Question 10 Which among these are stateful application layer protocol.
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Which among these are stateful application layer protocol. Select all the correct choices.
Pick ONE OR MORE options
Show answer & explanation
Stateful application layer protocols maintain connection state and require explicit session management. FTP maintains state across commands (control connection persists), and POP3 maintains authentication state across a session. HTTP is stateless (each request independent, though cookies add state at application level). TCP is a transport layer protocol, not an application layer protocol.
Step-by-step Derivation:
Classification by protocol layer and state characteristics:
HTTP (Layer 7): Stateless protocol—each request is independent. Server doesn't inherently remember previous requests without cookies/sessions.
FTP (Layer 7): Stateful—uses a persistent control connection that maintains state across multiple commands. Client authenticates once, then issues multiple commands on the same connection.
TCP (Layer 4): Not an application layer protocol; it's a transport layer protocol. While TCP maintains connection state internally, it's not classified as an application layer protocol.
POP3 (Layer 7): Stateful—maintains session state from login through email retrieval. Client authenticates, and the server tracks the authenticated session state.
Correct answers: B (FTP) and D (POP3) — both are stateful application layer protocols that maintain explicit session/connection state.