Chapter 2

Application Layer

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Application Layer 2-1

Chapter 2: outline
2.1 principles of network
applications
2.2 Web and HTTP
2.3 electronic mail
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
2.4 DNS

Application Layer 2-2

Chapter 2: application layer
our goals:  learn about protocols by
 conceptual, examining popular
implementation aspects application-level
of network application protocols
protocols  HTTP
 transport-layer  SMTP / POP3 / IMAP
service models  DNS
 client-server
paradigm
 peer-to-peer
paradigm

Application Layer 2-3

Some network apps
 e-mail  voice over IP (e.g., Skype)
 web  real-time video
 text messaging conferencing
 remote login  social networking
 P2P file sharing  search
 multi-user network games  …
 streaming stored video  …
(YouTube, Hulu, Netflix)

Application Layer 2-4

Creating a network app application
transport
network
data link

write programs that: physical

 run on (different) end systems

 communicate over network
 e.g., web server software
communicates with browser
software

no need to write software for application

network-core devices transport

network
application
data link
 network-core devices do not physical transport
network
run user applications data link
physical

 applications on end systems

allows for rapid app
development, propagation

Application Layer 2-5

Application architectures
possible structure of applications:
 client-server
 peer-to-peer (P2P)

Application Layer 2-6

 Client-server architecture
server:
 always-on host
 permanent IP address
 data centers for scaling

clients:
 communicate with server
client/server  may be intermittently
connected
 may have dynamic IP
addresses
 do not communicate directly
with each other
Application Layer 2-7
P2P architecture
 no always-on server peer-peer
 arbitrary end systems
directly communicate
 peers request service from
other peers, provide service
in return to other peers
 self scalability – new
peers bring new service
capacity, as well as new
service demands
 peers are intermittently
connected and change IP
addresses
 complex management

Application Layer 2-8

Processes communicating
process: program running clients, servers
within a host client process: process that
 within same host, two initiates communication
processes communicate server process: process
using inter-process that waits to be contacted
communication (defined by
OS)
 processes in different hosts
communicate by  aside: applications with P2P
exchanging messages architectures have client
processes & server
processes

Application Layer 2-9

Sockets
 process sends/receives messages to/from its socket
 socket analogous to door
 sending process shoves message out door
 sending process relies on transport infrastructure on other
side of door to deliver message to socket at receiving
process

application application
socket controlled by
process process app developer

transport transport
network network controlled
link
by OS
link Internet
physical physical

Application Layer 2-10

Addressing processes
 to receive messages, process  identifier includes both IP
must have identifier address and port numbers
 host device has unique 32- associated with process on
bit IP address host.
 Q: does IP address of host  example port numbers:
on which process runs  HTTP server: 80
suffice for identifying the  mail server: 25
process?  to send HTTP message to
 A: no, many processes gaia.cs.umass.edu web
can be running on same server:
host  IP address: 128.119.245.12
 port number: 80
 more shortly…

Application Layer 2-11

App-layer protocol defines
 types of messages open protocols:
exchanged,  defined in RFCs
 e.g., request, response  allows for interoperability
 message syntax:  e.g., HTTP, SMTP
 what fields in messages proprietary protocols:
& how fields are  e.g., Skype
delineated
 message semantics
 meaning of information
in fields
 rules for when and how
processes send & respond
to messages

Application Layer 2-12

What transport service does an app need?
data integrity throughput
 some apps (e.g., file transfer,  some apps (e.g.,
web transactions) require multimedia) require
100% reliable data transfer minimum amount of
 other apps (e.g., audio) can throughput to be “ effective
tolerate some loss ”
 other apps (“ elastic apps” )
timing make use of whatever
throughput they get
 some apps (e.g., Internet
telephony, interactive security
games) require low delay
to be “ effective”  encryption, data integrity,
…

Application Layer 2-13

 Transport service requirements: common apps

application data loss throughput time sensitive

file transfer no loss elastic no

e-mail no loss elastic no
Web documents no loss elastic no
real-time audio/video loss-tolerant audio: 5kbps-1Mbps yes, 100’s msec
video:10kbps-5Mbps
stored audio/video loss-tolerant same as above yes, few secs
interactive games loss-tolerant few kbps up yes, 100’s msec
text messaging no loss elastic yes and no

Application Layer 2-14

Internet transport protocols services

TCP service: UDP service:

 reliable transport between  unreliable data transfer
sending and receiving between sending and
process receiving process
 flow control: sender won’t  does not provide:
overwhelm receiver
reliability, flow control,
 congestion control: throttle congestion control,
sender when network
overloaded timing, throughput
 does not provide: timing, guarantee, security,
minimum throughput orconnection setup,
guarantee, security
 connection-oriented: setup Q: why bother? Why is
required between client and there a UDP?
server processes
Application Layer 2-15
Internet apps: application, transport protocols

application underlying
application layer protocol transport protocol

e-mail SMTP [RFC 2821] TCP

remote terminal access Telnet [RFC 854] TCP
Web HTTP [RFC 2616] TCP
file transfer FTP [RFC 959] TCP
streaming multimedia HTTP (e.g., YouTube), TCP or UDP
RTP [RFC 1889]
Internet telephony SIP, RTP, proprietary
(e.g., Skype) TCP or UDP

Application Layer 2-16

Securing TCP

TCP & UDP SSL is at app layer

 no encryption  Apps use SSL
 cleartext passwds sent libraries, which “ talk”
into socket traverse to TCP
Internet in cleartext SSL socket API
SSL  cleartext passwds sent
 provides encrypted into socket traverse
TCP connection Internet encrypted
 data integrity  See Chapter 7

 end-point
authentication
Application Layer 2-17
Chapter 2: outline
2.1 principles of network
applications
 app architectures
 app requirements
2.2 Web and HTTP
2.3 electronic mail
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
2.4 DNS

Application Layer 2-18

Web and HTTP
First, a review…
 web page consists of objects
 object can be HTML file, JPEG image, Java
applet, audio file,…
 web page consists of base HTML-file which
includes several referenced objects
 each object is addressable by a URL, e.g.,
www.someschool.edu/someDept/pic.gif

host name path name

Application Layer 2-19

HTTP overview
HTTP: hypertext transfer
protocol HT
 Web’s application layer TP
req
ues
protocol PC running HT t
Firefox browser TPr
 client/server model esp
ons
 client: browser that e
requests, receives, t
(using HTTP protocol) u es
req server
and “ displays” Web T P n se
HT s po running
objects TP
re Apache Web
T
 server: Web server H server
sends (using HTTP
protocol) objects in iphone running
response to requests Safari browser

Application Layer 2-20

HTTP overview (continued)
uses TCP: HTTP is “stateless”
 client initiates TCP  server maintains no
connection (creates socket) information about
to server, port 80 past client requests
 server accepts TCP
connection from client aside
protocols that maintain
 HTTP messages “ state” are complex!
(application-layer protocol  past history (state) must be
messages) exchanged maintained
between browser (HTTP  if server/client crashes, their
client) and Web server views of “ state” may be
(HTTP server) inconsistent, must be
 TCP connection closed reconciled

Application Layer 2-21

HTTP connections
non-persistent HTTP persistent HTTP
 at most one object sent  multiple objects can
over TCP connection be sent over single
 connection then TCP connection
closed between client, server
 downloading multiple
objects required
multiple connections

Application Layer 2-22

 Non-persistent HTTP
suppose user enters URL: (contains text,
www.someSchool.edu/someDepartment/home.index references to 10
jpeg images)
1a. HTTP client initiates TCP
connection to HTTP server
(process) at 1b. HTTP server at host
www.someSchool.edu on port 80 www.someSchool.edu waiting
for TCP connection at port 80.
“ accepts” connection, notifying
2. HTTP client sends HTTP client
request message (containing
URL) into TCP connection 3. HTTP server receives request
socket. Message indicates that message, forms response
client wants object message containing requested
someDepartment/home.index object, and sends message into
its socket
time
Application Layer 2-23
 Non-persistent HTTP (cont.)
4. HTTP server closes TCP
connection.
5. HTTP client receives response
message containing html file,
displays html. Parsing html file,
finds 10 referenced jpeg objects

time
6. Steps 1-5 repeated for each of 10
jpeg objects

Application Layer 2-24

Non-persistent HTTP: response time
RTT (definition): time for a
small packet to travel from
client to server and back
HTTP response time: initiate TCP
 one RTT to initiate TCP connection
connection RTT
 one RTT for HTTP request request
file
and first few bytes of HTTP time to
response to return RTT transmit
file
 file transmission time
file
 non-persistent HTTP received
response time =
2RTT+ file transmission time time
time

Application Layer 2-25

Persistent HTTP

non-persistent HTTP persistent HTTP:

issues:  server leaves connection
 requires 2 RTTs per object open after sending
 OS overhead for each TCP response
connection  subsequent HTTP
 browsers often open messages between same
parallel TCP connections to client/server sent over
fetch referenced objects open connection
 client sends requests as
soon as it encounters a
referenced object
 as little as one RTT for all
the referenced objects

Application Layer 2-26

 HTTP request message
 two types of HTTP messages: request, response
 HTTP request message:
 ASCII (human-readable format)
carriage return character
line-feed character
request line
(GET, POST, GET /index.html HTTP/1.1\r\n
HEAD commands) Host: www-net.cs.umass.edu\r\n
User-Agent: Firefox/3.6.10\r\n
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml\r\n
headerAccept-Language: en-us,en;q=0.5\r\n
linesAccept-Encoding: gzip,deflate\r\n
Accept-Charset: ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7\r\n
carriage return, Keep-Alive: 115\r\n
line feed at start Connection: keep-alive\r\n
\r\n
of line indicates
end of header lines
Application Layer 2-27
HTTP request message: general format

method sp URL sp version cr lf request

line
header field name value cr lf
header
~
~ ~
~ lines

header field name value cr lf

cr lf

~
~ entity body ~
~ body

Application Layer 2-28

Uploading form input
POST method:
 web page often includes
form input
 input is uploaded to server
in entity body

URL method:
 uses GET method
 input is uploaded in URL
field of request line:
www.somesite.com/animalsearch?monkeys&banana

Application Layer 2-29

Method types
HTTP/1.0: HTTP/1.1:
 GET  GET, POST, HEAD
 POST  PUT
 HEAD  uploads file in entity
 asks server to leave body to path specified
requested object out of in URL field
response  DELETE
 deletes file specified in
the URL field

Application Layer 2-30

 HTTP response message
status line
(protocol
status code HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n
status phrase) Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:09:20 GMT\r\n
Server: Apache/2.0.52 (CentOS)\r\n
Last-Modified: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:00:02
GMT\r\n
header ETag: "17dc6-a5c-bf716880"\r\n
Accept-Ranges: bytes\r\n
lines Content-Length: 2652\r\n
Keep-Alive: timeout=10, max=100\r\n
Connection: Keep-Alive\r\n
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1\
r\n
\r\n
data, e.g., data data data data data ...
requested
HTML file
Application Layer 2-31
HTTP response status codes
 status code appears in 1st line in server-to-
client response message.
 some sample codes:
200 OK
 request succeeded, requested object later in this msg
301 Moved Permanently
 requested object moved, new location specified later in this msg
(Location:)
400 Bad Request
 request msg not understood by server
404 Not Found
 requested document not found on this server
505 HTTP Version Not Supported
Application Layer 2-32
User-server state: cookies
example:
many Web sites use cookies  Susan always access
four components: Internet from PC
1) cookie header line of  visits specific e-commerce
HTTP response site for first time
message  when initial HTTP requests
2) cookie header line in arrives at site, site creates:
next HTTP request  unique ID
message  entry in backend
3) cookie file kept on database for ID
user’s host, managed
by user’s browser
4) back-end database at
Web site
Application Layer 2-33
 Cookies: keeping “ state” (cont.)
client server

ebay 8734
usual http request msg Amazon server
cookie file creates ID
usual http response
1678 for user create backend
ebay 8734
set-cookie: 1678 entry database
amazon 1678
usual http request msg
cookie: 1678 cookie- access
specific
usual http response msg action

one week later:

access
ebay 8734 usual http request msg
amazon 1678 cookie: 1678 cookie-
specific
usual http response msg action
Application Layer 2-34
Cookies (continued)
aside
what cookies can be used cookies and privacy:
for:  cookies permit sites to
 authorization learn a lot about you
 shopping carts  you may supply name and
 recommendations
e-mail to sites
 user session state (Web e-
mail)

how to keep “state”:

 protocol endpoints: maintain state at
sender/receiver over multiple transactions
 cookies: http messages carry state

Application Layer 2-35

Web caches (proxy server)
goal: satisfy client request without involving origin server
 user sets browser: Web
accesses via cache
 browser sends all HTTP proxy
HT
requests to cache TP
req server u est
HT ues P req
 object in cache: cache client TP
res
t H TT po n se
origin
pon res
returns object se HT
T P server
t
 else cache requests ues
req e
object from origin TT P o ns
p
H res
server, then returns HT TP
object to client
client origin
server

Application Layer 2-36

More about Web caching
 cache acts as both why Web caching?
client and server  reduce response time for
 server for original client request
requesting client
 client to origin server  reduce traffic on an
 typically cache is institution’s access link
installed by ISP  Internet dense with
(university, company, caches: enables “ poor”
residential ISP) content providers to
effectively deliver
content (so too does P2P
file sharing)

Application Layer 2-37

Caching example:
assumptions:
 avg object size: 100K bits
origin
 avg request rate from browsers to servers
origin servers:15/sec public
 avg data rate to browsers: 1.50 Mbps Internet
 RTT from institutional router to any
origin server: 2 sec
 access link rate: 1.54 Mbps
1.54 Mbps
access link
consequences:
 LAN utilization: 15% problem! institutional
network
 access link utilization = 99% 1 Gbps LAN
 total delay = Internet delay + access
delay + LAN delay
= 2 sec + minutes + usecs

Application Layer 2-38

 Caching example: fatter access link
assumptions:
 avg object size: 100K bits
origin
 avg request rate from browsers to servers
origin servers:15/sec public
 avg data rate to browsers: 1.50 Mbps Internet
 RTT from institutional router to any
origin server: 2 sec
 access link rate: 1.54 Mbps
154 1.54 Mbps
154 Mbps
access link
consequences: Mbps
 LAN utilization: 15% institutional
network
9.9%
 access link utilization = 99% 1 Gbps LAN
 total delay = Internet delay + access
delay + LAN delay
= 2 sec + minutes + usecs
msecs
Cost: increased access link speed (not cheap!)
Application Layer 2-39
 Caching example: install local cache
assumptions:
 avg object size: 100K bits
origin
 avg request rate from browsers to servers
origin servers:15/sec public
 avg data rate to browsers: 1.50 Mbps Internet
 RTT from institutional router to any
origin server: 2 sec
 access link rate: 1.54 Mbps
1.54 Mbps
access link
consequences:
 LAN utilization: 15% institutional
 access link utilization?= 100% network
1 Gbps LAN
 total delay ?= Internet delay + access
delay + LAN delay local web
How to compute link cache
= 2 sec + minutes + usecs
utilization, delay?
Cost: web cache (cheap!)
Application Layer 2-40
Caching example: install local cache
Calculating access link
utilization, delay with cache:
 suppose
origin
cache hit rate is 0.4 servers
 40% requests satisfied at cache, 60% public
requests satisfied at origin Internet

access link utilization:

 60% of requests use access link
 data rate to browsers over access link = 1.54 Mbps
0.6*1.50 Mbps = .9 Mbps access link
 utilization = 0.9/1.54 = .58 institutional
total delay network
1 Gbps LAN
 = 0.6 * (delay from origin servers) +0.4
* (delay when satisfied at cache) local web
 = 0.6 (2.01) + 0.4 (~msecs) cache
 = ~ 1.2 secs
 less than with 154 Mbps link (and
cheaper too!)
Application Layer 2-41
Chapter 2: outline
2.1 principles of network
applications
 app architectures
 app requirements
2.2 Web and HTTP
2.3 electronic mail
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
2.4 DNS

Application Layer 2-46

Electronic mail outgoing
message queue
user mailbox
Three major components: user
agent
 user agents
 mail servers mail user
server agent
 simple mail transfer
protocol: SMTP SMTP mail user
server agent
User Agent SMTP
 a.k.a. “ mail reader” SMTP user
agent
 composing, editing, reading mail
mail messages server
user
 e.g., Outlook, Thunderbird, agent
iPhone mail client user
 outgoing, incoming agent
messages stored on server
Application Layer 2-47
Electronic mail: mail servers
mail servers: user
agent
 mailbox contains incoming
messages for user mail user
server agent
 message queue of outgoing
(to be sent) mail messages SMTP mail user
 SMTP protocol between server agent
mail servers to send email SMTP
messages user
 client: sending mail SMTP agent
mail
server server
user
 “ server” : receiving mail agent
server
user
agent

Application Layer 2-48

Scenario: Alice sends message to Bob
1) Alice uses UA to compose 4) SMTP client sends Alice’s
message “ to” message over the TCP
[email protected] connection
2) Alice’s UA sends message to 5) Bob’s mail server places the
her mail server; message message in Bob’s mailbox
placed in message queue 6) Bob invokes his user agent to
3) client side of SMTP opens read message
TCP connection with Bob’s
mail server

1 user mail user

mail agent
agent server server
2 3 6
4
5
Alice’s mail server Bob’s mail server
Application Layer 2-49
Electronic Mail: SMTP [RFC 2821]
 uses TCP to reliably transfer email message from
client to server, port 25
 direct transfer: sending server to receiving server
 three phases of transfer
 handshaking (greeting)
 transfer of messages
 closure
 command/response interaction (like HTTP, FTP)
 commands: ASCII text
 response: status code and phrase
 messages must be in 7-bit ASCI

Application Layer 2-50

Sample SMTP interaction
S: 220 hamburger.edu
C: HELO crepes.fr
S: 250 Hello crepes.fr, pleased to meet you
C: MAIL FROM: <[email protected]>
S: 250 [email protected]... Sender ok
C: RCPT TO: <[email protected]>
S: 250 [email protected] ... Recipient ok
C: DATA
S: 354 Enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself
C: Do you like ketchup?
C: How about pickles?
C: .
S: 250 Message accepted for delivery
C: QUIT
S: 221 hamburger.edu closing connection

Application Layer 2-51

SMTP: final words
 SMTP uses persistent comparison with HTTP:
connections  HTTP: pull
 SMTP requires message
(header & body) to be in
 SMTP: push
7-bit ASCII  both have ASCII
 SMTP server uses command/response
CRLF.CRLF to determine interaction, status codes
end of message
 HTTP: each object
encapsulated in its own
response msg
 SMTP: multiple objects
sent in multipart msg

Application Layer 2-52

Mail message format
SMTP: protocol for
exchanging email msgs header
blank
RFC 822: standard for text line
message format:
 header lines, e.g.,
 To: body
 From:
 Subject:
different from SMTP
MAIL FROM, RCPT
TO: commands!
 Body: the “ message”
 ASCII characters only

Application Layer 2-53

Mail access protocols
user
mail user
SMTP SMTP access
agent agent
protocol
(e.g., POP,
IMAP)

sender’s mail receiver’s mail

server server

 SMTP: delivery/storage to receiver’s server

 mail access protocol: retrieval from server
 POP: Post Office Protocol [RFC 1939]: authorization,
download
 IMAP: Internet Mail Access Protocol [RFC 1730]: more
features, including manipulation of stored msgs on server
 HTTP: gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc.

Application Layer 2-54

POP3 protocol
S: +OK POP3 server ready
C: user bob
authorization phase S: +OK
C: pass hungry
 client commands: S: +OK user successfully logged on
 user: declare username
 pass: password C: list
S: 1 498
 server responses
S: 2 912
 +OK S: .
 -ERR C: retr 1
transaction phase, client: S:
S:
<message 1 contents>
.
 list: list message numbers C: dele 1
 retr: retrieve message by C: retr 2
number S: <message 1 contents>
 dele: delete S: .
 quit C: dele 2
C: quit
S: +OK POP3 server signing off
Application Layer 2-55
POP3 (more) and IMAP
more about POP3 IMAP
 previous example uses  keeps all messages in one
POP3 “ download and place: at server
delete” mode  allows user to organize
 Bob cannot re-read e- messages in folders
mail if he changes  keeps user state across
client sessions:
 POP3 “ download-and-  names of folders and
keep” : copies of messages mappings between
on different clients message IDs and folder
 POP3 is stateless across name
sessions

Application Layer 2-56

Chapter 2: outline
2.1 principles of network
applications
 app architectures
 app requirements
2.2 Web and HTTP
2.3 electronic mail
 SMTP, POP3, IMAP
2.4 DNS

Application Layer 2-57

DNS: domain name system
people: many identifiers: Domain Name System:
 SSN, name, passport #  distributed database
Internet hosts, routers: implemented in hierarchy of
 IP address (32 bit) - many name servers
used for addressing  application-layer protocol:
datagrams hosts, name servers
 “ name” , e.g., communicate to resolve
www.yahoo.com - names (address/name
used by humans translation)
 note: core Internet function,
Q: how to map between IP
implemented as application-
address and name, and
layer protocol
vice versa ?
 complexity at network’s
“ edge”
Application Layer 2-58
DNS: services, structure
DNS services why not centralize DNS?
 hostname to IP address  single point of failure
translation  traffic volume
 host aliasing  distant centralized database
 canonical, alias names  maintenance
 mail server aliasing
 load distribution A: doesn’t scale!
 replicated Web
servers: many IP
addresses correspond
to one name

Application Layer 2-59

DNS: a distributed, hierarchical database
Root DNS Servers

… …

com DNS servers org DNS servers edu DNS servers

pbs.org poly.edu umass.edu

yahoo.com amazon.com
DNS servers DNS serversDNS servers
DNS servers DNS servers

client wants IP for www.amazon.com; 1st approx:

 client queries root server to find com DNS server
 client queries .com DNS server to get amazon.com DNS server
 client queries amazon.com DNS server to get IP address for
www.amazon.com

Application Layer 2-60

 DNS: root name servers
 contacted by local name server that can not resolve name
 root name server:
 contacts authoritative name server if name mapping not known
 gets mapping
 returns mapping to local name server

c. Cogent, Herndon, VA (5 other sites)

d. U Maryland College Park, MD k. RIPE London (17 other sites)
h. ARL Aberdeen, MD
j. Verisign, Dulles VA (69 other sites ) i. Netnod, Stockholm (37 other sites)

e. NASA Mt View, CA m. WIDE Tokyo

f. Internet Software C. (5 other sites)
Palo Alto, CA (and 48 other
sites)

a. Verisign, Los Angeles CA 13 root name

(5 other sites)
b. USC-ISI Marina del Rey, CA
“servers”
l. ICANN Los Angeles, CA worldwide
(41 other sites)
g. US DoD Columbus,
OH (5 other sites)

Application Layer 2-61

TLD, authoritative servers
top-level domain (TLD) servers:
 responsible for com, org, net, edu, aero, jobs, museums,
and all top-level country domains, e.g.: uk, fr, ca, jp
 Network Solutions maintains servers for .com TLD
 Educause for .edu TLD
authoritative DNS servers:
 organization’s own DNS server(s), providing authoritative
hostname to IP mappings for organization’s named hosts
 can be maintained by organization or service provider

Application Layer 2-62

Local DNS name server
 does not strictly belong to hierarchy
 each ISP (residential ISP, company, university)
has one
 also called “ default name server”
 when host makes DNS query, query is sent to its
local DNS server
 has local cache of recent name-to-address translation
pairs (but may be out of date!)
 acts as proxy, forwards query into hierarchy

Application Layer 2-63

DNS name root DNS server
resolution example
2
 host at cis.poly.edu 3
TLD DNS server
wants IP address for 4
gaia.cs.umass.edu
5

local DNS server

iterated query: dns.poly.edu
 contacted server replies 7 6
1 8
with name of server to
contact
authoritative DNS server
 “ I don’t know this dns.cs.umass.edu
name, but ask this requesting host
cis.poly.edu
server”
gaia.cs.umass.edu

Application Layer 2-64

DNS name root DNS server
resolution example
2 3
recursive query: 7
6
 puts burden of name TLD DNS
server
resolution on
contacted name local DNS server
server dns.poly.edu 5 4

 heavy load at upper 1 8

levels of hierarchy?
authoritative DNS server
dns.cs.umass.edu
requesting host
cis.poly.edu

gaia.cs.umass.edu

Application Layer 2-65

DNS protocol, messages
 query and reply messages, both with same message format
2 bytes 2 bytes

msg header identification flags

 identification: 16 bit # for # questions # answer RRs

query, reply to query uses
# authority RRs # additional RRs
same #
 flags: questions (variable # of questions)
 query or reply
 recursion desired answers (variable # of RRs)
 recursion available
 reply is authoritative authority (variable # of RRs)

additional info (variable # of RRs)

Application Layer 2-67

DNS protocol, messages

2 bytes 2 bytes

identification flags

# questions # answer RRs

# authority RRs # additional RRs

name, type fields

questions (variable # of questions)
for a query
RRs in response answers (variable # of RRs)
to query
records for authority (variable # of RRs)
authoritative servers
additional “ helpful” additional info (variable # of RRs)
info that may be used
Application Layer 2-68
Attacking DNS
DDoS attacks Redirect attacks
 Bombard root servers  Man-in-middle
with traffic  Intercept queries
 Not successful to date  DNS poisoning
 Traffic Filtering  Send bogus relies to
 Local DNS servers DNS server, which
cache IPs of TLD caches
servers, allowing root Exploit DNS for DDoS
server bypass
 Send queries with
 Bombard TLD servers
 Potentially more
spoofed source
dangerous address: target IP
 Requires amplification
Application Layer 2-69
 Chapter 1
Additional Slides

Introduction 1-70
 application
packet (www browser,

analyzer email client)

application

OS
packet Transport (TCP/UDP)
copy of all Network (IP)
capture Ethernet
frames Link (Ethernet)
(pcap) sent/receive
d Physical