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Web Technology Basics

By Joscelyn Dias
Outline
History
Internet and WWW
Basic terminology
Understanding TCP/IP, HTTP
Web standards and organizations
History of the Internet
1962: Work started by US Govt. Agency for controlling missiles from
distant station
1968: ARPA awarded the ARPANET contract. First Network switch was
built connecting four nodes. The protocol (NCP) used was
having limitation of communicating on same network
1973: DARPA (rename of ARPA) developed of TCP/IP protocol for
diverse computer networks communication
1976: The year of launching Ethernet which lead to the development of
LAN
1983: ARPANET switched over to TCP/IP as the core protocol
replacing NCP
Terminology
Network
Two or more computers/devices connected using
communication media
Internet Network of Networks
Protocol
Set of agreed rules between computers/devices for
exchanging data
Internet way of communication TCP/IP
Understanding TCP/IP
OSI Conceptual
Model
for
Network
Communication
Application Layer
Presentation Layer
Session Layer
Transport Layer
Network Layer
Data Link Layer
Physical Layer
Understanding TCP/IP
OSI Model mapped to TCP/IP Model
Application Layer
Presentation Layer
Session Layer
Transport Layer
Network Layer
Data Link Layer
Physical Layer
Application Layer
Transport Layer
Network Layer
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Data unit Layer Function Examples
Host
layers
Data
7. Application Network process to application HTTP, FTP, SMTP
6. Presentation
Data representation and
encryption
SSL
5. Session Inter-host communication Sockets, RTP
Segment 4. Transport
End-to-end connections and
reliability
TCP
Media
layers
Packet 3. Network
Path determination and logical
addressing
IP
Frame 2. Data Link Physical addressing Ethernet (MAC & LLC)
Bit 1. Physical
Media, signal and binary
transmission
Ethernet (physical)
TCP/IP in OSI model
TCP/IP Protocol Suite
Application Layer
(HTTP, SMTP, FTP, SNMP, Telnet, etc)
Transport Layer
(TCP, UDP)
Network Layer
(IP)
TCP/IP Protocol Suite
Composed of several protocols that drives
the Internet
IP : handles the movement of data between
host computers
TCP : manages the movement of data
between applications
UDP : less complex and reliable than TCP
FTP : Transfer of files
SMTP : e-mail transfer
IP protocol
IP is a connectionless protocol
Breaking up large data into easily manageable
IP packets for delivery across the network
Identify networks and paths to networks and
hosts
Handle routing of data between networks and
nodes.
No concept of a session, no pre-selected path
for all traffic
If network breaks down on path, traffic still reach
its destination through a roundabout path.
TCP protocol
Data packet from the network transferred
/delivered to the receiving application
Assembled and delivered in the correct
sequence.
Error during transport including loss and
resending
Computer 1
(IP1)
Computer 2
(IP2)
DNS
(IP3)
10.10.
1
2
3
Hosts File
DNS Query for IP Address
Final Comm.
How TCP/IP works
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Who allocates IP Address ?
Allocation of Host Name and IP Address is the
responsibility of the global naming service provider
InterNIC
InterNIC has distributed the IP allocation responsibility to
the national level ISPs carrying out business in
particular country
In India VSNL->NCST->CDAC->NIXI,
National Informatics Center, ICANN
Current Cost of Registration for domain and one IP
address
History of the Internet Web
1986: IETF was created for building the Internet Gateway System
1989: Web was conceived by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN
1992: W W Wreleased by CERN for testing / comments
1993: InterNIC was formed for providing database, registration and
naming services
1994: W3C founded at MIT CS labs with CERN collaboration
HTTP, HTML
NCSA's MosaicDevelopment and evolution of Graphical browsers
1995 till date : Backbones are getting added for internet by private as
well as government organisations for bringing world more
closure than it was before, Browser & standards development.
Web alias Internet ?
The web is not synonymous with the internet,
though some people may think so.
The web is one way to utilize the
infrastructure of the internet.
In other words, the web is a subset of the
internet.
The Web
is a complex, international, cross platform, cross
language, cross cultural mesh of servers, clients, users,
databases, and quite a few artificial intelligences all
talking, working, searching, viewing, accessing,
downloading, and . !!!
The Uniqueness of the Web
No one owns or controls the web
By its very nature and design no one owns it
It is not even tangible just a medium
Implication on web development
Impossible to maintain IPR on what is distributed
An Intranet is a mini web that is limited to the users, machines,
and software programs of a specific organization, usually a
company.
Organizations are typically small and have more control over
policies and information
Communication over the Web
WWW creators devised standards of
communication
Application layer : The layer above
operating systems, computer languages,
or internet transmission protocols
The 2 basic and important standards or
protocols.
HTTP
HTML
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The Client-Server perspective
The web is the largest client/server system implemented to
date"
Most complex, heterogeneous - operating systems,
human languages, programming languages, software,
hardware, and middleware.
A Server (computer) runs a software package (also
called server) listens all day long to requests for files that
people might want access.
A Client is actually a software program (e.g.. browser)
from a computer used by person who wants the files.
Requests in language/format that Server understands.
Client/server protocol used by the web is HTTP
Understanding HTTP
Client
Computer
(Browser)
Server
(Web Server)
URL
Contents (HTML)
More Terminology
Browser
Software used on the user machine to locate and View the contents of
resource available on any Web Server
e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape etc.
Web Server
Software running on distant machine capable of Publishing pages
e.g. IIS, Apache
URL
Uniform Resource Locator used to identify resource on Internet
e.g. http://www.cnn.com/index.html
HTML
HyperText Markup Language used for structuring and formatting the
documents published on Internet.
Internet Language HTML
HTTP
"request-response" type protocol
A client will open a connection to a server
then send a request using a very specific
format.
The server will then respond and close the
connection.
Stateless protocol
HTTP
The web consists of millions of hyper-
linked files.
HTTP must maintain the integrity
files/documents (images, text, audio, etc)
Define for Web browsers / servers what it
is that is being linked to and transported.
MIME headers are used by HTTP to
specify the contents of any transported file
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
MIME Type MIME Subtype
Text html
Image jpeg
Application msword
Application pdf
Audio mpeg
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Options/Preferences setting in browser
IE : Internet OptionsManage Add Ons
Explorer : Folder Options (FileTypes)Edit File Type Explorer : Folder Options (FileTypes)Advanced
Agencies for Internet Standards
ISO
Data communication models and standards
IEEE
Mainly involved in evolving standards for
building LAN and MAN
W3C
Consortium formed in 1994 for establishing
standards for HTML and HTTP