HyperText Transfer Protocol {week 6 }

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute CSCI-4220 – Network Programming David Goldschmidt, Ph.D. HyperText Transfer Protocol{week 6}

Protocols • A protocol is an agreed-upon convention that defines how communication occurs between two (or more?) endpoints • All endpoints must “understand” andcorrectly implement the protocol • Protocols must be formally defined, unambiguous, and well-documented • Protocols should address error conditionsand unexpected scenarios

HTTP • HTTP is the protocol for communication between browser apps and Web servers • Web servers are essentially HTTP servers • Protocols have versions • Most clients and servers support version 1.1 • But 1.0 is also in use (maybe also 0.9?!) why?

Q P Interprocess communication

A few relevant RFCs • RFC 1945 is the HTTP 1.0 standard • see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1945.txt • RFC 2616 is the HTTP 1.1 standard • see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt • RFC 2396 is the URI standard • see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt

What is HTTP? (i) • From the RFC: • HTTP is an application-levelprotocol with the lightnessand speed necessary fordistributed, hypermediainformation systems

What is HTTP? (ii) • Again from the RFC: • HTTP communication generally takes placeover TCP/IP connections • The default port is TCP 80,but other ports can be used • HTTP is not dependent ona specific transport layer https is typically TCP port 443

Connection-oriented • HTTP defines a very simple structure: • A client sends a request • The server sends a response • HTTP supports multiple request/response exchanges over a single connection • e.g. try using telnet to access a Web server....

HTTP 1.0/1.1 request structure (i) • HTTP requests are line-based ASCII text • Lines must alwaysend with "\r\n"(a.k.a. CRLF) • Headers are optional • A blank line separatesthe request from thecontent Request-Line Header(s) ... ... -- blank line -- Content ... ... ... what content?!

HTTP 1.0/1.1 request structure (ii) • The Request-Line consists of 3 tokens: • Each token is separated by a space character • Though "\r\n" is required by the protocol, "\n" seems to work in practice • The HTTP-Version is either HTTP/1.0or HTTP/1.1 Method URI HTTP-Version\r\n

HTTP request methods (i) Method URI HTTP-Version\r\n • The HTTP request’s Method can be: • GET – request information identified bythe given URI (absolute or relative?) • HEAD – request metadata regardingthe given URI (search engines!) • POST – send (i.e. post) informationto the given URI (e.g. via a form)

HTTP request methods (ii) Method URI HTTP-Version\r\n • The HTTP request’s Method can be: • PUT – store information in the locationidentified by the given URI • DELETE – remove the entity identifiedby the given URI (really?)

HTTP request methods (iii) Method URI HTTP-Version\r\n • The HTTP request’s Method can be: • TRACE – used to trace HTTP forwardingthrough proxies, tunnels, etc. • OPTIONS – determines the capabilities ofthe Web server or the characteristics of the named resource

HTTP request methods (iv) Method URI HTTP-Version\r\n • The GET, HEAD, and POST methods are supported everywhere • Check out homework #2! • HTTP 1.1 servers often supportPUT, DELETE, TRACE, andOPTIONS (but not always!) why won’t this work?!

Universal Resource Identifier • The URI is defined in RFC 2396 • An absolute URI consists of four parts: • A relative URI omits the scheme and server: • The server is assumed(since we’re already connected) scheme://hostname[:port]/path /path which one should we use in our HTTP Request-Line?

URIs in practice • In general, relative URIs are used inthe HTTP Request-Line • HTTP 1.1 servers are required to supportabsolute URIs, but not all do • When using a proxy HTTP server, an absolute URI is required • Or else, the proxy server won’t know whereto find the resource (i.e. document)

Request headers (i) • After the Request-Line, the request might have header lines • Header lines specifyattribute name/valuepairs (e.g. User-Agent:) • Note that HTTP 1.1requires the Host:header always beincluded Request-Line Header(s) ... ... -- blank line -- Content ... ... ...

Request headers (ii) • Request headers provide information to the server about the client • Who is making the request • What kind of client is making the request • What kind of content will be accepted • In HTTP 1.0, all headers are optional • In HTTP 1.1, the Host: header must be sent

Example request headers (i) • Headers can be included in any order: • For GET and HEAD requests, that’s the end(though don’t forget the blank line!) GET /index.html HTTP/1.1 Accept: text/html Host: www.rpi.edu From: goldschmidt@gmail.com User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 Referer: http://somewhere.else.com/rpi.html -- blank line --

Example request headers (ii) • If a POST request is made, the headers must include Content-Length: POST /~goldsd/changegrade.php HTTP/1.1 Accept: */* Host: www.cs.rpi.edu User-Agent: SecretAgent v3.0 Referer: http://somewhere.devious.com/x.php Content-Length: 36 -- blank line -- rin=660123456&item=midterm&grade=104

HTTP response structure (i) • HTTP responses are line-based ASCII text • A Status-Line isalways returned • A blank line separatesthe response from thecontent • Content is a sequenceof bytes (e.g. HTML,image, text, etc.) Status-Line Header(s) ... ... -- blank line -- Content ... ... ...

HTTP response structure (ii) • The Status-Line consists of 3 tokens: • The HTTP-Version is either HTTP/1.0or HTTP/1.1 (and does not necessarily match the corresponding request) • Response status is represented using a 3-digit Status-Code and a human-readable Message HTTP-Version Status-Code Message

HTTP status codes • Status codes are grouped as follows: • 1xx – Informational • 2xx – Success • 3xx – Redirection • 4xx – Client Error • 5xx – Server Error (click me)

Example status lines • Example status lines include: • HTTP/1.0 200 OK • HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently • HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request • HTTP/1.0 403 Forbidden • HTTP/1.0 500 Internal Server Error

Response headers (i) • After the Status-Line, the response typically has header lines • Header lines specifyattribute name/valuepairs (e.g. Date:) • As with request headers,response headers endwith a blank line Status-Line Header(s) ... ... -- blank line -- Content ... ... ...

Response headers (ii) • Response headers provide information to the client about the entity (i.e. document) • What kind of entity/document • How many bytes are in the document • How the document is encoded • When the document was last modified • The Content-Type header is required, as is the Content-Length header (usually)

Example response headers • Headers can be included in any order: HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 12:48:17 EST Server: Apache/1.17 Content-Type: text/html Content-Length: 1756 Content-Encoding: gzip -- blank line -- 2309fjfjef0jefe0fje2f0je2f0je2f0e2jfe0fje20fj2e0fjef0jef0e2jf0efje0fje02fje20fje2f0ejf0jef2e09fj209g209fj20gag09ha0gh0agha0gjg0jg

Request/response cycle • For HTTP 1.0, default behavior is as follows: • Client sends a complete HTTP request • Server sends back a complete HTTP response • Server closes its socket • Therefore: • If the client needs another document(e.g. images, CSS, etc.), the client mustopen a new socket connection!

HTTP 1.0 persistent connections • In HTTP 1.0, support for persistent connections is available • Multiple requests can be handled over a single TCP/IP socket connection • The Keep-Alive: header is used to keep the connection alive

HTTP 1.1 persistent connections • As of HTTP 1.1, support for persistent connections is available (and is the default) • Multiple requests can be handled over a single TCP/IP socket connection • The Connection: header is used to exchange information about persistence • e.g. Connection:close

HyperText Transfer Protocol {week 6 }