Lecture 7

Internet Services
Internet services allows us to access huge amount of
information such as text, graphics, sound and software over
the internet. Following diagram shows the four different
categories of Internet Services.
 Communication Services

There are various Communication Services available that

offer exchange of information with individuals or groups.
The following table gives a brief introduction to these
services:
 Information Retrieval Services
There exist several Information retrieval services offering easy
access to information present on the internet. The following
table gives a brief introduction to these services:
 Web Services
A web service is a collection of open protocols and standards
used for exchanging data between applications or systems.

Software applications written in various programming

languages and running on various platforms can use web
services to exchange data over computer networks like the
Internet in a manner similar to inter-process communication on
a single computer.

A web service can also be define as any piece of software that

makes itself available over the internet and uses a
standardized XML messaging system.

XML is used to encode all communications to a web service.

For example, a client invokes a web service by sending an
XML message, then waits for a corresponding XML response
a complete web service has the following characteristics

 Is available over the Internet or private (intranet) networks

 Uses a standardized XML messaging system

 Is not tied to any one operating system or programming

language

 Is self-describing via a common XML grammar

 Is discoverable via a simple search mechanism

 World Wide Web (WWW)

WWW is also known as W3. It offers a way to access

documents spread over the several servers on the internet.
These documents may contain texts, graphics, audio, video,
hyperlinks. The hyperlinks allow the users to navigate
between the documents.

Video Conferencing

Video conferencing or Video teleconferencing is a method of

communicating by two-way video and audio transmission
with help of telecommunication technologies.
 Modes of Video Conferencing
Point-to-Point
This mode of conferencing connects two locations only.

Multi-point
This mode of conferencing connects more than two locations
through Multi-point Control Unit (MCU).
Some video conferencing softwares :

Zoho ShowTime
Skype

ClickMeeting
Cisco WebEx

Samepage

Zoom
BigMarker
 Internet Protocols
The Internet Protocol (IP) is the method or set of rules by which
data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet.

Transmission Control Protocol(TCP)

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) A connection-
oriented transport protocol. Connection-oriented transport
protocols provide reliable transport, in that if a segment is
dropped, the sender can detect that drop and retransmit
that dropped

segment. Specifically, a receiver acknowledges segments

that it receives. Based on those acknowledgments, a
sender can determine which segments were successfully
received. TCP operates at the transport layer of the OSI
model.
 User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
User Datagram Protocol A connectionless transport protocol.
Connectionless transport protocols provide unreliable transport,
in that if a segment is dropped, the sender is unaware of the
drop, and no retransmission occurs. UDP operates at the
transport layer
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
FTP provides for the uploading and downloading of files from a
remote host running FTP server software. As well as uploading
and downloading files, FTP enables you to view the contents of
folders on an FTP server and rename and delete files and
directories if you have the necessary permissions.

One of the big problems associated with FTP is that it is

considered insecure. Even though simple authentication
methods are associated with FTP, it is still susceptible to
relatively simple hacking approaches. In addition, FTP transmits
data between sender and receiver in an unencrypted format.
FTP works at the Application layer
 Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

A protocol that transfers files between clients securely, Based

on Secure Shell (SSH) technology, provides robust
authentication between sender and receiver. It also provides
encryption capabilities, which means that even if packets are
copied from the network, their contents remain hidden from
prying eyes.
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)
A variation on FTP is TFTP, which is also a file transfer
mechanism. However, TFTP does not have the security
capability or the level of functionality that FTP has. TFTP, is
most often associated with simple downloads, such as those
associated with transferring firmware to a device such as a
router and booting diskless workstations.
Another feature that TFTP does not offer is directory
navigation.

TFTP is an application layer protocol that uses UDP, which

is a connectionless transport layer protocol. For this reason,
TFTP is called a connectionless file transfer method

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

SMTP is a protocol that defines how mail messages

are sent between hosts. SMTP uses TCP connections to
guarantee error-free delivery of messages. SMTP is not
overly sophisticated and requires that the destination host
always be available.

SMTP can be used to both send and receive mail. Post Office
Protocol version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access
Protocol version 4 (IMAP4) can be used only to receive mail.
 Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

HTTP, is the protocol that enables text, graphics, multimedia,

and other material to be downloaded from an HTTP server.
HTTP defines what actions can be requested by clients and
how servers should answer those requests.

HTTP is a connection-oriented protocol that uses TCP as a

transport protocol.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)

One of the downsides of using HTTP is that HTTP requests

are sent in clear text. For some applications, such as e-
commerce, this method to exchange information is unsuitable
a more secure method is needed.
The solution is

HTTPS, which uses a system known as Secure Socket Layer

(SSL), which encrypts the information sent between the client
and host.
 Post Office Protocol Version 3

A mechanisms for downloading, or pulling, email from a

server. They are necessary because although the mail is
transported around the network via SMTP, users cannot
always immediately read it, so it must be stored in a central
location. From this location, it needs to be downloaded
or retrieved, which is what POP3 enable you to do.

One of the problems with POP3 is that the password used to

access a mailbox is transmitted across the network in clear
text. This means that if people want to, they could determine
your POP3 password with relative ease
 Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

ICMP Is a protocol that works with the IP layer to provide

error checking and reporting functionality. In effect, ICMP is a
tool that IP uses in its quest to provide best-effort delivery.

ICMP can be used for a number of functions. Its most

common function is probably the widely used and incredibly
useful ping utility, which can send a stream of ICMP echo
requests to a remote host.

ICMP also can return error messages such as Destination

unreachable and Time exceeded. (The former message is
reported when a destination cannot be contacted and the
latter when the Time To Live [TTL] of a datagram has been
exceeded.)
ICMP performs source quench. In a source quench scenario,
the receiving host cannot handle the influx of data at the same
rate as the data is sent.

To slow down the sending host, the receiving host sends

ICMP source quench messages, telling the sender to slow
down. This action prevents packets from dropping and having
to be re-sent.
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

ARP, is responsible for resolving IP addresses to Media Access

Control (MAC) addresses. When a system attempts to contact
another host, IP first determines whether the other host is on the
same network it is on by looking at the IP address.

If IP determines that the destination is on the local network, it

consults the ARP cache to see whether it has a
corresponding entry.
The ARP cache is a table on the local system that stores
mappings between data link layer addresses (the MAC
address or physical address) and network layer addresses (IP
addresses).

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

It enables ranges of IP addresses, known as scopes, to be

defined on a system running a DHCP server application.
When another system configured as a DHCP client is
initialized, it asks the server for an address. If all things are as
they should be, the server assigns an address from the scope
to the client for a predetermined amount of time, known as the
lease.

In addition to an IP address and the subnet mask, the DHCP

server can supply many other pieces of information like the
DNS server, and the default gateway
 DHCP Lease

lease is the length of time the client can have the assigned IP
address. At various points during the lease, the client attempts
to renew the lease from the server. If the server cannot
perform a renewal, the lease expires and the client stops
using the address.
DHCP Scope

The range of IP address available to assign to clients.

DHCP Reservation

In addition to having DHCP supply a random address from the

scope, you can configure it to supply a specific address to a
client. Such an arrangement is known as a reservation.

Reservations are a means by which you can still use DHCP

for a system but at the same time guarantee that it always has
the same IP address.
DHCP can also be configured for exclusions. In this scenario,
certain IP addresses are not given out to client systems.

DHCP Process

1. DHCPDISCOVER packet: client sends a broadcast looking

for server.
2. DHCPOFFER packet: Server sends an address

3. DHCPREQUEST packet: Client then ask to have the offered

address.
4. DHCPACK packet: server assigns the address and sends
an acknowledgement to the requesting client.