HTTP

basics about the HTTP Protocol

Last RFC at this date are RFC 9112 and RFC 9114 (7th jan 2023)

Basic terminology/acronyms

AcronymDefinition
URLUniform Resource Locator
URIUnifomr Resource Identifier
HTTPHypertext Transport Protocol
HTMLHypertext Markup Language
HTTP VersionsRFC / remark – improvements
0.9First version – GET method
1.0RFC 1945 –
1.1RFC 2068/2616 – keepalive is introduced
2RFC 7540 – multiplexing many concurrent requests/responses through a single TCP/IP connection
3RFC 9114 – Quick UDP
HTTP Basics MethodsUsage
GETrequest resource
PUTcreate or update a resource
POSTcreate a resource
HEADget the status of the resource, not the data
DELETEdelete a resource

Ressources to explore :

Mozzila developper Guide link

Deep Dive link

Tools to analyze HTTP activity :

On your favorite Browser, activate the F12 Key (or developpers tools), open the « network » tab, open a web page, www.google.com, select the first request and observe the « Headers » tab. You shoud see a 200 OK and a lot of other Headers

Other tools like Fiddler from Telerik, HttpWatch are able to help to debug an http activity between a browser and a web server. For HTTPS trafic analysis, you will need configure the decryption.

HTTP Authentication link

Terminology see RFC9110

TO ADD: a simple diagram « How it works » and the mindmap

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