Application Layer

The application layer in the OSI model is the closest layer to the end user which means that the application
layer and end user can interact directly with the software application. The application layer programs are based
on client and servers.

The Application layer includes the following functions:

o Identifying communication partners: The application layer identifies the availability of
communication partners for an application with data to transmit.
o Determining resource availability: The application layer determines whether sufficient network
resources are available for the requested communication.
o Synchronizing communication: All the communications occur between the applications requires
cooperation which is managed by an application layer.
o

Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP)

Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) is a networking protocol which is used by networking

administration to give IP addresses to each member of that network for participating with other
networking devices by the main server.
Features

• Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) is a basic protocol that automatically provides

each participant in a network connection with a unique IP address for
identification and authentication as soon as it connects to the network. This
helps the server to speed up data transfers and connection requests.
• BOOTP uses a unique IP address algorithm to provide each system on the
network with a completely different IP address in a fraction of a second.
• This shortens the connection time between the server and the client. It starts the
process of downloading and updating the source code even with very little
information.
• BOOTP uses a combination of DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)
and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) to request and receive requests from
various network-connected participants and to handle their responses.
• In a BOOTP connection, the server and client just need an IP address and a
gateway address to establish a successful connection. Typically, in a BOOTP
network, the server and client share the same LAN, and the routers used in the
network must support BOOTP bridging.
• A great example of a network with a TCP / IP configuration is the Bootstrap
Protocol network. Whenever a computer on the network asks for a specific
request to the server, BOOTP uses its unique IP address to quickly resolve them.
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Bootp operation.
When a Bootp server receives a request, it searches its Bootp database for a record entry that matches
the MAC address in the Bootp request from the switch. If a match is found, the configuration data in
the associated database record is returned to the switch. For many Unix systems, the Bootp
database is contained in the /etc/bootptab file. In contrast to DHCP operation, Bootp
 configurations are always the same for a specific receiving device. That is, the Bootp
server replies to a request with a configuration previously stored in the server and
designated for the requesting device.

1. -Operation Code: Specifies the type of message. A value of 1 indicates a request

(BOOTREQUEST message) while a value of 2 is a reply (BOOTREPLY message).
2. Hardware type-this field specifies the type of hardware used for the local network.
3. Hardware Address Length: Specifies how long hardware addresses are in this message
4. Hops: Set to 0 by a client before transmitting a request and used by BOOTP relay agents to
control the forwarding of BOOTP messages.(no. of routers nd switches used in between)
5. Transaction Identifier: A 32-bit identification field generated by the client, to allow it to
match up the request with replies received from BOOTP servers.
6. Server IP Address: The IP address of the BOOTP server sending a BOOTREPLY message.
7. Client Hardware Address: The hardware (layer two) address of the client sending
a BOOTREPLY. It is used both to look up a device's assigned IP address and also possibly
in delivery of a reply message.
8. Server Name: The server sending a BOOTREPLY may optionally put its name in this field.
9. Boot Filename: Contains the full directory path and file name of a boot file that can be
downloaded by the client to complete its bootstrapping process.
10.Vendor-Specific Area: Originally created to allow vendors to customize BOOTP to the
needs of different types of hardware, this field is now also used to hold additional vendor-
independent configuration information.
11.Client IP Address: If the client has a current IP address that it plans to keep using, it puts
it in this field.
12.“Your” IP Address: The IP address that the server is assigning to the client.
13. Gateway IP Address: This field is used to route BOOTP messages when BOOTP relay agents facilitate
the communication of BOOTP requests and replies between a client and a server on different subnets or
networks.
14. Flags-

15. Seconds-the client enters into this field the number of seconds “elapsed since [the] client started trying to
boot”. This is supposed to provide information to BOOTP servers to help them decide which requests to
respond to first.

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DHCP
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a network management protocol used to
dynamically assign an IP address to nay device, or node, on a network so they can
communicate using IP.

DHCP is also called RFC (Request for comments) 2131.

It provides information that includes subnet mask information, default gateway, IP addresses
and domain name system addresses.

DHCP port number for server is 67 and for the client is 68.

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Address allocation
Automatic allocation
The DHCP server assigns a permanent IP address to a client from its IP Pools. On the
firewall, a Lease specified as Unlimited means the allocation is permanent
Dynamic allocation
The DHCP server assigns a reusable IP address from IP Pools of addresses to a client for a maximum
period of time, known as a lease. This method of address allocation is useful when the customer has a
limited number of IP addresses; they can be assigned to clients who need only temporary access to the
network. See the DHCP Leases section.
Static allocation
The network administrator chooses the IP address to assign to the client and the DHCP server sends
it to the client. A static DHCP allocation is permanent
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In DHCP, the client and the server exchange mainly 4 DHCP messages in order to make a
connection, also called DORA process
DHCP discover message –
This message is generated by Client host in order to discover if there is any DHCP server/servers are
present in a network or not. This message is broadcasted to all devices present in a network to find the
DHCP server.

DHCP offer message-The server will respond to host in this message specifying the unleased IP address
and other TCP configuration information. This message is broadcasted by server.

DHCP request message – When a client receives a offer message, it responds by broadcasting a DHCP
request message. The client will produce a gratuitous ARP in order to find if there is any other host present
in the network with same IP address.

DHCP acknowledgement message –In response to the request message received, the server will make an
entry with specified client ID and bind the IP address offered with lease time. Now, the client will have the
IP address provided by server.

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Advantages – The advantages of using DHCP include:

• centralized management of IP addresses

• ease of adding new clients to a network
 • reuse of IP addresses reducing the total number of IP addresses that are required
• simple reconfiguration of the IP address space on the DHCP server without needing to
reconfigure each client
• Flexibility and scalability: Using DHCP gives the administrator increased flexibility, allowing the
administrator to move easily change IP configuration when the infrastructure changes.
• Seamless IP host configuration: The use of DHCP ensures that DHCP clients get accurate and timely IP
configuration IP configuration parameter such as IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, IP address of
DND server and so on without user intervention.

Disadvantages – Disadvantage of using DHCP is:

• IP conflict can occur

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DNS
o DNS stands for Domain Name System.
o DNS is a directory service that provides a mapping between the name of a host on the
network and its numerical address.
o DNS is required for the functioning of the internet.
o Each node in a tree has a domain name, and a full domain name is a sequence of symbols
specified by dots.
o DNS is a service that translates the domain name into IP addresses. This allows the users
of networks to utilize user-friendly names when looking for other hosts instead of
remembering the IP addresses.
o For example, suppose the FTP site at EduSoft had an IP address of 132.147.165.50,
most people would reach this site by specifying ftp.EduSoft.com. Therefore, the domain
name is more reliable than IP address.
 Working of DNS
o DNS is a client/server network communication protocol. DNS clients send requests to
the. server while DNS servers send responses to the client.
o Client requests contain a name which is converted into an IP address known as a forward
DNS lookups while requests containing an IP address which is converted into a name
known as reverse DNS lookups.
o DNS implements a distributed database to store the name of all the hosts available on
the internet.
o If a client like a web browser sends a request containing a hostname, then a piece of
software such as DNS resolver sends a request to the DNS server to obtain the IP
address of a hostname. If DNS server does not contain the IP address associated with a
hostname, then it forwards the request to another DNS server. If IP address has arrived
at the resolver, which in turn completes the request over the internet protocol.

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Distribution of name spaces

Generic Domains
o It defines the registered hosts according to their generic behavior.
o Each node in a tree defines the domain name, which is an index to the DNS database.
o It uses three-character labels, and these labels describe the organization type.

Country Domain-The format of country domain is same as a generic domain, but it uses
two-character country abbreviations (e.g., us for the United States) in place of three character
organizational abbreviations.

Inverse Domain-The inverse domain is used for mapping an address to a name. When the server
has received a request from the client, and the server contains the files of only authorized clients. To determine
whether the client is on the authorized list or not, it sends a query to the DNS server and ask for mapping an
address to the name.
FTTP
o FTP stands for File transfer protocol.
o FTP is a standard internet protocol provided by TCP/IP used for transmitting the files
from one host to another
o It is also used for downloading the files to computer from other servers.
o It transfers the data more reliably and efficiently.

Although transferring files from one system to another is very simple and straightforward, but sometimes it
can cause problems. For example, two systems may have different file conventions. Two systems may have
different ways to represent text and data. Two systems may have different directory structures. FTP protocol
overcomes these problems by establishing two connections between hosts. One connection is used for data
transfer, and another connection is used for the control connection.
FTP works on two ports: 20 and 21 One for data and another is for connection control.

There are two types of connections in FTP:

o Control Connection: The control connection uses very simple rules for communication. Through
control connection, we can transfer a line of command or line of response at a time. The control
connection is made between the control processes. The control connection remains connected during
the entire interactive FTP session.
o Data Connection: The Data Connection uses very complex rules as data types may vary. The data
connection is made between data transfer processes. The data connection opens when a command
comes for transferring the files and closes when the file is transferred.

FTP COMMANDS
TFTP
TFTP stands for Trivial File Transfer Protocol.

Smtp
SMTP is an application layer protocol. The client who wants to send the mail opens a TCP
connection to the SMTP server and then sends the mail across the connection. The SMTP server is
an always-on listening mode. As soon as it listens for a TCP connection from any client, the SMTP
process initiates a connection through port 25. After successfully establishing a TCP connection the
client process sends the mail instantly.

The SMTP model is of two types:

End to end

Store and forward

The end-to-end model is used to communicate between different organizations whereas the store
and forward method is used within an organization.
Advantages of SMTP:
• If necessary, the users can have a dedicated server.
• It allows for bulk mailing.
• Low cost and wide coverage area.
• Offer choices for email tracking.
• reliable and prompt email delivery.
Disadvantages of SMTP:
• SMTP’s common port can be blocked by several firewalls.
• SMTP security is a bigger problem.
• Its simplicity restricts how useful it can be.
• Just 7 bit ASCII characters can be used.
• If a message is longer than a certain length, SMTP servers may reject the entire
message.
• Delivering your message will typically involve additional back-and-forth processing
between servers, which will delay sending and raise the likelihood that it won’t be sent.

SNMP
o SNMP stands for Simple Network Management Protocol.
o SNMP is a framework used for managing devices on the internet.
o It provides a set of operations for monitoring and managing the internet.
SNMP Concept

o SNMP has two components Manager and agent.

o The manager is a host that controls and monitors a set of agents such as routers.
o It is an application layer protocol in which a few manager stations can handle a set of agents.
o The protocol designed at the application level can monitor the devices made by different manufacturers and
installed on different physical networks.
o It is used in a heterogeneous network made of different LANs and WANs connected by routers or gateways

SNMP defines five types of messages: GetRequest, GetNextRequest, SetRequest, GetResponse, and Trap.

GetRequest: The GetRequest message is sent from a manager (client) to the agent (server) to retrieve the
value of a variable.
GetNextRequest: The GetNextRequest message is sent from the manager to agent to retrieve the value of a
variable. This type of message is used to retrieve the values of the entries in a table. If the manager does not
know the indexes of the entries, then it will not be able to retrieve the values. In such situations,
GetNextRequest message is used to define an object.

GetResponse: The GetResponse message is sent from an agent to the manager in response to the GetRequest
and GetNextRequest message. This message contains the value of a variable requested by the manager.

SetRequest: The SetRequest message is sent from a manager to the agent to set a value in a variable.

Trap: The Trap message is sent from an agent to the manager to report an event. For example, if the agent is
rebooted, then it informs the manager as well as sends the time of rebooting.

Pop

Advantages of POP protocol

The following are the advantages of a POP protocol:

o It allows the users to read the email offline. It requires an internet connection only at the time of
downloading emails from the server. Once the mails are downloaded from the server, then all the
downloaded mails reside on our PC or hard disk of our computer, which can be accessed without the
internet. Therefore, we can say that the POP3 protocol does not require permanent internet
connectivity.
o It provides easy and fast access to the emails as they are already stored on our PC.
o There is no limit on the size of the email which we receive or send.
o It requires less server storage space as all the mails are stored on the local machine.
o There is maximum size on the mailbox, but it is limited by the size of the hard disk.
o It is a simple protocol so it is one of the most popular protocols used today.
o It is easy to configure and use.

Disadvantages of POP protocol

The following are the advantages of a POP protocol:

o If the emails are downloaded from the server, then all the mails are deleted from the server by default.
So, mails cannot be accessed from other machines unless they are configured to leave a copy of the
mail on the server.
o Transferring the mail folder from the local machine to another machine can be difficult.
o Since all the attachments are stored on your local machine, there is a high risk of a virus attack if the
virus scanner does not scan them. The virus attack can harm the computer.
o The email folder which is downloaded from the mail server can also become corrupted.
o The mails are stored on the local machine, so anyone who sits on your machine can access the email
folder.

IMAP
There are some features of IMAP, which are as follows:

o Emails are stored on the server instead of an email client.

o Sent messages are also stored on the server-side in the sent folder, which allows us to check the sent
email from anywhere.
o You can synchronize the messages and access your email from multiple devices.
o It is more complex and flexible.
o It helps to download email data from AOL to your device or software.
o We will not lose our emails even if our device is destroyed or stolen.
o The server also saves the status of the emails, such as read, unread, or replied. It helps to check the
status of an email from any computer or device.
o When we start downloading emails using IMAP, it firstly shows the header (Sender, date, email
subject); at that instant, we can decide whether to download the email or not.