storage

Application
Data
Access
Logic
Logic
Data Storage

Data Access
Logic
Data Storage

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Tiered Client-Server Architecture

Advantages
Load balancing
More scalable
Disadvantages
Each tier increases network load
More complex and difficult to develop applications

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Peer-to-Peer Architecture
An older architecture that became popular again with
Napster, BitTorrent, etc.
All devices can act as client and server
CLIENT/SERVER

CLIENT/SERVER

Presentation Logic
Application Logic
Data Access Logic
Data Storage

Presentation Logic
Application Logic
Data Access Logic
Data Storage

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Peer-to-Peer Architecture
Advantages
Resilient to failure
Data can be stored anywhere on network
Distributes bandwidth requirements
Disadvantages
Finding the stored data
Security

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing is the general term for enabling access
to computing services over the network (most commonly
the Internet)
Models of cloud computing define who manages each
application function and associated hardware/software

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing Models
Software as a Service (SaaS)
All application components and associated
hardware/software outsourced
Based on multitenancy
e.g. Salesforce.com
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Application logic and data are managed internally
e.g., Microsoft Azure
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
All hardware is outsourced
Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cloud Computing
Traditional
Thin-Client
Client-Server
Intern
al

Outsourc
ed

Infrastructure
as a Service
(IaaS)
Intern
al

Outsourc
ed

Platform as a
Service (Paas)
Intern
al

Outsourc
ed

Software as a
Service (SaaS)
Intern
al

Outsourc
ed

Application
Logic

Data
Storage

Data
Access
Logic

Operating
System

Virtualizati
on
Software

Server
Hardware

Storage
Hardware

Network

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Criteria for Choosing Architecture

Infrastructure
Cost of servers, clients, and circuits
Reliability
Development Costs
Software; cheaper on host-based architectures
Scalability
Ability to increase (or decrease) in computing capacity
as network demand changes
Easier in client-server architectures

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Web
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
HTTP Request and Response
Client
computer
with Web
browser
software

HTTP
HTTP
Response
Response

Web Server

HTTP
HTTP
Request
Request

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Web
HTTP Request

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Web
HTTP Response

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Email
Mail Transfer Agent (MTA)
Formal name for mail server software
e.g., Sendmail, Postfix,
Mail User Agent (MUA)
Formal name for mail client software
e.g., Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
Protocol used to send a message to a MTA
Originally only handled text files
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) or Post Office Protocol (POP)
Protocols used by a MUA to retrieve messages from an MTA
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)
A standard for encoding text characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, a few symbols)
Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Email

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Email

How a message is sent (2-tier, thick client)

Sending Client Senders Mail Server (SMTP)
Senders Mail Server Receivers Mail Server (SMTP)
Message waits on Receivers Mail Server in mailbox
Receiving Client Receivers Mail Server (IMAP or
POP)
Receivers Mail Server Receiving Client (IMAP or
POP)

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Email

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Email
How a message is sent via webmail (3-tier, thin client)
1. Sending Client Senders Web Server (HTTP)
2. Senders Web Server Senders Mail Server (SMTP)
3. Senders Mail Server Receivers Mail Server (SMTP)
4. Mail waits on Receivers Mail Server in mailbox
5. Receiving Client Receivers Web Server (HTTP)
6. Receivers Web Server Receivers Mail Server (IMAP
or POP)
7. Receivers Mail Server Receivers Web Server (IMAP
or POP)
8. Receivers Web Server Receiving Client (HTTP)

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Email
SMTP Message Format
RFC 822: Standard for text
message format
Header lines
Contain information about the
message such as To, From, and
Subject
Body section
Contains the content of the
message
Begins with the DATA keyword
Only uses ASCII characters

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Header

Body

Email
Inside an SMTP packet
Header: source, destination, date, subject, etc.
Body: keyword DATA, then email message

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Email
SMTP is a simple protocol to send plain text
Not designed to send images or attachments
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME)
A standard to extend support for attachments and nonASCII characters in email
Used by sender to convert (encode) any non-ASCII
content into ASCII
Receivers then convert (decode) the ASCII back to its
original format

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Other Application-Layer Protocols

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) - for moving files between
clients and servers
Telnet, Secure Shell (SSH) - for executing commands on
a remote system
Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Extensible Messaging and
Presence Protocol (XMPP) - for real-time text chat
(instant messaging)
Domain Name System (DNS) - for mapping domain
names to IP addresses

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Instant Messaging

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Video Conferencing

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Implications for Management

Primary purpose of networks is to provide environment
for applications
The number and types of applications on the network is
dramatically increasing

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.