Java Networking

Java Networking is a concept of connecting two or more computing devices together so that we can
share resources.

Java socket programming provides facility to share data between different computing devices.

Advantage of Java Networking

1. sharing resources

2. centralize software management

Java Networking Terminology

1. IP Address
2. Protocol
3. Port Number
4. MAC Address
5. Connection-oriented and connection-less protocol
6. Socket

1) IP Address

IP address is a unique number assigned to a node of a network e.g. 192.168.0.1 . It is composed of octets that
range from 0 to 255.

It is a logical address that can be changed.

2) Protocol

A protocol is a set of rules basically that is followed for communication. For example:

o TCP
o FTP
o Telnet
o SMTP
o POP etc.

3) Port Number

The port number is used to uniquely identify different applications. It acts as a communication endpoint between
applications.

The port number is associated with the IP address for communication between two applications.

4) MAC Address

MAC (Media Access Control) Address is a unique identifier of NIC (Network Interface Controller). A network
node can have multiple NIC but each with unique MAC.
5) Connection-oriented and connection-less protocol

In connection-oriented protocol, acknowledgement is sent by the receiver. So it is reliable but slow. The
example of connection-oriented protocol is TCP.

But, in connection-less protocol, acknowledgement is not sent by the receiver. So it is not reliable but fast. The
example of connection-less protocol is UDP.

6) Socket

A socket is an endpoint between two way communication.

Visit next page for java socket programming.

java.net package
The java.net package provides many classes to deal with networking applications in Java. A list of these classes
is given below:

o Authenticator
o CacheRequest
o CacheResponse
o ContentHandler
o CookieHandler
o CookieManager
o DatagramPacket
o DatagramSocket
o DatagramSocketImpl
o InterfaceAddress
o JarURLConnection
o MulticastSocket
o InetSocketAddress
o InetAddress
o Inet4Address
o Inet6Address
o IDN
o HttpURLConnection
o HttpCookie
o NetPermission
o NetworkInterface
o PasswordAuthentication
o Proxy
o ProxySelector
o ResponseCache
o SecureCacheResponse
o ServerSocket
o Socket
 o SocketAddress
o SocketImpl
o SocketPermission
o StandardSocketOptions
o URI
o URL
o URLClassLoader
o URLConnection
o URLDecoder
o URLEncoder
o URLStreamHandler

Java InetAddress class

Java InetAddress class represents an IP address. The java.net.InetAddress class provides methods to get the
IP of any host name for example www.javatpoint.com, www.google.com, www.facebook.com, etc.

An IP address is represented by 32-bit or 128-bit unsigned number. An instance of InetAddress represents the IP
address with its corresponding host name. There are two types of address types: Unicast and Multicast. The
Unicast is an identifier for a single interface whereas Multicast is an identifier for a set of interfaces.

Moreover, InetAddress has a cache mechanism to store successful and unsuccessful host name resolutions.

Commonly used methods of InetAddress class

Example of Java InetAddress class

Let's see a simple example of InetAddress class to get ip address of www.javatpoint.com
website.

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class InetDemo{
public static void main(String[] args){
try{
InetAddress ip=InetAddress.getByName("www.javatpoint.com");

System.out.println("Host Name: "+ip.getHostName());

System.out.println("IP Address: "+ip.getHostAddress());
}catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
}}
 Java Socket Programming
Java Socket programming is used for communication between the applications running on different JRE.

Java Socket programming can be connection-oriented or connection-less.

Socket and ServerSocket classes are used for connection-oriented socket programming and DatagramSocket
and DatagramPacket classes are used for connection-less socket programming.

Java Socket Programming

Java Socket programming is used for communication between the applications running on different JRE.

Java Socket programming can be connection-oriented or connection-less.

Socket and ServerSocket classes are used for connection-oriented socket programming and
DatagramSocket and DatagramPacket classes are used for connection-less socket programming.

The client in socket programming must know two information:

1. IP Address of Server, and

2. Port numbe

In one-way client and server communication. In this application, client sends a message to the
server, server reads the message and prints it. Here, two classes are being used: Socket and
ServerSocket. The Socket class is used to communicate client and server. Through this class, we can
read and write message. The ServerSocket class is used at server-side. The accept() method of
ServerSocket class blocks the console until the client is connected. After the successful connection of
client, it returns the instance of Socket at server-side.
Socket class
A socket is simply an endpoint for communications between the machines. The Socket class can be used to
create a socket.
Creating Server:

To create the server application, we need to create the instance of ServerSocket class. Here, we are
using 6666 port number for the communication between the client and server. You may also choose
any other port number. The accept() method waits for the client. If clients connects with the given
port number, it returns an instance of Socket.

Creating Client:

To create the client application, we need to create the instance of Socket class. Here, we need to
pass the IP address or hostname of the Server and a port number. Here, we are using "localhost"
because our server is running on same system.