Introduction to Socket
Programming with C
What is a Socket?
A socket is an interface between the
application and the network (the lower levels of
the protocol stack)
The application creates a socket
The socket type dictates the style of communication
▪ reliable vs. best effort
▪ connection-oriented vs. connectionless
Once a socket is setup the application can:
pass data to the socket for network transmission
receive data from the socket (transmitted through
the network, sent by some other host)
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Most Popular Types of
Sockets
TCP Socket UDP Socket
Type: Type: SOCK_DGRAM
unreliable delivery
SOCK_STREAM
reliable delivery no order guarantees
in-order no notion of
guaranteed “connection” – app
connection- indicates
destination for each
oriented
bidirectional
packet
can send or receive
We focus on TCP
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Socket Creation in C
int s = socket(domain, type, protocol);
s: socket descriptor, an integer (like a file-handle)
domain: integer, communication domain
▪ e.g., PF_INET (IPv4 protocol) – typically used
type: communication type
▪ SOCK_STREAM: reliable, 2-way, connection-based service
▪ SOCK_DGRAM: unreliable, connectionless,
▪ other values: need root permission, rarely used, or obsolete
protocol: specifies protocol (see file /etc/protocols for a list of
options) - usually set to 0
NOTE: socket call does not specify where data will be
coming from, nor where it will be going to; it just creates
the interface.
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Ports
Each host machine has
an IP address (or more!) Port 0
Port 1
Each host has 65,536
ports (22)
Port 65535
Some ports are reserved
for specific apps
20,21: FTP A socket provides an
23: Telnet interface to send data
80: HTTP to/from the network
see RFC 1700 (about through a port
2000 ports are reserved)
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Addresses, Ports and
Sockets
Like apartments and mailboxes
You are the application
Your apartment building address is the address
Your mailbox is the port
The post-office is the network
The socket is the key that gives you access to
the right mailbox (one difference: assume
outgoing mail is placed by you in your mailbox)
Q: How do you choose which port a socket
connects to?
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The Bind Function
The bind function associates and (can
exclusively) reserves a port for use by the socket
int status = bind(sockid, &addrport, size);
status: error status, = -1 if bind failed
sockid: integer, socket descriptor
addrport: struct sockaddr, the (IP) address and port
of the machine (address usually set to INADDR_ANY –
chooses a local address)
size: the size (in bytes) of the addrport structure
Q: bind can be skipped for both types of sockets.
When and why?
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On the Connecting End
When connecting to another host (i.e.,
connecting end is the client and the
receiving end is the server), the OS
automatically assigns a free port for the
outgoing connection.
Duringconnection setup, receiving end is
informed of port)
You
can however bind to a specific port if
need be.
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Connection Setup
A connection occurs between two ends
Server: waits for an active participant to
request connection
Client: initiates connection request to
passive side
Once connection is established, server
and client ends are “similar”
both can send & receive data
either can terminate the connection
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Server and Clients
From: UNIX Network Programming Volume 1, figure 4.1 TCP Server
socket()
bind()
TCP Client listen()
socket() accept()
connection establishment
connect()
data request
write() read()
data reply write()
read()
end-of-file notification read()
close()
close()
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Connection Setup Steps
Server end:
Client end: step 1: listen (for
step 2: request & incoming requests)
establish connection step 3: accept (a
step 4: send/recv request)
step 4: send/receive
Server The accepted
connection is on a new
a-sock-1 l-sock a-sock-2 socket
The old socket
continues to listen for
socket socket other active
participants
Client1 Client2
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Server Socket: Listen &
Accept
Called on server side:
int status = listen(sock, queuelen);
status: 0 if listening, -1 if error
sock: integer, socket descriptor
queuelen: integer, # of active participants that can “wait” for a
connection
listen is non-blocking: returns immediately
int s = accept(sock, &addr, &addrlen);
s: integer, the new socket (used for data-transfer)
sock: integer, the orig. socket (being listened on)
addr: struct sockaddr, address of the active participant
addrlen: sizeof(addr): value/result parameter
must be set appropriately before call
adjusted by OS upon return
accept is blocking: waits for connection before returning
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Connect
int status = connect(sock, &addr, addrlen);
status: 0 if successful connect, -1 otherwise
sock: integer, socket to be used in connection
addr: struct sockaddr: address of server
addrlen: integer, sizeof(addr)
connect is blocking
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Sending / Receiving Data
int count = send(sock, &buf, len, flags);
count: # bytes transmitted (-1 if error)
buf: void*, buffer to be transmitted
len: integer, length of buffer (in bytes) to transmit
flags: integer, special options, usually just 0
int count = recv(sock, &buf, len, flags);
count: # bytes received (-1 if error)
buf: void*, stores received bytes
len: # bytes received
flags: integer, special options, usually just 0
Calls are blocking
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Close
When finished using a socket, the socket
should be closed.
status = close(s);
status: 0 if successful, -1 if error
s: the file descriptor (socket being closed)
Closing a socket
closes a connection
frees up the port used by the socket
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The struct sockaddr
The struct to store the Internet address of a host:
struct sockaddr_in {
short sin_family;
u_short sin_port;
struct in_addr sin_addr;
char sin_zero[8];
};
sin_family
Specifies the address family
E.g. AF_INET
sin_port
Specifies the port number (0-65535)
sin_addr
Specifies the IP address
sin_zero
unused!
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Example
struct sockaddr_in server; // definition
memset(&server, 0, sizeof(server)); // init to 0
server.sin_family = AF_INET; // address family
server.sin_port = htons(MYPORTNUM); // port
server.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY); // address
Host Byte-Ordering: the byte ordering used by a host
(big-endian or little-endian)
Network Byte-Ordering: the byte ordering used by the
network – always big-endian
Any words sent through the network should be
converted to Network Byte-Order prior to transmission
(and back to Host Byte-Order once received)
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Network Byte-Ordering
u_long htonl(u_long x); u_long ntohl(u_long x);
u_short htons(u_short x); u_short ntohs(u_short x);
On big-endian machines, these routines do nothing
On little-endian machines, they reverse the byte order
Big-Endian Little-Endian
12 11 40
[Link] 12 machine machine 12 [Link]
40 11 12
8 9 9 8
nl
ntohl
hto
12 11 40 12 12 11 40 12
8 9 8 9
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Tips (1/2)
Sometimes, an ungraceful exit from a program (e.g.,
ctrl-c) does not properly free up a port
Eventually (after a few minutes), the port will be freed
You can kill the process, or to reduce the likelihood of
this problem, include the following code:
In header include:
#include <signal.h>
void cleanExit(){exit(0);}
In socket code add:
signal(SIGTERM, cleanExit);
signal(SIGINT, cleanExit);
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Tips (2/2)
Q: How to find the IP address of the machine
my server program is running on?
Use127.0.0.1 or localhost for accessing a
server running on your local machine.
For
a remote server running Linux use the
bash shell command: ifconfig
For
Windows, use cmd to invoke:
ipconfig
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Let’s Write Some Code
Sample socket program:
1. Echo server: echo’s what it receives
back to client
2. Client/server example
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Tips for Assignment 1
Proxy Web
socket() socket()
bind() bind()
TCP Client listen() listen()
socket() accept() socket() accept()
connect() connect()
Get request Get
write() read() read()
write()
modify
Send data write() data write()
read() read()
read()
close() close()
close()
close()
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Example
[Link]
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