LAB # 03

Statement Purpose:
Explore several aspects of the HTTP protocol: the basic GET/response interaction, HTTP
message formats, retrieving large HTML files, retrieving HTML files with embedded objects,
and HTTP authentication and security.
Activity outcomes:
Students will gain better understanding of the HTTP protocol.

Instructor Note:
shark and make
some observations on them.

1) Stage J(Journey)

Introduction

several aspects of the HTTP protocol: the basic GET/response interaction, HTTP message
formats, retrieving large HTML files, retrieving HTML files with embedded objects, and HTTP
authentication and security.

2) Stage a1 (apply)
Lab Activities:

Activity 1:
The Basic HTTP GET/response interaction
our exploration of HTTP by downloading a very simple HTML file - one that is very short,
and contains no embedded objects. Do the following:

1. Start up your web browser.

2. t yet
-
filter-specification window, so that only captured HTTP messages will be displayed later in
the packet-
to see the clutter of all captured packets).
3.
capture.
4. Enter the following to your browser
http://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/HTTP-wireshark-file1.html
Your browser should display the very simple, one-line HTML file.
5. Stop Wireshark packet capture.

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 Your Wireshark window should look similar to the window shown in Figure 1. If you are unable to
run Wireshark on a live network connection, you can download a packet trace that was created
when the steps above were followed.2

Figure 1: Wireshark Display after http://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/ HTTP-wireshark-

file1.html has been retrieved by your browser

The example in Figure 1 shows in the packet-listing window that two HTTP messages were captured:
the GET message (from your browser to the gaia.cs.umass.edu web server) and the response
message from the server to your browser. The packet-contents window shows details of the
selected message (in this case the HTTP OK message, which is highlighted in the packet-listing
window). Recall that since the HTTP message was carried inside a TCP segment, which was carried
inside an IP datagram, which was carried within an Ethernet frame, Wireshark displays the Frame,
Ethernet, IP, and TCP packet information as well. We want to minimize the amount of non-HTTP
ll be investigating these other protocols is later
labs), so make sure the boxes at the far left of the Frame, Ethernet, IP and TCP information have a
plus sign or a right-pointing triangle (which means there is hidden, undisplayed information), and the
HTTP line has a minus sign or a down-pointing triangle (which means that all information about the
HTTP message is displayed).

(Note: You should ignore any HTTP GET and response for favicon.ico. If you see a reference to this
file, it is your browser automatically asking the server if it (the server) has a small icon file that should

2
Download the zip file http://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/wireshark-traces.zip and extract the file http-
ethereal-trace-1. The
computers, while performing the steps indicated in the Wireshark lab. Once you have downloaded the trace, you
can load it into Wireshark and view the trace using the File pull down menu, choosing Open, and then selecting
the http-ethereal-trace-1 trace file. The resulting display should look similar to Figure 1. (The Wireshark user
interface displays just a bit differently on different operating systems, and in different versions of Wireshark).

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 be displayed next to the displayed URL in your brows
this lab.).
By looking at the information in the HTTP GET and response messages, answer the following
questions. When answering the following questions, you should print out the GET and response
messages (see the introductory Wireshark lab for an explanation of how to do this) and indicate

the information for your answer (e.g., for our classes, we ask that students markup paper copies
with a pen, or annotate electronic copies with text in a colored font).
1. Is your browser running HTTP version 1.0 or 1.1? What version of HTTP is the server
running?
2. What languages (if any) does your browser indicate that it can accept to the server?
3. What is the IP address of your computer? Of the gaia.cs.umass.edu server?
4. What is the status code returned from the server to your browser?
5. When was the HTML file that you are retrieving last modified at the server?
6. How many bytes of content are being returned to your browser?
7. By inspecting the raw data in the packet content window, do you see any headers within the
data that are not displayed in the packet-listing window? If so, name one.

In your answer to question 5 above, you might have been surprised to find that the document you

because (for t -modified time

to be the current time, and is doing so once per minute. Thus, if you wait a minute between
accesses, the file will appear to have been recently modified, and hence your browser will download

Solution:
Ans1:

Ans2:

Ans3:

Ans4:

Ans5:

Ans6:

Ans7:

Activity 2:
The HTTP CONDITIONAL GET/response interaction
Recall from Section 2.2.6 of the text, that most web browsers perform object caching and thus
perform a conditional GET when retrieving an HTTP object. Before performing the steps below,
elect Tools->Clear Recent
History and check the Cache box, or for Internet Explorer, select Tools->Internet Options->Delete
File;

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 Start up your web browser, and make s
above.
Start up the Wireshark packet sniffer
Enter the following URL into your browser
http://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/HTTP-wireshark-file2.html
Your browser should display a very simple five-line HTML file.
Quickly enter the same URL into your browser again (or simply select the refresh button on
your browser)
play-filter-specification window,
so that only captured HTTP messages will be displayed later in the packet-listing window.
(Note: If you are unable to run Wireshark on a live network connection, you can use the
http-ethereal-trace-2 packet trace to answer the questions below; see footnote 1. This trace

Answer the following questions:

8. Inspect the contents of the first HTTP GET request from your browser to the server. Do you
-MODIFIED-
9. Inspect the contents of the server response. Did the server explicitly return the contents of
the file? How can you tell?
10. Now inspect the contents of the second HTTP GET request from your browser to the server.
-MODIFIED-
-MODIFIED-
11. What is the HTTP status code and phrase returned from the server in response to this
second HTTP GET? Did the server explicitly return the contents of the file? Explain.

see what happens when we download a long HTML file. Do the following:
che is cleared, as discussed
above.
Start up the Wireshark packet sniffer
Enter the following URL into your browserhttp://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/HTTP-
wireshark-file3.html
Your browser should display the rather lengthy US Bill of Rights.
-filter-specification window,
so that only captured HTTP messages will be displayed.

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 (Note: If you are unable to run Wireshark on a live network connection, you can use the
http-ethereal-trace-3 packet trace to answer the questions below; see footnote 1. This trace
file was gathered while performing the steps above

In the packet-listing window, you should see your HTTP GET message, followed by a multiple-packet
TCP response to your HTTP GET request. This multiple-packet response deserves a bit of
explanation. Recall from Section 2.2 (see Figure 2.9 in the text) that the HTTP response message
consists of a status line, followed by header lines, followed by a blank line, followed by the entity
body. In the case of our HTTP GET, the entity body in the response is the entire requested HTML file.
In our case here, the HTML file is rather long, and at 4500 bytes is too large to fit in one TCP packet.
The single HTTP response message is thus broken into several pieces by TCP, with each piece being
contained within a separate TCP segment (see Figure 1.24 in the text). In recent versions of
Wireshark, Wireshark indicates each TCP segment as a separate packet, and the fact that the single

reass

Answer the following questions:

12. How many HTTP GET request messages did your browser send? Which packet number in
the trace contains the GET message for the Bill or Rights?
13. Which packet number in the trace contains the status code and phrase associated with the
response to the HTTP GET request?
14. What is the status code and phrase in the response?

above.
Start up the Wireshark packet sniffer
Enter the following URL into your browserhttp://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/HTTP-
wireshark-file4.html
Your browser should display a short HTML file with two images. These two images are
referenced in the base HTML file. That is, the images themselves are not contained in the
HTML; instead the URLs for the images are contained in the downloaded HTML file. As
discussed in the textbook, your browser will have to retrieve these logos from the indicated
ogo is retrieved from the www.aw-bc.com web site. The image

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 of the cover for our 5th edition (one of our favorite covers) is stored at the
manic.cs.umass.edu server.
-filter-specification window,
so that only captured HTTP messages will be displayed.
(Note: If you are unable to run Wireshark on a live network connection, you can use the
http-ethereal-trace-4 packet trace to answer the questions below; see footnote 1. This trace
file was gathe
Answer the following questions:
15. How many HTTP GET request messages did your browser send? To which Internet addresses
were these GET requests sent?
16. Can you tell whether your browser downloaded the two images serially, or whether they
were downloaded from the two web sites in parallel? Explain.

Activity 5 (Packet Tracer Part)

Instructions:
1. Start Packet Tracer using Realtime mode.

Options -> Preferences

o
o
2. Configuring the www.mapua.edu Web Server

Add a server.

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 Global Settings:

Web Server: www.mapua.edu

Set the Gateway to 172.16.0.1
FastEthernet:

Set the IP address to 172.16.0.20

Set the Subnet Mask to 255.255.0.0

DHCP:

Set the Service to Off

DNS:

Set the Service to Off

HTTP

Set the both the HTTP and HTTPS Service to On

Packet Tracer. Opening doors to new

Email:

Set the SMTP Service and POP3 Service to Off

3. Configuring the www.internal.com Web Server

Add a server.

Global Settings:

Web Server: www.internal.com

Set the Gateway to 172.16.0.1
FastEthernet:

Set the IP address to 172.16.0.30

Set the Subnet Mask to 255.255.0.0
DHCP:

Set the Service to Off

DNS:

Set the Service to Off

HTTP:

You may add other information as well.

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 3) Stage v (verify)
Home Activities:
Activity 1:
HTTP Authentication
-protected and examine the sequence of HTTP
message exchanged for such a site. The URL
http://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-labs/protected_pages/HTTP-wireshark-file5.html is password
-
assword-protected site. Do the
following:

browser. Then, start up your browser

Start up the Wireshark packet sniffer
Enter the following URL into your browserhttp://gaia.cs.umass.edu/wireshark-
labs/protected_pages/HTTP-wireshark-file5.html
Type the requested user name and password into the pop up box.
Stop Wireshark packet capt -filter-specification window,
so that only captured HTTP messages will be displayed later in the packet-listing window.
(Note: If you are unable to run Wireshark on a live network connection, you can use the
http-ethereal-trace-5 packet trace to answer the questions below; see footnote 2. This trace

entication by
reviewing the easy-to-
http://frontier.userland.com/stories/storyReader$2159
Answer the following questions:
17. What
message from your browser?
18.
included in the HTTP GET message?

The username (wireshark-students) and password (network) that you entered are encoded in the
Authorization:
Basic
password are encrypted, they are simply encoded in a format known as Base64 format. The
username and password are notencrypted! To see this, go to http://www.motobit.com/util/base64-
decoder-encoder.asp and enter the base64-encoded string d2lyZXNoYXJrLXN0dWRlbnRz and
decode. Voila! You have translated from Base64 encoding to ASCII encoding, and thus should see
your username! To view the password, enter the remainder of the string Om5ldHdvcms= and press
decode. Since anyone can download a tool like Wireshark and sniff packets (not just their own)
passing by their network adaptor, and anyone can translate from Base64 to ASCII (you just did it!), it
should be clear to you that simple passwords on WWW sites are not secure unless additional
measures are taken.

Activity 2:
Provide web services in the said topology using this information:

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 1) Set the server
2)

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