Internet Technology

Jinitha Obash
NIBM
The Internet
• Is a global decentralized system of
interconnected computer networks.
• It uses the standard Internet Protocol Suite
(TCP/IP).
• It serves billions of users worldwide.
• The Internet carries a vast array of information
resources and services
Is a global decentralized system of
interconnected computer networks.

• Global
All over the world.
• Decentralized
There is no central controlling in exchange of information.
• interconnected computer networks
It is a network of networks.
It consists of millions of private, public, academic,
business, and government networks.
The Internet carries a vast array of information
resources and services

• Services: • Resources:
– Inter-linked hypertext – Data & Information
documents of the World – Hypertext documents
Wide Web (WWW) – Pictures
– Electronic mail. (POP3 / – Movies
SMTP )
– Shared h/W resources
– File transferring (FTP) such as printers, scaners
– Remote logins (Telnet)
– Gopher protocol
– Usenet news group
Network
• Is a Data Communications system made up of
Hardware and Software that transmits data
from one computer to another.
– physical infrastructure:
– Cables/Fiber optic lines/Undersea cables/ Satellites
– Routers/switches/Hubs/Modems
– Computers/Servers
– Software infrastructure:
– Protocols (TCP/IP, UDP, HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP3)
– Server software (web server/mail server)
– Client software (web browser/mail client)
Networks
Small Networks:
• Local Area Network ( LAN )
E.g. :
• Office Network
• University Network
• Home Network
Large Networks:

• Wide Area Network ( WAN )

E.g.:
• Banking Networks
• Airline System
• Multinational Companions

Network 2
Network 1

Network 3
Make an Internet Connection
Telephone line

ISP

Modem

PC
ISP – Internet Services
Provider
• Important feature of an internet connection is the
line speed
• It depends on line’s bandwidth
• Bandwidth of a particular device is the maximum data rate supported
by the device.
• Measuring units of Bandwidth are:
– bps -> Bits Per Second
– Kbps -> Kilo bits per second
– Mbps -> Mega bits per second
– E.g.
• A 56 Kbps modem transmits data at speeds up to 56,000 bits per
second.
• Internet Connecting Methods:
– Dialup connection – Dialup modems
– Broadband cable – Cable modems
– ADSL – ADSL modems
– Satellite Broadband
– ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network
– Mobile broadband – HSPDA modems – (High-
Speed Downlink Packet Access )
WWW - World Wide Web

 The World Wide Web is a collection of electronic

documents that are linked together like a spider
web.
 These documents are stored on computers called
Web Servers located around the world. They are
accessed by using a web browser
 The Web has evolved into a global Electronic
Publishing Medium and increasingly, a medium for
conducting Electronic Commerce
 The Internet and the WWW are not the same.
What makes up the Web
(basic requirements to use the web)

 Your personal computer

 Web browser software to access the Web
 Connection to an Internet service provider (ISP)
 Servers to host the data
 Routers and switches to direct the flow of data
 Web Pages
 A web page is an electronic document written in a
computer language called HTML (Hypertext Markup
Language).
 Web pages can contain text, graphics, video, animation,
and sound, as well as interactive features, such as
data entry forms.
 Each page has a unique address known as a URL
(Uniform Resource Locator), which identifies its location
on the server.
Websites
• A website is one or more web
pages that relate to a common
theme, such as a business, or a
subject, such as sports.
• The first page is called the
home page, which acts like
an index, indicating the content
on the site.
Web Browsers
A web browser is a software
program used to access the World
Wide Web.  
It contains the basic software you
need, to find, retrieve, view, and
send information over the Internet.
The two most popular browsers
come from Mozilla Firefox
and Microsoft’s Internet
Explorer
Components of a Web Application

 Web applications are a type of client/server

application
 Client computer accesses an application at a server
computer
 In a web application, the client and server computers are
connected via the Internet or via an intranet.
• User works with a web browser in the client computer.
The web browser provides the user interface for the
application.
Eg: Microsoft’s IE, Mozilla Firefox Netscape Navigator
• The application runs on the server computer under the
control of web server software.
Eg: Internet Information Services (IIS), Apache HTTP server
• In most web applications, the server computer also runs
a database management system, or DBMS, such as
Microsoft’s SQL Server.
• The web browser and web server exchange information
using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
 HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)
• The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is
used mainly to access data on the World Wide
Web.
• The protocol transfers data in the form of
plain text, hypertext, audio, video, and so on.
• The idea of HTTP is very simple.
• A client sends a request, to the server.
• The server sends the response, reply to the
client.
 Transaction
• The client initializes the transaction by sending a
request message. The server replies by sending a
response.
• There are two general types of HTTP messages:
request and response. Both message types follow
almost the same format.
• State refers to the current status of the
properties, variables, and other data
maintained by an application for a single user.
• The application must maintain a separate
state for each user currently accessing the
application.
• HTTP is known as a stateless protocol.
• It does not keep track of state between round
trips.
 Request Messages
Request Line
• The request line defines the
– request type
– URL
– HTTP version

Version:
Although the most current version of HTTP is 1.1, HTTP versions 1.0 and 0.9 are still
in use.
E.g.

• http://www.myfavoritewebsite.com:8080/chatware/chatroom.php

• GET /chatware/chatroom.php HTTP/1.1

Host: www.myfavoritewebsite.com:8080
 Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
• A client that wants to access a Web page needs an
address.
• To facilitate the access of documents distributed
throughout the world, HTTP uses the concept of
uniform resource locators.
• The URL is a standard for specifying any kind of
information on the Internet.
• The URL defines three things:
• Method
• host computer
• path
 http://www.nibm.lk/Dip/students/marks.html
Method Host Path

method
• protocol used to retrieve the document.
• Several different protocols can retrieve a
document;
• FTP
• HTTP
host
• computer where the information is located,
although the name of the computer can be
an alias.
• Web pages are usually stored in computers,
and computers are given alias names that
usually begin with the characters www.
• This is not mandatory, however, as the host
can be any name given to the computer
that hosts the Web page.
Path
• path name of the file where the information is
located.
• Note that the path can itself contain slashes.
 Request Type
• The request type field in a request message defines
several kinds of messages referred to as methods.
• The request method is the actual command or
request that a client issues to the server.
– GET
– POST
• GET
– GET method is used when the client wants to
retrieve a document from the server.
– The address of the document is defined in the
URL; this is the main method for retrieving a
document.
– The server usually responds with the contents of
the document in the body of the response
message unless there is an error.
• POST
– The POST method is used by the client to provide
some information to the server.
– For example, it can be used to send input to a
server.
 Categories of Web Documents

Static Documents Dynamic Documents

Static Documents
 Static Documents
• Static documents are fixed-content documents
that are created and stored in a server.

• The client can get only a copy of the

document.

• In other words, the contents of the file are

determined when the file is created, not when
it is used.
• The contents in the server can be changed,
but the user cannot change it.

• When a client accesses the document a copy

of the document is sent. The user can then
use a browsing program to display the
document.
Dynamic Documents

Document
 Dynamic Documents
• Dynamic documents do not exist in a predefined
format.
• A dynamic document is created by a Web server
whenever a browser requests the document.
• When a request arrives, the Web server runs an
application program that creates the dynamic
document.
• The server returns the output of the program as a
response to the browser that requested the
document.
• Because a fresh document is created for each
request, the contents of a dynamic document can
vary from one request to another.
• A very simple example of a dynamic document is
getting the time and date from the server.
• Time and date are kinds of information that are
dynamically change from moment to moment.
 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• The standard mechanism provided by the
internet for copying a file from one host to
another.
• Transferring files from one computer to
another is one of the most common tasks
expected from a networking or interworking
environment.
• FTP differs from other client-server applications
in that it establishes two connections between
the client and the server.
• One connection is used for data transfer, the
other for control information ( command and
responses)
• Separation of commands and data transfer
makes FTP more efficient.
• The Control connection uses a very simple
rules of communication. Need to transfer only
one line of command or a line of response at a
time.
• The data connection on the other hand need
more complex rules due to the variety of data
types transferred.
• Client: three components
• User Interface
• Client control process
• Clients data transfer process

• Server: Two components

• Server control process
• Server data transfer process

Control connection:between control processes

Data connection: between the data transfer processes
 Control connection is maintained during the entire
interactive FTP session.
 Data connection is opened and then closed for each file
transferred
1. Briefly explain HyperText Transfer
Protocol(HTTP).
2. Explain the difference between static web pages
and dynamic web pages.
3. What is the difference between GET and POST
Request types?