DATA

COMMUNICATION
 Definition

• Two or more computers connected via a

communications medium
OR
• The hardware and software that
enable the user to access a
remote device
 Why Have Data
Communication?
Communication between computers allows:

• Sharing of resources
• Distribution of processing functions
• Compatibility of dissimilar equipment and
software
• Increased performance with reduced cost.
 Signal Types

Message may take many forms in data communications, -

• e.g. a user file containing graphics, text, or sound data,
• machine generated request, or status message.
• Senders and receivers may be humans using a computer or a variety of programmable
devices
• Medium used can be space, telephone wire, optic fiber etc.
• Encoders translate message into signals suitable for medium and back again for
receiver (e.g. modem).

.
 Data is usually transmitted using one of three types of
signals:

• An electrical voltage (co-axial cable, wire);

• An electromagnetic wave (satellite, wireless LAN)
• Light pulses (optic fiber).
• E.g. phone line carries analog electrical voltage signals to represent
sound.
 Protocols/Standards

• HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

HTTP is a request/response standard between a client and a server.
A client is the end-user, the server is the web site. The client making
an HTTP request - using a web browser, spider, or other end-user
tool - is referred to as the user agent
The responding server - which stores or creates resources such as
HTML files and images - is called the origin server. In between the
user agent and origin server may be several intermediaries, such as
proxies, gateways, and tunnels. HTTP is not constrained to using
TCP/IP and its supporting layers, although this is its most popular
application on the Internet. Indeed HTTP can be "implemented on
top of any other protocol on the Internet, or on other networks.
HTTP only presumes a reliable transport; any protocol that provides
such guarantees can be used.“
• Typically, an HTTP client initiates a request. It
establishes a Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP) connection to a particular port on a host
(port 80 by default; see
List of TCP and UDP port numbers). An HTTP
server listening on that port waits for the client to
send a request message. Upon receiving the
request, the server sends back a status line, such
as "HTTP/1.1 200 OK", and a message of its
own, the body of which is perhaps the requested
file, an error message, or some other information.
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
• FTP is a file transfer protocol for exchanging and
manipulating files over a TCP computer network.
• FTP runs exclusively over TCP. It defaults to listen on
port 21 for incoming connections from FTP clients. A
connection to this port from the FTP Client forms the
control stream on which commands are passed to the FTP
server from the FTP client and on occasion from the FTP
server to the FTP client. FTP uses out-of-band control,
which means it uses a separate connection for control and
data. Thus, for the actual file transfer to take place, a
different connection is required which is called the data
stream. Depending on the transfer mode, the process of
setting up the data stream is different.
 Security Problem -FTP
• The original FTP specification is an inherently insecure method of
transferring files because there is no method specified for
transferring data in an encrypted fashion. This means that under most
network configurations, user names, passwords, FTP commands and
transferred files can be "sniffed" or viewed by anyone on the same
network using a packet sniffer. This is a problem common to many
Internet protocol specifications written prior to the creation of SSL
such as HTTP, SMTP and Telnet. The common solution to this
problem is to use either SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol), or FTPS
(FTP over SSL), which adds SSL or TLS encryption to FTP as
specified in RFC 4217
 TCP/IP
• The Internet Protocol Suite (commonly TCP/IP) is the set of
communications protocols used for the Internet and other similar
networks. It is named from two of the most important protocols in it:
the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol
(IP), which were the first two networking protocols defined in this
standard. Today's IP networking represents a synthesis of several
developments that began to evolve in the 1960s and 1970s, namely
the Internet and LANs (Local Area Networks), which, together with
the invention of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989,
have revolutionized computing.
 Layers In TCP/IP
• The TCP/IP suite uses encapsulation to provide
abstraction of protocols and services. Such encapsulation
usually is aligned with the division of the protocol suite
into layers of general functionality. Generally an
application (the highest level of the model) uses a set of
protocols to send its data down the layers, being further
encapsulated at each level.
 Implementation of TCP
• Today, most operating systems include and install a TCP/IP stack by default.
For most users, there is no need to look for implementations. TCP/IP is
included in all commercial Unix systems, Mac OS X, and all free-software
Unix-like systems such as Linux distributions and BSD systems, as well as
all Microsoft Windows operating systems.
• Unique implementations include Lightweight TCP/IP, an open source stack
designed for embedded systems and KA9Q NOS, a stack and associated
protocols for amateur packet radio systems and personal computers
connected via serial lines.
 SMTP
• SMTP is a relatively simple, text-based protocol, in which one or
more recipients of a message are specified (and in most cases
verified to exist) along with the message text and possibly other
encoded objects. The message is then transferred to a remote server
using a procedure of queries and responses between the client and
server.
• SMTP is a "push" protocol that cannot "pull" messages from a
remote server on demand. To retrieve messages only on demand,
which is the most common requirement on a single-user computer, a
mail client must use POP3 or IMAP. Another SMTP server can
trigger a delivery in SMTP using ETRN. It is possible to receive mail
by running an SMTP server. POP3 became popular when single-user
computers connected to the Internet only intermittently; SMTP is
more suitable for a machine permanently connected to the Internet.
 Limitations SMTP
• One of the limitations of the original SMTP is that it has no facility
for authentication of senders. Therefore the SMTP-AUTH extension
was defined.
• However, the impracticalities of widespread SMTP-AUTH
implementation and management means that E-mail spamming is not
and cannot be addressed by it.
• Modifying SMTP extensively, or replacing it completely, is not
believed to be practical, due to the network effects of the huge
installed base of SMTP. Internet Mail 2000 was one such proposal
for replacement.
 Bits, Bytes and Packets
Another important role of protocols is to determine
format
of data being sent, so sender & receiver agree on
meaning
of stream of bits.

Message may be sent as single bytes, complete message,

or
(most commonly) message broken up into pieces called
packets, with exact format determined by protocol.

Each packet contains header information such as source

&
destination address, amount of data, error-checking code.
 Bandwidth
Bandwidth determines amount of data that can be
transmitted per unit time. Greater bandwidth = greater
possible data transmission rate.
Available bandwidth varies between different media, e.g.
coaxial
cable, optic fiber, satellite etc all have different
bandwidth characteristics.
Each media can only transmit signals with certain ranges
of
frequencies. Higher the central frequency, greater the
possible
frequency range, & greater potential bandwidth of the
media.
 Transmission Impairments
• Final signal received differs from the one sent
because of
impairments to transmission, possibly resulting
in errors.
Impairments are:
1 Noise - caused by various factors: thermal,
crosstalk, and
impulse.
2 Attenuation - signal strength decreases over
distance.
Corrected by use of repeaters (digital) and
amplifiers
(analog).
 Communication Modes
• Elementary types of data flow over a
transmission path.
a. Simplex - only allows information flow in one
direction.
Devices connected to such a circuit are either a
send only or
receive only device. For example, a data
collection terminal
on a factory floor or a line printer. - e.g. host
to dumb
terminal, radio & TV broadcast
Half Duplex - allows information flow in both directions,
but only one at a time. It requires two wires this is the
most
common type of transmission for voice communication
because only one person is supposed to speak at a time.
It
is also used to connect a terminal with a computer. The
terminal might transmit data and then the computer
responds with an acknowledgement. E.g. press-to-talk
radio systems, older modems.
Sender------------------------------------------------------------------>
Receiver
OR
<------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Duplex - allows simultaneous information flow in
both directions. This involves a special switching circuit requires
a small amount of time is approximately 150
milliseconds. With high-speed capabilities of computer,
this turnaround time is unacceptable in many instances.
Also some applications require simultaneous transmission
in both the directions. In such cases, a full duplex system is
used that allows information to flow simultaneously in
both directions on the transmission path. It requires four
wires. E.g. (common in computer communications),
telephone.
Sender-------------------------------------------------------------------> Receiver
AND
<------------------------------------------------------------------
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