Product Description

Just as TCP/IP is a central protocol for the Internet, HTTP is a central protocol for the web. They are both critical for web networking. Web Protocols and Practice is the most authoritative and comprehensive guide to the Web's technical underpinnings. Authored by legendary AT&T Labs researcher Bala Krishnamurthy and renowned Web networking expert Jennifer Rexford, this book offers exceptionally thorough coverage of core Web protocols-including the most detailed discussion of HTTP /1.1 and its relationship to TCP/IP networking ever presented. The authors begin with a broad overview of the evolution of the Web, including its naming infrastructure, HTML document language, and HTTP message exchange protocol. Next, they introduce the inner workings of clients, proxies, and servers, as well as scripts, handlers, search engines, cookies, and authentication. The heart of the book is a detailed discussion of the core Web protocols DNS, TCP/IP, and HTTP. An essential resource for all networking and Internet professionals, and for all developers building Internet applications.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #689840 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Carefully prepared content gets all the glory, but delivering multimedia information to the people and machines who require it falls to a set of protocols. Web Protocols and Practice: HTTP/1.1 explains how resources locate one another on the constantly changing Internet, how they ask for resources, and how those documents and media are delivered. This comprehensive document does more than any other book around to eliminate vague hand-waving and actually explain how the Internet works. Anyone who's heard explanations along the lines of, "The Domain Name service resolves the machine name to an IP address" or "The browser makes a POST request" and wanted to scream "But HOW?" will love what Balachander Krishnamurthy and Jennifer Rexford have done in these pages.

The authors approach HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) and the other protocols covered from an engineering perspective, which is to say they outline the problems the protocols are meant to solve before going into detail on what the protocols do. They also explain the evolution of protocols over time, and call attention to protocols' shortcomings and likely evolutionary paths. Nearly all of the explanatory material takes the form of bright, carefully considered text that's supplemented by message listings ("The server could reply with... ") and a handful of conceptual diagrams. Later chapters transcend the protocols themselves to focus on questions of reliability, traffic measurement and efficient caching. --David Wall

Topics covered: the protocols that underpin transactions on the Internet and other networks that employ Internet communications standards. Detailed coverage goes to the HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) versions 1.0 and 1.1, the Internet Protocol addressing scheme, and the Transmission Control Protocol specification. Design of Web servers, cache servers and proxy servers gets much attention, as do site workload and traffic metrics.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Web Protocols and Practice

“This is the most comprehensive, well-researched coverage of the basic Web protocols that I have seen. The authors have done especially well at uncovering the history and rationale of the protocol design process.”

         —Jeffrey Mogul, coauthor of the HTTP/1.1 standard

“This book will help demystify how the Internet and the Web work. Despite the current Web’s size and importance, it can be broken down into a small number of components that can be understood and controlled. This encyclopedic tome can be read straight through or used as a reference by those trying to understand or build sophisticated Internet applications.”

         —Brewster Kahle, President, Alexa Internet; Inventor of WAIS

“Web Protocols and Practice covers the most important Internet application—the Web—with unprecedented breadth, depth, and motivation. An important reference book for anyone who wants to understand the Web architecture inside and out.”

         —Steve McCanne, Chief Technology Officer, Inktomi

“The authors have gathered and explained a great deal of material not found elsewhere and created an encyclopedia of the how and why of the Web.”

         —Larry Masinter, Principal Scientist, Adobe Systems Inc.; past chair of HTTP and URI IETF working groups

“I learned a lot about the reasons for Web performance—from microscopic detail about specific interactions of layers to macroscopic traffic related issues. Everyone will want this book.”

         —Jon Crowcroft, Professor, Networks Systems, University College London

“This book is likely to be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in understanding the protocols and infrastructure behind the Web. I especially like the attention to the evolution and historical development of the Web protocols and to the sometimes unanticipated interactions between the various protocols.”

         —Sally Floyd, Senior Scientist, AT&T Center for Internet Research at the International Computer Science Institute

“This is a book that could very well have been entitled ‘Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Web But Did Not Know Who to Ask’.”

         —Roch Guerin, Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Networks, University of Pennsylvania

“The book is especially useful for Web site developers who can improve the user experience at their sites through a better understanding of the protocol performance issues discussed throughout the book. The material on the evolution from HTTP 1.0 to 1.1 is difficult to find outside of scattered research papers and standards documents. Overall, this book is a valuable resource for Web professionals and anyone interested in learning what makes the Web tick.”

         —Ramón Cáceres, Chief Scientist, Vindigo

“The authors have done a superb job in explaining the complex interactions of the Web protocols. The book is a unique resource for anyone who wants to learn how the Web really works.”

         —Jorg Liebeherr, Professor, University of Virginia

“It’s a great book for anyone interested in deep knowledge of Web-based techniques and is a must for Web architects and administrators.”

         —Eduardo Krell, Chief Technology Officer and Web Architect, Adexus, Santiago, Chile

“Good book! Describes things I have not seen before in print. Perfect for people who have a need to understand how HTTP works.”

         —Patrik Faltstrom, Applications Area Director, IETF

Web Protocols and Practice: HTTP/1.1, Networking Protocols, Caching, and Traffic Measurement is an all-in-one reference to the core technologies underlying the World Wide Web. The book provides an authoritative and in-depth look at the systems and protocols responsible for the transfer of content across the Web. The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is responsible for nearly three-quarters of the traffic on today¿s Internet. This book¿s extensive treatment of HTTP/1.1 and its interaction with other network protocols make it an indispensable resource for both practitioners and students.

Providing both the evolution and complete details of the basic building blocks of the Web, Web Protocols and Practice begins with an overview of Web software components and follows up with a description of the suite of protocols that form the semantic core of how content is delivered on the Web. The book later examines Web measurement and workload characterization and presents a cutting-edge report on Web caching and multimedia streaming. It concludes with a discussion on research perspectives that highlight topics that may affect the future evolution of the Web.

Numerous examples and case studies throughout the book detail key developments in Web technology, including the following:

• The history and evolution of the Web¿s key software components, including clients, proxies, and servers
• Exploration of scripts, search engines, spiders, cookies, and authentication
• The standard protocols: Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Domain Name System (DNS), and the first detailed coverage of the HTTP/1.1 standard
• The evolving suite of protocols for transferring multimedia streams, including the Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP)
• Techniques for collecting and analyzing Web traffic measurements
• Web caching, inter-cache protocols, caching hardware and software, and the move toward content distribution networks
• Evolving technologies specific to caching, measurement, and protocols

Timely and in-depth, Web Protocols and Practice: HTTP/1.1, Networking Protocols, Caching, and Traffic Measurement is the first book to document the Web¿s technical backbone in a comprehensive manner.

About the Author

Balachander Krishnamurthy of AT&T Labs–Research is a well-known researcher and the author of numerous publications in the World Wide Web and networking fields. He has published more than forty-five technical papers, coauthored and edited Practical Reusable UNIX Software, and was the series editor for the Trends in Software series of books. He holds several patents and has been a guest lecturer in more than thirty countries. His recent papers can be found at http://www.research.att.com/~bala/papers.

Jennifer Rexford of AT&T Labs–Research is an established researcher and the author of numerous publications in the areas of IP networking, multimedia streaming, and the World Wide Web. She has served on the editorial board for IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking and on program committees for the main networking conferences. Her recent papers can be found at http://www.research.att.com/~jrex.

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Customer Reviews

A broad and informative book, covering neglected topics.
When I first heard of this book, I considered whether or not it would make a worthwhile addition to my bookshelf, given that the majority of the subject material would be available online within numerous RFC documents. However, I am pleased that I decided to give it a chance.

Imagine if you can a book that provides the core information of the staid RFC documents, in a strangely readable format. So much so that the experience is more akin to reading a novel than a reference guide.

I was impressed with the depth in which HTTP/1.0 and 1.1 were discussed, however I felt that the title was a little inappropriate given that other protocols such as TCP, IP and DNS were not given the same level of attention. That said the chapters dealing with these topics still serve as a great introduction.

Later chapters cover a range of topics including caching, measurement and an examination of the real time streaming protocol. At the time of reading, I was not overly familiar with the inner workings of caching on the web and expected to find it somewhat monotonous. However, I was pleased to find that the authors have managed to convey a lot of material in an informative and thought provoking manner.

The chapter on RTSP was an unexpected surprise. I had assumed that there would not be a place for this lesser-known protocol in a book charged with covering the internal workings of the fundamental web protocols.

Overall this book is an unexpectedly enjoyable read and a valuable reference. I would recommend it to anyone who uses these protocols and wants to delve a little deeper into their workings.