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HTTP

HTTP is also a TCP-based line oriented protocol, so it could easily be wrapped with ProtoWrap. It is, however, very different from the other protocols analyzed. Both SMTP and POP3 have a session during which each command given by the client will be answered by the server, which will then wait for further input from the client. HTTP connections usually recieve information for a short period in the beginning of the connection, and send the result of the request (which can be even several megabytes long) afterwards. The data sent back to the client can sometimes be handled by a line-oriented wrapper (for example, when sending a text or HTML file), but the bulk of the content will be binary data - mainly images. Wrapping it would heavily increase the amount of RAM needed, and lead to probable DoS attacks.



Gunnar Wolf
2001-03-12