Lab 3

Application Layer - HTTP

CMPE 150

Lab Report
Reports must be written and submitted individually as PDFs.
Submission Instructions:
Submit your report on the eCommons by 11:55 PM on the day of your registered lab
section. Your submission should include an archive (tar or zip) containing your lab
report and any other required files. Late/improper submissions will have a 10% grading
penalty per day. Late labs will not be accepted after 3 days.

Pre-Lab Questions

1. What is a port number used for?

2. Define HTTP and explain its purpose.
3. What is a hypertext file?
4. Define the difference between persistent and non-persistent HTTP.
5. What is HTTPS?
6. Lookup and define the nine HTTP request methods.
7. Lookup and define the following HTTP status codes:
a. 1XX (100 range)
b. 2XX (200 range)
c. 3XX (300 range)
d. 4XX (400 range)
e. 5XX (500 range)
f. 403
g. 404
h. 418
In this lab, we will examine how HTTP works by using Wireshark to examine our web
activity.
Log in to the internet-connected Windows PCs and open a web browser and Wireshark.
To avoid seeing extraneous information, please close all other browsers or network
applications.

Part A

1. Configure the Wireshark interface as you did in the previous lab and begin the
traffic capture.
2. In the filter bar, type http and click Apply.

3. In the web browser, navigate to http://skynet.soe.ucsc.edu/.

4. Next, try going to http://skynet.soe.ucsc.edu/imaginary.html.
5. Stop the traffic capture by hitting the Stop button in the Wireshark Capture
window.
SAVE DATA:
Print packet details to a file (2a.out) using the following settings:
Part B
1. Configure the Wireshark interface as you did in the previous section and begin the
traffic capture.
2. In the filter bar, type http and click Apply.

3. In the web browser, navigate to example.com.

4. Stop the traffic capture by hitting the Stop button in the Wireshark Capture
window.
SAVE DATA:
Print packet details to a file (2b.out) using the same settings as before.

Part C
1. Configure the Wireshark interface as you did in the previous section and begin the
traffic capture.
2. In the filter bar, type ssl and click Apply.
3. In the web browser, navigate to my.ucsc.edu and login.
4. Stop the traffic capture by hitting the Stop button in the Wireshark Capture
window.
SAVE DATA:
Print packet details to a file (2c.out) using the same settings as before.
Questions

Part A
1. Summarize the packet trace and include the file with your report.
2. What was the IP address of the skynet.soe.ucsc.edu web server? What port
number was the web server located on?
3. What type of HTTP request method was used to retrieve the web page?
4. What is a Request URI?
5. What version of HTTP are the server and client using?
6. What status code was returned in response to the initial request? What about when
imaginary.html was asked for?
Part B
1. Summarize the packet trace and include the file with your report.
2. What is the IP address and port number of the server(s) that were contacted?
3. What was the response to the initial request and why was it sent? How many
additional requests did it take before a response was received with status 200?
Part C
1. Summarize the packet trace and include the file with your report.
2. What is the IP address and port number of the my.ucsc.edu web server?
3. Why are we unable to read the packet contents?

General
1. What port numbers do web servers appear to listen to for incoming connections?
2. What was the IP address of your computer? Did you use the same port number for
all HTTP requests?