Posted by osfwofujro on 09/07/05 00:14

Benjamin Niemann wrote:

>osfwofujro wrote:
>
>
>
>>When I connect to a webpage the page downloads on to my computer. When
>>the page has finished downloading, am I correct in thinking that the
>>connection between me and the web server terminates?
>>
>>
>
>Not necessarily. HTTP/1.1 knows 'keep-alive': if both sides (client and
>server, and perhaps proxies inbetween) support it, the connection will be
>kept open and be reused for more request. This can significantly improve
>page loading times (e.g. with lots of graphics), because the TCP handshake
>to initiate a connection does not have to be performed for every
>document/media object.
>
>
>
What would happen if you connected to the site via a proxy or series of
proxies, so the site did not get your real IP; but then you closed the
proxies and changed the settings to direct connection, so your IP was
obvious, but did not click on any new pages for the particular site?
Could that site get your IP via this keep alive concept or would that
fact that the closing of the proies changes the method of connecting to
the site, mean this would not be the case? Thanks.

>>And then if I click on another link in the same site or refresh the
>>page, then I reconnect from scratch again?
>>
>>
>
>Only if your at least one of the parties involved (client, server, proxies)
>does not support keep-alive or all connection have been closed after a
>certain timeout.
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>>And that the webpage knows
>>who I am (say if it's webmail) because of the cookie?
>>
>>
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>That is just one of several possibilities. Others are session IDs in the
>query part of the URL (...?SID=3487387...), the referer header, your IP
>address or the ETag header could be abused for this. The latter three are
>all too fragile to be used e.g. for session management as it's used for a
>webmail application. Cookies or query strings are commonly used for this.
>
>
>
>>IOW, once the page has downloaded, the link between me and the website
>>is over - until I request another page/graphic/text on that site?
>>
>>
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>see above
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