Networking Core Protocols -
Learn about the core TCP/IP protocols
DNS: Remembering Addresses
DNS operates at the Application Layer, i.e., Layer 7 of the ISO OSI model. DNS traffic
uses UDP port 53 by default and TCP port 53 as a default fallback. There are many types
of DNS records; however, in this task, we will focus on the following four:
A record: The A (Address) record maps a hostname to one or more IPv4 addresses.
For example, you can set example.com to resolve to 172.17.2.172.
AAAA Record: The AAAA record is similar to the A Record, but it is for IPv6.
Remember that it is AAAA (quad-A), as AA and AAA would refer to a battery size;
furthermore, AAA refers to Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting; neither
falls under DNS.
CNAME Record: The CNAME (Canonical Name) record maps a domain name to
another domain name. For example, www.example.com can be mapped to
example.com or even to example.org.
MX Record: The MX (Mail Exchange) record specifies the mail server responsible
for handling emails for a domain.
In other words, when you type example.com in your browser, your browser tries to
resolve this domain name by querying the DNS server for the A record. However, when
you try to send an email to test@example.com, the mail server would query the DNS
server to find the MX record.
WHOIS
You can look up the WHOIS records of any registered domain name using one of the
online services or via the command-line tool whois, available on Linux systems, among
others. As expected, a WHOIS record provides information about the entity that
registered a domain name, including name, phone number, email, and address. In the
screenshot shown below, you can see when the record was first created and when it was
last updated. Moreover, you can find the registrant’s name, address, phone, and email.
HTTP(S): Accessing The Web
When you fire up your browser, you mainly use HTTP and HTTPS protocols. HTTP stands
for Hypertext Transfer Protocol; the S in HTTPS stands for Secure. This protocol relies on
TCP and defines how your web browser communicates with the web servers.
Some of the commands or methods that your web browser commonly issues to the web
server are:
GET retrieves data from a server, such as an HTML file or an image.
POST allows us to submit new data to the server, such as submitting a form or
uploading a file.
PUT is used to create a new resource on the server and to update and overwrite
existing information.
DELETE, as the name suggests, is used to delete a specified file or resource on the
server.
HTTP and HTTPS commonly use TCP ports 80 and 443, respectively, and less commonly
other ports such as 8080 and 8443.
FTP: Transferring Files
Unlike HTTP, which is designed to retrieve web pages, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is
designed to transfer files. As a result, FTP is very efficient for file transfer, and when all
conditions are equal, it can achieve higher speeds than HTTP.
Example commands defined by the FTP protocol are:
USER is used to input the username
PASS is used to enter the password
RETR (retrieve) is used to download a file from the FTP server to the client.
STOR (store) is used to upload a file from the client to the FTP server.
FTP server listens on TCP port 21 by default; data transfer is conducted via another
connection from the client to the server.
SMTP: Sending Email
As with browsing the web and downloading files, sending email needs its own protocol.
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) defines how a mail client talks with a mail server
and how a mail server talks with another.
The analogy for the SMTP protocol is when you go to the local post office to send a
package. You greet the employee, tell them where you want to send your package, and
provide the sender’s information before handing them the package. Depending on the
country you are in, you might be asked to show your identity card. This process is not
very different from an SMTP session.
Let’s present some of the commands used by your mail client when it transfers an email
to an SMTP server:
HELO or EHLO initiates an SMTP session
MAIL FROM specifies the sender’s email address
RCPT TO specifies the recipient’s email address
DATA indicates that the client will begin sending the content of the email message
. is sent on a line by itself to indicate the end of the email message
The SMTP server listens on TCP port 25 by default.
POP3: Receiving Email
Some common POP3 commands are:
USER <username> identifies the user
PASS <password> provides the user’s password
STAT requests the number of messages and total size
LIST lists all messages and their sizes
RETR <message_number> retrieves the specified message
DELE <message_number> marks a message for deletion
QUIT ends the POP3 session applying changes, such as deletions
The POP3 server listens on TCP port 110 by default.
IMAP: Synchronizing Email
IMAP allows synchronizing read, moved, and deleted messages. IMAP is quite convenient
when you check your email via multiple clients. Unlike POP3, which tends to minimize
server storage as email is downloaded and deleted from the remote server, IMAP tends
to use more storage as email is kept on the server and synchronized across the email
clients.
The IMAP protocol commands are more complicated than the POP3 protocol commands.
We list a few examples below:
LOGIN <username> <password> authenticates the user
SELECT <mailbox> selects the mailbox folder to work with
FETCH <mail_number> <data_item_name> Example fetch 3 body[] to fetch
message number 3, header and body.
MOVE <sequence_set> <mailbox> moves the specified messages to another
mailbox
COPY <sequence_set> <data_item_name> copies the specified messages to
another mailbox
LOGOUT logs out
The IMAP server listens on TCP port 143 by default.
Conclusion
Protocol Transport Protocol Default Port Number
TELNET TCP 23
DNS UDP or TCP 53
HTTP TCP 80
HTTPS TCP 443
FTP TCP 21
SMTP TCP 25
POP3 TCP 110
IMAP TCP 143
