Application Layer Introduction

• Application layer is the top most layer in OSI and TCP/IP layered model.
• This layer is for applications which are involved in communication system.
• Application layer is where the actual communication is initiated and reflects.
Because this layer is on the top of the layer stack, it does not serve any other
layers.
• Application layer takes the help of Transport and all layers below it to
communicate or transfer its data to the remote host.
.

• Not every user application can be put into Application Layer. Except those
applications which interact with the communication system. For example,
designing software or text-editor cannot be considered as application layer
programs.
• On the other hand, when we use a Web Browser, which is actually using Hyper
Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to interact with the network. HTTP is Application
Layer protocol.
• Another example is File Transfer Protocol, which helps a user to transfer text based
or binary files across the network.
• DNS is a protocol which helps user application protocols such as HTTP to
accomplish its work.
Services of Application Layers
o Network Virtual terminal: An application layer allows a user to log on to a remote host. To do
so, the application creates a software emulation of a terminal at the remote host. The user's
computer talks to the software terminal, which in turn, talks to the host. The remote host thinks
that it is communicating with one of its own terminals, so it allows the user to log on.
o File Transfer, Access, and Management (FTAM): An application allows a user to access files
in a remote computer, to retrieve files from a computer and to manage files in a remote computer.
FTAM defines a hierarchical virtual file in terms of file structure, file attributes and the kind of
operations performed on the files and their attributes.
o Addressing: To obtain communication between client and server, there is a need for addressing.
When a client made a request to the server, the request contains the server address and its own
address. The server response to the client request, the request contains the destination address, i.e.,
client address. To achieve this kind of addressing, DNS is used.
o Mail Services: An application layer provides Email forwarding and storage.
o Directory Services: An application contains a distributed database that provides access for global
information about various objects and services.

Application Layer Protocols

• There are several protocols which work for users in Application Layer.
• Application layer protocols can be broadly divided into two categories:
o Protocols which are used by users. (Ex. HTTP, FTP, SMTP etc…)
o Protocols which help and support protocols used by users. (Ex. DNS)
Domain Name System
• The Domain Name System (DNS) works on Client Server model.
• It uses UDP protocol for transport layer communication.
• DNS uses hierarchical domain based naming scheme.
• The DNS server is configured with Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN) i.e is a
sequence of symbols specified by dots and email addresses mapped with their
respective Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. [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.
• A DNS server is requested with FQDN and it responds back with the IP address
mapped with it. DNS uses UDP port 53.
The Domain Name Space is divided into three different sections:

• Generic domains
• Country domains
• Inverse domain.

Generic Domains

• It defines the registered hosts according to their generic behavior.

• Each node in a tree defines the domain name, which is an index to the DNS
database.
• It uses three-character labels, and these labels describe the organization type.

Label Description

aero Airlines and aerospace companies

biz Businesses or firms

com Commercial Organizations

coop Cooperative business Organizations

edu Educational institutions

gov Government institutions

info Information service providers

int International Organizations

mil Military groups

museum Museum & other nonprofit organizations

name Personal names

net Network Support centers

org Nonprofit Organizations

pro Professional individual Organizations

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.

Working of DNS

• 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.
• 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.

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

• The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is used to transfer electronic mail from
one user to another.
• This task is done by means of email client software (User Agents) the user is using.
User Agents help the user to type and format the email and store it until internet is
available.
• When an email is submitted to send, the sending process is handled by Message
Transfer Agent which is normally comes inbuilt in email client software.
• Message Transfer Agent uses SMTP to forward the email to another Message
Transfer Agent (Server side).
• While SMTP is used by end user to only send the emails, the Servers normally use
SMTP to send as well as receive emails.
• SMTP uses TCP port number 25 and 587.
• Client software uses Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) or POP protocols
to receive emails.
Post Office Protocol (POP)
• The Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP 3) is a simple mail retrieval protocol used
by User Agents (client email software) to retrieve mails from mail server.
• When a client needs to retrieve mails from server, it opens a connection with the
server on TCP port 110. User can then access his mails and download them to the
local computer.
• POP3 works in two modes.
o The most common mode the delete mode is to delete the emails from remote
server after they are downloaded to local machines.
o The second mode, the keep mode, does not delete the email from mail server
and gives the user an option to access mails later on mail server.
File Transfer Protocol
• The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the most widely used protocol for file transfer
over the network.
• FTP uses TCP/IP for communication and it works on TCP port 21.
• FTP works on Client/Server Model where a client requests file from Server and
server sends requested resource back to the client.
• FTP uses out-of-band controlling i.e. FTP uses TCP port 20 for exchanging
controlling information and the actual data is sent over TCP port 21.
The client requests the server for a file. When the server receives a request for a file, it
opens a TCP connection for the client and transfers the file. After the transfer is complete,
the server closes the connection. For a second file, client requests again and the server
reopens a new TCP connection.
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
• The Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the foundation of World Wide Web.
• Hypertext is well organized documentation system which uses hyperlinks to link
the pages in the text documents.
• HTTP works on client server model. When a user wants to access any HTTP page
on the internet, the client machine at user end initiates a TCP connection to server
on port 80. When the server accepts the client request, the client is authorized to
access web pages.
• To access the web pages, a client normally uses web browsers, who are responsible
for initiating, maintaining, and closing TCP connections.
• HTTP is a stateless protocol, which means the Server maintains no information
about earlier requests by clients.
HTTP versions
• HTTP 1.0 uses non persistent HTTP. At most one object can be sent over a single
TCP connection.
• HTTP 1.1 uses persistent HTTP. In this version, multiple objects can be sent over a
single TCP connection.
World Wide Web (WWW):
• WWW stands for World Wide Web.
• Definition of the World Wide Web is : All the resources and users on the Internet
that are using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
• The World Wide Web is the universe of network-accessible information, an
embodiment of human knowledge.
• In simple terms, The World Wide Web is a way of exchanging information
between computers on the Internet, tying them together into a vast collection of
interactive multimedia resources.
• Internet and Web is not the same thing: Web uses internet to pass over the
information.
Evolution
• World Wide Web was created by Timothy Berners Lee in 1989
at CERN in Geneva. World Wide Web came into existence as a proposal by him,
to allow researchers to work together effectively and efficiently
at CERN. Eventually it became World Wide Web.
• The following diagram briefly defines evolution of World Wide Web:
Multimedia

• Multi − it means more than one

• Medium − it is singular and it means intermediary or mean
• Media − it is plural and it means conveying the information
• Multimedia is the field of Computer Science that integrates different forms of
information and represents in the form of audio, video, and animation along with the
traditional media, i.e., text, graphics/drawings, images, etc.

Significant Features of Multimedia Computer System

• Its Central Processing Unit (CPU) is very fast, as it needs to process large amount
of data.
• It has huge storage capacity.
• It has huge memory power that helps in running heavy data programs.
• It has high capacity graphic card that helps in displaying graphics, animation,
video, etc.
• The sound system makes it easy to listen to audio.

Multimedia Components

Text

It contains alphanumeric and some other special characters. Keyboard is usually used for
input of text; however, there are some internal (inbuilt) features to include such text.
Graphics

It is technology to generate, represent, process, manipulate, and display pictures. It is one

of the most important components of multimedia application. The development of
graphics is supported by different software.

Animation

Computer animation is a modern technology, which helps in creating, developing,

sequencing, and displaying a set of images (technically known as ‘frames’). Animation
gives visual effects or motion very similar to that of a video file.

Audio

This technology records, synthesizes, and plays audio (sound). There are many learning
courses and different instructions that can be delivered through this medium
appropriately.

Video

This technology records, synthesizes, and displays images (known as frames) in such
sequence (at a fixed speed) that makes the creation appear as moving; this is how we see
a completely developed video. In order to watch a video without any interruption, video
device must display 25 to 30 frames/second.

Multimedia Application

Presentation: With the help of multimedia, presentation can be made effective.

E-books: Today, books are digitized and easily available on the Internet.

Digital Library: The need to be physically present at a library is no more necessary.

Libraries can be accessed from the Internet also. Digitization has helped libraries to come
to this level of development.

E-learning: Today, most of the institutions (public as well as private both) are using such
technology to education people.

Movie making: Most of the special effects that we see in any movie are only because of
multimedia technology.

Video games: Video games are one of the most interesting creations of multimedia
technology. Video games fascinate not only the children but adults too.

Animated films: Along with video games, animated film is another great source of
entertainment for children.

Multimedia conferencing: People can arrange personal as well as business meetings online
with the help of multimedia conferencing technology.

E-shopping: Multimedia technology has created a virtual arena for the e-commerce.