The Application Layer

1
 Introduction
 Application layer is the topmost layer of the
internet model. The Application layer allows the
people to use the internet. The layers below the
application layer provide liable transport but they
do not do any real work for users.
 The application layer provides services to the users.
The users can be human or software. It enables the
user to access the network.
 The application layer receives services from the
transport layer.
2
Three areas are required for such support
1) Network Security
2) Domain Name Service
3) Network Management
Applications
Some of the important applications may be listed as under
4) Electronic Mail
5) World Wide Web
6) Multimedia
7) Remote file transfer and access.
The most common service provided is SMTP or electronic
mail. To use WWW, we need a protocol HTTP.
3
 DNS – The Domain Name System
 The DNS is a distributed database that resides on multiple
machines on the internet and is used to convert between
names and addresses and to provide e-mail routing
application.
 DNS provide the protocol that allows the client and
servers to communicate with each other.
 Domain names are case insensitive so com and COM
means the same thing.
 The DNS protocol runs over UDP and uses port 53.
 DNS is a application layer protocol.
 The Domain Name Space is hierarchical.

4
 DNS – The Domain Name System[2]
 It is hierarchical because the name space is partitioned into
sub domains.
 It is distributed because management of the name space is
delegated to local sites. Local sites have complete control
for their part of name space.
Services Provided by DNS
1) Host Aliasing: A host has alias names. DNS can be invoked
by an application to obtain the hostname for the supplied
alias hostname as well as the IP address of the host.
2) Mail Server Aliasing: DNS can be invoked by mail
application to obtain the hostname for the supplied alias
hostname.
5
 DNS – The Domain Name System[3]
Load Distribution: DNS is also used to perform load
distribution among replicated servers.
The DNS Name Spaces
DNS Name spaces are of two types: Flat name space
& Hierarchical name space.
Flat Name Space:
 Previously the machines on the Internet used flat
namespaces.
 The namespaces consisted of sequence of
characters.
6
 The DNS Name Spaces
Hierarchical Names
 Hierarchical namespaces provide simple yet
flexible naming structure.
 A tree can have 128 levels.
 The names are designed in an inverted tree
structure with root at the top.
 The top level domain are of two types namely
generic and countries.
 Diagram is shown in figure:-

7
.

Hierarchy of DNS 8
 The DNS Name Space[3]
Generic Domains:
The generic domains are com ,edu, gov ,mil ,net and
org. Each domain is named by following an upward
path. The components are separated by dots.
Eg: eng.sun.com
Countries:
The countries domain include one entry for every
country.
Eg: Keio.ac.jp

9
 Resolution
Resolution:
The process of mapping a name to an address or an address to
a name is called a name address resolution.
Resolver
 A host which wants to map a name to address or vice versa
calls a DNS client named resolver.

Mapping Names to Address

To map a name into an IP address, resolver sends a UDP
packet to local DNS server, which then returns it to the
caller.

10
 Resolution
Yahoo
Eg: For Understanding only
S
E
Response R
V
E
168.23.74.19 R

Terminal 1
www.yahoo.com

Resolver
Local DNS
168.23.74.19

11
 Caching
 Every time a query is asked, the server has to spend time
in searching the corresponding IP address. If this searching
time is reduced then efficiency would go up. This searching
time can be reduced by using a technique called caching.

 When a server asks for mapping from another server and

receives the response, it stores this information in its cache
memory before sending it to the client. If the same or other
client request for the same mapping, it can check its cache
memory and resolve the problem.

12
 Electronic Mail
 One of the most popular network services is Electronic mail
.SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the standard
mechanism for electronic mail in the internet.
 An E-mail system consists of two subsystems as under
1) User Agent
2) Message Transfer Agent
User Agent
They allow the people to read and send e-mail
Message Transfer Agent
They move the message from the source to the destination.
13
 Electronic Mail[2]
SMTP is application layer protocol of TCP/IP model
SMTP transfers message from sender’s E-Mail
server to the recipients mail servers.
SMTP uses a TCP socket on port 25 to transfer
e-mail reliably from client to server.
SMTP uses different types of components. They are
MIME (Multipurpose Internet mail extensions) and
POP (Post office Protocol).
14
 Electronic Mail[3]
Basic Functions
E-Mail systems support five functions
i) Composition: The process of creating message and
answer them is known as composition.
ii) Transfer: It is a process of moving messages from the
sender to the recipient.
iii)Reporting: This is to tell the sender about weather the
message was delivered or rejected or lost.
iv) Displaying: it is a process of displaying the incoming
message. For this purpose, simple conversions and
formations are required to be done.
15
 Electronic Mail[4]
v) Disposition: This is concerned with what the recipient does
with the message after receiving it. Some of the
possibilities are as under:
i. Throw after Reading
ii. Throw before Reading
iii. Save Message
iv. Forward message
v. Process message in some other way.
E-mail Envelope:
In the modern e-mail systems, there is a distinction
made between the e-mail and its contents. An e-
mail envelop contains a message, destination
address, priority,security level etc. 16
 17
Envelopes and messages. (a) Paper mail. (b) Electronic mail.
 Message Formats – RFC 822
RFC 822 header fields related to message format is given
below:-

Note: Write one-two lines of every point mentioned in

table.
18
 Shortcuts used in Chatting

Some smileys. They will not be on the final exam :-).

19
 Reading E-mail

An example display of the contents of a mailbox.

20
 MIME – Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions
In early days, e-mail used to consist of only the text messages
in English and expressed in ASCII.RS 822 was sufficient
for this environment. Some problems are encounter in
sending and receiving the following types of messages:
i) Messages in the languages having accents such as French
or Germans
ii) Messages that do not contain text eg Audio or Video

The solution to the above problems was MIME. It is proposed

in RFC 1341 and then updated in RFC 1521.
21
 MIME [2]
Five new message headers are defined for MIME.
They are:

RFC 822 headers added by MIME.

22
 MIME [3]

The MIME types and subtypes defined in RFC 2045. 23

A multipart message containing enriched and audio alternatives. 24
 POP3 (Post Office Protocol) (Delivery Protocols)
a) I many companies, the users work at desktop PCs which
are not on the Internet and they are not capable of sending
or receiving e-mail.
b) To send or receive e-mail, the company uses one or more e-
mail servers. A PC talks to an e-mail server using some
kind of delivery protocol. Some of the important protocols
are : POP3, IMAP( Interactive Mail Access Protocol),
DMSP (Distribution Mail System Protocol).
c) POP3 is simple protocol used for fetching email from
remote mailbox.
d) It is defined in RFC 1225.It provides the commands for
user login, logout, fetch message and delete messages. POP
consists of ASCII text. It fetches the e-mail from remote
25
mailbox and stores it on user’s local machine.
Downloading in POP3
26
 POP3

27
Using POP3 to fetch three messages.
 The World Wide Web
 World Wide Web is collection of millions of files stored
on thousands of servers all over the world. These files
represent documents, pictures, video, sound, programs etc.
Following are the hardware, software and protocols that
make up the web.
I. A Web Server on which all the data is stored.
II. Well defined set of languages and protocols that are
independent of hardware and operating system.
III. The Hyper Text markup language (HTML) is the
universal language of the web.
IV. Java Script is a language for extending HTML to embed
small programs called scripts in web pages.
V. Pictures, Drawing, Charts and Diagrams are displayed on
web using image format such as JPEG and GIF formats.28
 The World Wide Web[2]
 A web page is an HTML document that is stored on a web
server. A website is a collection of WebPages belonging to
particular organization.
Web Browser:-
A web browser is a program. A web browser is used to
communicate with the server. Netscape Navigator and
Internet Explorer are the most popular browser software's
in the market. Internet explorer is the default Browser for
the Windows Operating System.
http://www.yahoo.com/types
Name if item
to request
Name of the Protocol Domain Name from server.
29
(a) A Web page (b) The page reached by clicking on 30
Department of Animal Psychology.
 HTML – HyperText Markup Language

(b) 31
(a) The HTML for a sample Web page. (b) The formatted page.
 HTML (2)

A selection of common HTML tags. some can have 32

additional parameters.
Table

33
 Forms

(b)
34
 Multimedia
The meaning of multimedia is two or more media. But in
practice, when we use the word multimedia, it means the
combination of two or more continuous media. ,Usually the
two media are audio and video. Multimedia is a syatem,which
is a combination of following components such as
Text
Images or Graphics
Animation
Sound
Video

35
 Multimedia[2]
We classify the multimedia application in two major
categories as shown in figure:

Multimedia Applications

Based on Timing Based on Data Loss

Considerations Tolerance
(Delay Sensitive) (Loss Tolerant)

Delay Sensitive:- Many multimedia applications are

useless if the sender to receiver delay is more than a
few hundred milliseconds. 36
 Multimedia[3]
Loss of Tolerant: Most of the multimedia applications are loss
tolerant. This means that they allow the loss of data to some
extent without compromising with quality So multimedia
applications are delay sensitive but loss tolerant.
Introduction to Audio:

(a) A sine wave. (b) Sampling the sine wave.

37
(c) Quantizing the samples to 4 bits.
 Internet Audio/Video
The Internet audio/video can be broadly categorized into three
classes as under:
1) Streaming Stored audio/video
2) Streaming live audio/video
3) Interactive audio/video
1) Streaming Stored Audio/Video: A client can download the
files through Internet which are compressed and stored on
server Eg: Audio Songs, Lectures,Videos,Movies etc. The
class of application has three distinguishing factors as
follows:
i) Stored Media: The multimedia content has been
prerecorded and stored at the server. So user can do the
operations like Pause, Rewind, Forward . 38
 Internet Audio/Video[2]
ii) Streaming: In streaming stored audio/video
applications, a client starts payout of audio/video a few
seconds after receiving the file from the server. So, the client
plays out audio/video from one location in the file when it is
receiving later parts of the same file from the server. This
technique is called streaming.
iii) Continuous Playout: Once the playout of the
multimedia content begins, it is necessary to proceed as per
the original timing of recording.

39
 Internet Audio/Video[3]

Figure :Streaming Audio

(A straightforward way to implement clickable music on a Web page)
40
 Internet Audio/Video[4]

Figure: Streaming Audio

(The media player buffers input from the media server and plays from
the buffer rather than directly from the network) 41
 Internet Audio/Video[5]
2) Streaming Live Audio and Video: This is similar to
traditional broadcast radio and TV, except that transmission
take place over the Internet. The program is broadcast live on
the Internet. Buffering on the users side is necessary to smooth
out Jitter. RTP/RTPS (Real Time Protocol & Real time
Streaming Protocol) protocols are used. Client cannot fast
forward this.

42
 Internet Audio/Video[6]
3) Real Time Interactive Audio & Video: In this class of
applications, people are allowed to use audio/video to
communicate with each other in real time. Eg: Internet
Phone

43
 Expectations of Multimedia from Internet
Different multimedia types have different expectations from the internet.
1) Real Time Characteristics
2) High Bandwidth
3) Multicast Support
4) Error characteristics of the medium
5) Security
6) Mobility
1) Real Time Characteristics:- Most multimedia applications
have real time traffic requirements eg Audio and video data
must be played back continuously at a rate at which they
are sampled. If data does not arrive in time, human ear and
eyes can easily pick up the artifact. The performance can be
improved by removing the delay and jitter 44
 Expectations of Multimedia from Internet[2]
2) High Bandwidth Requirement: Most multimedia
demand higher bandwidth. Eg a PCM encoded voice grade
telephone conversation & Video conferencing requires a
large bandwidth.
3) Multicast Support: Many multimedia applications, like
video/audio conferencing will require the communication
network to provide a strong multicasting support.
4) Error Characteristics of Medium: Error occur when the
packet is lost. Errors are more in connectionless than
connection oriented services. Now a days FEC (Forward
error control ) mechanism is used for error control.
5) Security: Security provides Integrity, Authenticity and
encryption. Public broadcast require data integrity and
45
authenticity while private broadcast requires encryption.
 Expectations of Multimedia from Internet[3]
Mobility: It opens up a question how routing on
mobile terminals can be done while maintaining the
QoS (Quality of Service) when the host is in
motion.

46
 Audio & Video Compression
1)Digitizing Audio
When sound wave strikes the microphone, it gets converted in an
analog electrical signal which represents the sound amplitude as a
function of time. Frequency range of human beings is 20 Hz to 20 KHz.
The Audio waves can be converted into digital by ADC (Analog to
Digital Converter). A to D conversion includes two steps namely
sampling & quantization.

47
(a) A sine wave. (b) Sampling the sine wave. (c) Quantizing the samples to 4 bits.
 Digitizing Voice
In normal video reproduction, the frames are displayed at a
every rapid rate (typically 50 frames per second). the
interlaced scanning is used in which 25 frames are
displayed per second. The frame is divided into small
pixels. For Monochrome TV each bit pixel represents one
of 256 possible different gray levels. For color TV each
pixel represented by 24 bits out of which 8 bits each are
allocated for primary color (Red, Blue, Green). The lowest
resolution of colored picture is 1024*768 pixels per frame.
So no of bits corresponding to one picture is:
No of bits/pictures = 2* number of frames/sec * Resolution
= 2 *25*1024*768 =944 Mbps
To send video with minimum resolution, We need to transmit
at 944Mbps which requires is a huge bandwidth
48
 Data Compression

Terminal Encoder Decoder Terminal

Uncompressed Compressed Data

Data
A Data Compression system consists of an encoder and
a decoder. the encoder performs compression of the
incoming data and decoder is used fro decompression
and reconstruction as shown in figure.This reduces the
bandwidth requirement.
Types of Compression: 1)Lossless compression
49
2) Lossy Compression
Lossless Compression
In lossless compression, the redundant information
contained in data is removed. Due to removal of such
information, there is no loss data of interest.hence it is
called lossless compression.
Lossy Compression
I this type of compression there is a lose of information
in controlled manner. It compresses data more than
lossless compression. For many applications, the lossy
compression is preferred due to its higher compression
without a significant loss of important data.

50
Thanks for giving the Attention
&
All the Best for your Exams

51