Communication Systems

PART 3a
Transmitting and receiving in
communication systems -
Communication protocols
Communication protocols -
application level protocols
• http
• smtp
• SSL
HTTP - Hypertext transfer protocol
• Application level and layer 6 of OSI model

• Used by web browsers to transfer displayable web pages and

related files

• GET command + URL – request html file, image files, audio files
video files etc. Web server transmits document to browser

• HEADER precedes file data and indicates the nature of the

data. Browser reads the header to determine how it should
display the data

• HTTP POST sends data from the browser to the web server eg
input forms
FTP
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the simplest and most secure way to
exchange files over the Internet.
• When downloading a file from the Internet you're actually
transferring the file to your computer from another computer over
the Internet
• Example FTP site address: ftp://ftp.FTPplanet.com
• Most often, a computer with an FTP address is dedicated to receive
an FTP connection. Just as a computer that is setup to host Web
pages is referred to as a Web server or Website, a computer
dedicated to receiving an FTP connection is referred to as an FTP
server or FTP site.
• When using a Web browser for an FTP connection, FTP uploads are
difficult, or sometimes impossible, and downloads are not
protected (not recommended for uploading or downloading large
files).
Email Protocols – SMTP (Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol)
• Sends e-mail
• Email client software issues SMTP commands
that include the recipients address and the
content of the email
Email Protocols –POP (Post Office Protocol )
• Is the standard in which e-mail is received and held
for you by your Internet server.
• With POP3, your mail is saved for you in a single
mailbox on the server.
• When you read your mail, all of it is immediately
downloaded to your computer and, except when
previously arranged, no longer maintained on the
server.
Email Protocols – IMAP (Internet
Message Access Protocol)
• is a standard protocol in which e-mail is received and
held for you by your Internet server.
• You (or your e-mail client) can view just the heading
and the sender of the letter and then decide
whether to download the mail.
• You can also create and manipulate multiple folders
or mailboxes on the server, delete messages, or
search for certain parts or an entire note.
• IMAP requires continual access to the server during
the time that you are working with your mail.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
• The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a commonly-used protocol for
managing the security of a message transmission on the Internet.
• SSL has recently been succeeded by Transport Layer Security (TLS),
which is based on SSL. SSL uses a program layer located between
the Internet's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Transport
Control Protocol (TCP) layers.
• The "sockets" part of the term refers to the sockets method of
passing data back and forth between a client and a server program
in a network or between program layers in the same computer.
• SSL uses the public-and-private key encryption system from RSA,
which also includes the use of a digital certificate.
• TLS and SSL are an integral part of most Web browsers (clients) and
Web servers.
• If a Web site is on a server that supports SSL, SSL can be enabled
and specific Web pages can be identified as requiring SSL access.
TLS (Transport Layer Security)
• Is a protocol that ensures privacy between communicating
applications and their users on the Internet.
• When a server and client communicate, TLS ensures that no third
party may eavesdrop or tamper with any message.
• TLS is the successor to the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). TLS is
composed of two layers: the TLS Record Protocol and the TLS
Handshake Protocol.
• The TLS Record Protocol provides connection security with some
encryption method such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES).
• The TLS Record Protocol can also be used without encryption. The
TLS Handshake Protocol allows the server and client to authenticate
each other and to negotiate an encryption algorithm and
cryptographic keys before data is exchanged.
Sockets
• Sockets is a method for communication
between a client program and a server
program in a network.
• A socket is defined as "the endpoint in a
connection."
• Sockets are created and used with a set of
programming requests or "function calls"
sometimes
Digital Certificate
• A digital certificate is an electronic "credit card" that
establishes your credentials when doing business or
other transactions on the Web.

• It is issued by a certification authority (CA).

• It contains your name, a serial number, expiration

dates, a copy of the certificate holder's public key (used
for encrypting messages and digital signatures), and
the digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority
so that a recipient can verify that the certificate is real.
Digital signature
• is an electronic signature that can be used to authenticate the identity of
the sender of a message or the signer of a document, and possibly to
ensure that the original content of the message or document that has
been sent is unchanged.

• Digital signatures are easily transportable, cannot be imitated by someone

else, and can be automatically time-stamped.

• A digital signature can be used with any kind of message, whether it is

encrypted or not, simply so that the receiver can be sure of the sender's
identity and that the message arrived intact.

• A digital certificate contains the digital signature of the certificate-issuing

authority so that anyone can verify that the certificate is real
Digital signature -How It Works
• Assume you were going to send the draft of a contract to your lawyer in another
town. You want to give your lawyer the assurance that it was unchanged from
what you sent and that it is really from you. You copy-and-paste the contract (it's a
short one!) into an e-mail note.

• Using special software, you obtain a message hash (mathematical summary) of the
contract.
• You then use a private key that you have previously obtained from a public-private
key authority to encrypt the hash.

• The encrypted hash becomes your digital signature of the message. (Note that it
will be different each time you send a message.)

• At the other end, your lawyer receives the message. To make sure it's intact and
from you, your lawyer makes a hash of the received message.

• Your lawyer then uses your public key to decrypt the message hash or summary.

• If the hashes match, the received message is valid.

Communication control and
addressing level protocols
• TCP
• IP
TCP/IP – (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol)
• Transport Layer 4 – Communication control and Addressing
level
• is the basic communication language or protocol of the
Internet.
• The higher layer, TCP manages the assembling of a message or
file into smaller packets that are transmitted over the Internet
and received by a TCP layer that reassembles the packets into
the original message.
• Each packet is called a segment (576 bytes)
– Includes a header and checksum (checks for errors)
– Method of sliding windows
IP (Internet Protocol)
• The lower layer, IP handles the address part of
each packet so that it gets to the right
destination.
• Allows data packets to move from sender to
receiver
• Can reroute messages over the most efficient
path to their destination using routers
• ARP (Address resolution protocol) determines
the next hop
Transmission level protocols
• Ethernet
• Token ring

SEE HANDOUT ETHERNET & TOKEN RING