Computer Network Programming

Intro to Sockets
Dr. Sam Hsu
Computer Science & Engineering
Florida Atlantic University
 Intro to Sockets
„ The Client/Server Model
„ Layered Network Structure
„ Sockets
„ Internet Addressing
„ Protocol Port Numbers
„ Socket Programming
„ Network Byte Order
„ Connectionless/Connection-oriented Examples
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 The Client/Server Model
request Client
Server Client
response

Starts and initializes. Starts and initializes.

Goes to sleep waiting for client to Waits for user input.

connect.
When contacted by client, Upon receiving user request,
calls/creates a handler to handle. contacts server, sends request on
(Goes back to sleep: concurrent) user’s behalf.
Handles client request, sends back Waits for server reply, sends results to
reply … user, sends another user request …
Closes client connection. Closes server connection.
(Goes back to sleep: iterative).

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Client/Server on an LAN

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Client/Server via a WAN

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OSI vs. Internet Protocol Layers

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Protocol Data and Headers

Socket Layer (Application) Socket User Data

Struct

TCP/UDP TCP/UDP Data

TCP or UDP Layer (Transport) Header

IP Layer (Internet/Network) IP IP Data

Header

Frame Network Frame Data Frame

Network Layer (Link)
Header Tail

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What Is A Socket? (1/2)
„ A socket is a communication end
point.
„ Is equivalent to a computer's network
(hardware) interface.
„ Allows a network application to "plug
into" the network (not physically, but
metaphorically).

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What Is A Socket? (2/2)
„ Is a network programming interface.
„ It is used for interprocess communication
over the network.
„ It is used by a process to communicate
with a remote system via a transport
protocol.
„ It needs an IP address and a port number.

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Sockets Came From Berkeley UNIX
„ Sockets were first introduced in
Berkeley UNIX.
„ An extension of the UNIX abstraction of file
I/O concepts.

„ Now are commonly supported in almost

all modern operating systems for inter-
systems communications.

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Popular in Client/Server Computing
„ Sockets are popularly used in
client/server computing.
„ Provides two major types of services:
„ Connection-oriented
„ Connectionless

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Connection-Oriented Services (1/2)
„ Implemented on TCP
„ Short for Transmission Control Protocol.
„ A connection-oriented protocol.
„ Data transfer unit is known as segment.
„ An end-to-end connection is established
before data exchange can happen.
„ Similar to our phone system.

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Connection-Oriented Services (2/2)
„ Data bytes are delivered in sequence.
„ Delivery of data is guaranteed.
„ Connection is terminated when finished.
„ There are two modes:
„ Iterative (synchronous)
„ Concurrent (asynchronous)

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Connectionless Services (1/2)
„ Implemented on UDP
„ Short for User Datagram Protocol.
„ A connectionless protocol.
„ Data transfer unit is known as datagram.
„ No connection is required before data
transfer.
„ Similar to our postal system.

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Connectionless Services (2/2)
„ Data bytes may be missing or delivered
out-of-order.
„ There are also two modes:
„ Iterative (synchronous)
„ Concurrent (asynchronous)

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Sockets Are Bi-directional
„ A socket provides a bi-directional
communication mechanism.
„ Two way simultaneously.
„ Also know as full duplex (FDX)
communication.

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Internet Addressing
„ A means to identify hosts on the
Internet.
„ There are two popular ways:
„ Using IP addresses.
„ Using the domain name system
(DNS).

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IP Addresses (1/2)
„ IP is short for Internet Protocol.
„ Each host on the Internet is assigned a
32-bit unique address (in current IPv4).
„ An IP address is assigned to a single host
only.
„ A host may have more than one IP address
(multi-homed host).

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IP Addresses (2/2)
„ Dotted representation
„ Internet addresses are represented in the
form of four integers separated by decimal
points known as dotted representation.
„ Examples:
„ 131.91.96.108
„ 131.91.128.73

„ For readability by human.

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The Domain Name System (1/2)
„ A high-level naming scheme
„ A sequence of characters grouped into
sections delimited by decimal points.
„ Labeled in a meaningful way.

„ Examples:
„ earth.cse.fau.edu
„ www.fau.edu
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The Domain Name System (2/2)
„ The DNS naming convention is
hierarchical.
„ Written in the local-most level first and the
top-most level last fashion.

„ It is much easier to deal with DNS

names than with IP addresses.

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Mapping DNS to IP Addresses
„ Delivery of information across the
Internet is done by using IP addresses.
„ Need to map DNS names to IP addresses
before delivery.
„ Three ways:
„ Done at system startup.
„ Via a local table lookup.
„ Going through a nameserver
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Port Numbers
„ A (protocol) port is an abstraction used by
TCP/UDP to distinguish applications on a
given host.
„ A port is identified by a 16-bit integer known
as the port number.
„ Three ranges of port numbers:
„ Well-known ports
„ Registered ports
„ Dynamic ports
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Well-known Ports
„ Port numbers ranging from 0 to 1,023.
„ A set of pre-assigned port numbers for specific
uses.

„ Port numbers are managed by ICANN.

„ Short for the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
„ Used to be controlled solely by IANA (Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority).

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Some Well-known Ports
Port Keyword Description
0 Reserved
7 ECHO Echoes a received datagram to the sender
13 DAYTIME Returns the date and the time
20 FTP-DATA File Transfer Protocol (data)
21 FTP File Transfer Protocol (control)
22 SSH Secure Shell
23 TELNET Terminal Connection
25 SMTP Simple Mail Transport Protocol
53 DNS Domain Name Server
67 BOOTP Bootstrap Protocol
79 FINGER Finger
80 HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol
101 HOSTNAME NIC Host Name Server
103 X400 X.400 Mail Service
110 POP3 Post Office Protocol Vers. 3 25
Registered Ports
„ Port numbers ranging from 1,024 to
49,151.

„ Not assigned or controlled by ICANN;

however their uses need to be
registered via an ICANN-accredited
registrar to prevent duplications.

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Dynamic Ports
„ Port numbers ranging from 49,152 to
65,535.

„ Neither assigned or registered. They

can be used by anyone.
„ These are ephemeral ports.
„ Also known as private ports.

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Socket Programming
„ To use a socket, one needs a structure
to hold address and its associated port
number information.
„ A generic socket format:
(address family, address in the family)

„ Another name for family is domain.

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 Generic Socket Address Structure

struct sockaddr {
sa_family_t sa_family; /* address family */
char sa_data[14]; /* socket address */
}

ƒ Note: This generic socket structure is primarily for declaring

variables. “cast” is needed in the actual use of a socket address
structure.

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 A Popular BSD-derived Socket
Implementation (1/3)
struct sockaddr_in {
sa_family_t sin_family; /* address family: AF_XXX */
in_port_t sin_port; /* 16-bit protocol port number */
struct in_addr sin_addr; /* IP addr in NW byte order */
char sin_zero[8]; /* unused, set to zero */
}
ƒ Note: One may encounter PF_XXX occasionally. It is the same as
AF_XXX at present, but is expected to be phased out later.

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A Popular BSD-derived Socket
Implementation (2/3)
Where
„ sa_family_t sin_family usually holds the value
either AF_INET or AF_UNIX.
„ in_port_t sin_port is a 16-bit TCP or UDP port
number.
„ In need of htons() to convert to network byte
order.

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A Popular BSD-derived Socket
Implementation (3/3)
„ in_addr sin_addr contains a 32-bit IPv4
address.
„ Structure for in_addr:
struct in_addr {
in_addr_t s_addr; /* 32-bit IPv4 address */
/* in network byte order */
}
„ In need of htonl() to convert to network byte
order.

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 Network Byte Order
„ Different systems may store numbers in
different byte orders internally.
„ For example, Sparc machines is big-endian, and
i386 is little-endian. Taking 1 as an example,
MSB LSB

„ Big-endian: 00000000 00000001

„ Little-endian 00000001 00000000

„ Network byte order uses big-endian ordering.

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 Socket Types
Family Description
SOCK_STREAM stream socket (TCP)
SOCK_DGRAM datagram socket (UDP)
SOCK_SEQPACKET sequenced packet socket (SCTP)
SOCK_RAW raw socket (talk to IP directly)

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Two Examples
„ A connectionless example
„ Algorithms for server and client.
„ An implementation in C.

„ A connection-oriented example
„ Algorithms for server and client.
„ An implementation in C.

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Example 1: Connectionless
„ To illustrate a simple connectionless
client/server example.
„ One server (iterative), multiple clients.
„ The server echoes back requests from clients, one
client request at a time.
„ A client sends user request to server and displays
response received from server.
„ Programs: echo_seru.c & echo_cliu.c

„ It is implemented on UDP.

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Server Algorithm (connectionless)
a) Create a socket.
b) Bind to a predefined address for the
service desired.
c) Wait for a datagram to arrive from a
client.
d) Send response back to originating client.
e) Return to c) for next client.

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Client Algorithm (connectionless)
a) Create a socket.
b) Send a datagram to server.
c) Wait for response from server.
d) Return to b) for more datagrams.
e) Close the socket when no more
datagram to send.

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Example 2: Connection-oriented
„ To illustrate a simple connection-oriented
client/server example.
„ Similar to the previous one: The server echoes
back requests from clients, and a client displays
server response.
„ However, a connection is established before data
exchange can happen.
„ Programs: echo_ser.c & echo_cli.c

„ It is implemented on TCP.

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Server Algorithm
(connection-oriented)
a) Create a socket.
b) Bind to a predefined address for the service desired.
c) Place the socket in passive mode.
d) Accept the next connection request from a client.
e) Read a request, process the request, and send back
the results.
f) Close the connection when done with a client.
g) Return to d) for next client.

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Client Algorithm
(connection-oriented)
a) Create a socket.
b) Connect the socket to the desired server.
c) Send a request, and wait for the response.
d) Repeat c) until done.
e) Notify server of intention to terminate.
‰ May close R/W end either separately or together
at the same time.
f) Close the socket (connection) when done.

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Connectionless: Functions Used
request Client
Server Client
response

socket() socket()

bind() bind()
Æ optional
recvfrom() sendto()
Æ blocks
sendto() recvfrom()
Æ blocks

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Connection-oriented: Functions Used
request Client
Server Client
response

socket() socket()
bind() connect()
listen() Æ blocks

accept()
Æ blocks
read() write()
write() read()
close() close()

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R&W on a Closed TCP Socket
„ In a TCP connection, a write to a
disconnected socket will generate
SIGPIPE.
„ This can be dealt with a proper signal
handler.

„ A read from socket will return 0 if the

socket is closed.

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A close() Call for TCP/UDP
„ If the socket is for SOCK_STREAM
„ The kernel will deliver all data received before
terminating the connection.
„ close() will block until all outstanding data
delivered to the receiving process.

„ If the socket is for SOCK_DGRAM

„ The socket is closed immediately.

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TCP Client/Server Socket Functions
TCP Server
Create a socket socket()

Assign IP addr/Port # to the socket bind()

Establish a queue for connections listen()

accept()
TCP Client
socket() Blocks until a connection request from client
Initiate a connection
connect() Get a connection from the queue
Connection establishment (may fork a child)
(TCP 3-way handshake)

write()
Data (request) read()

read() write()
Data (reply)

close()
EOF notification read()

close()
Ref: UNP, Stevens et al, vol1, ed 3, 2004, AW, p. 96
Connection closed for one client
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UDP Client/Server Socket Functions
UDP Server
Create a socket socket()

Assign IP addr/Port # to the socket bind()

UDP Client recvfrom()

socket()
blocks until datagram arrives from
Send datagram to server,
client
with the client's address
data (request)
sendto()
Receive datagram from client,
with the client's address

Send datagram to client,

with the server's address

recvfrom() data (reply) sendto()

Receive datagram from server,
with the server's address
Ref: UNP, Stevens et. al, vol 1, ed 3, 2004, AW, p. 240
close()
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Some Relevant Socket System
Calls and Header Files
int socket(int family, int type, int protocol);
int bind(int sockfd, const struct sockaddr *addr, socklen_t addrlen);
int listen(int sockfd, int backlog);
int accept(int sockfd, struct sockaddr *cliaddr, socklen_t *cliaddrlen);
int connect(int sockfd, struct sockaddr *servaddr, socklen_t *servaddrlen);
ssize_t recvfrom(int sockfd, void *buff, size_t len, int flags, struct sockaddr *from,
socklen_t *fromlen);
ssize_t sendto(int sockfd, void *msg, size_t len, int flags, struct sockaddr *to,
socklen_t tolen);
struct hostent gethostbyname(const char *name);
int shutdown(int sockfd, int howto);

<sys/socket.h>
<netinet/in.h>
<netdb.h>
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 Some References
„ To download textbook source code
http://www.unpbook.com/src.html

„ A tutorial on Networking Programming using

Sockets
http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/output/print/bgnet_USLetter.pdf

„ Networking Programming FAQs

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/unix-faq/socket/
http://www.uni-giessen.de/faq/archiv/unix-
faq.socket/msg00000.html

„ Some coding examples

http://www.xcf.berkeley.edu/~ali/K0D/UNIX/Networking/

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Reading Assignment
„ Scan Chapters 1, 4, and 8

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