Socket Option

Source: UNIX Network Programming: Chapter: 7 W. Richard Stevens, Bill Fenner, Andrew M. Rudoff
Overview
● Introduction
● getsockopt and setsockopt function
● socket state
● Generic socket option
● IPv4 socket option
● TCP socket option
● fcnl function

2
Introduction
There are various ways to get and set options that affect a socket:
● getsockopt , setsockopt function=>IPv4 and IPv6 multicasting options
● fcntl function =>nonblocking I/O, signal driven I/O; is used for standard file descriptor
manipulations and locking mechanisms.
● ioctl function : is used when you need device-specific functionality.

3
getsockopt and setsockopt function
● The getsockopt and setsockopt system calls manipulate the options associated with a socket.
● The getsockopt() function retrieve the value for the option specified by
the option_name argument for the socket specified by the socket argument.
#include <sys/socket.h>
int getsockopt(int sockfd, , int level, int optname, void *optval, socklent_t *optlen);
int setsockopt(int sockfd, int level , int optname, const void *optval, socklent_t optlen);

● sockfd => open socket descriptor

● level => code in the system to interprete the option(generic, IPv4, IPv6, TCP)
● optval => pointer to a variable from which the new value of option is fetched by setsockopt,
or into which the current value of the option is stored by setsockopt.
The size of this variable is specified by the final argument, as a value for setsockopt and as a
value result for getsockopt.
● optlen => the size of the option variable. 4
Contd..

setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_KEEPALIVE, &keepalive, sizeof(keepalive));

5
Contd..

6
Contd..

7
Contd..

8
Why we need socket options?
● Socket options are used to configure and fine-tune the behavior of sockets in a network
application.
● They provide additional control over how a socket operates and interact with the underlying
system and network.
● Enabling developers to optimize performance, ensure reliability, and handle special
requirements.
Without Socket Options- you would lose flexibility and control, potentially facing:
• Performance Issues: Limited buffer sizes and latency problems.
• Resource Constraints: Problems reusing ports or managing connections.
• Incompatibility: Lack of support for advanced networking scenarios like multicasting or
QoS.

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Contd..
Configuring Socket Behavior
Socket options allow you to control various aspects of how a socket functions. For example:
 SO_REUSEADDR: Allows reusing a port that is in the TIME_WAIT state, avoiding the "Address already
in use" error.
 SO_KEEPALIVE: Keeps idle connections alive by sending periodic probes, useful for detecting dead or
unresponsive peers.
 SO_BROADCAST: Enables broadcasting for UDP sockets.
Example: int opt = 1; //Reusing Ports: To allow multiple processes to bind to the same port:
setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, &opt, sizeof(opt));
int keepalive = 1; //Keep Connections Alive: To detect broken connections:
setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_KEEPALIVE, &keepalive, sizeof(keepalive));
int bufsize = 65536; //Tuning Performance: To increase the size of the send buffer:
setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDBUF, &bufsize, sizeof(bufsize));
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Contd..
Enabling Advanced Features
● Some socket options enable advanced networking features:
 IP_TOS: Sets the Type of Service (ToS) field in the IP header for Quality of Service (QoS) configurations.
 SO_PRIORITY: Sets packet priority for traffic differentiation.
Multicast Options: Options like IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP and IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP control multicast
group memberships for efficient data distribution.

Debugging and Diagnostics

● Socket options provide tools for monitoring and diagnosing network issues:
SO_ERROR: Retrieves the last error on a socket.
SO_TIMESTAMP: Enables receiving timestamps for incoming packets, useful for debugging or time-
sensitive applications.

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Contd..
Security and Reliability
● Socket options improve the robustness and security of network applications:
SO_LINGER: Ensures proper handling of pending data when closing a socket.
SO_RCVLOWAT and SO_SNDLOWAT: Specify thresholds for read and write operations, ensuring data
readiness.
Portability Across Platforms
● By using standard socket options (e.g., POSIX options), developers can write portable code
that behaves consistently across different operating systems.
Optimizing Network Performance
Socket options enable fine-tuning of performance parameters:
SO_RCVBUF and SO_SNDBUF: Adjust the size of the receive and send buffers to optimize data transfer
performance.
 TCP_NODELAY: Disables Nagle's algorithm, reducing latency for applications that send small packets
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Socket Options Getting/Setting socket options…
● While manipulating the socket options both level and optname arguments must be correctly
specified.

● The “datatype” column shows the data type of what the optval pointer must point to for each
option. Use the notation to of two braces to indicate a structure.

● When calling getsockopt for these flags option,*optval is an integer. The value returned in
*optvalue is zero if the option is disabled, or non zero if option is enabled.
● Setsockopt requires a non zero *optvalue to turn the option on, and a zero to turn the option
off.

● If the Flag column does not contain a “.” then option is used to pass the values to the specific
data type between the user processes and the a system. 13
Types of options
Levels:
● Generic: SOL_SOCKET
● IP: IPPROTO_IP
● ICMPV6: IPPROTO_ICMPv6
● IPV6:IPPROTO_IPV6
● TCP:IPPROTO_TCP

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Generic: SOL_SOCKET
optname get set Description Flag Datatype
permit sending of
SO_BROADCAST    int
broadcast datagrams
SO_DEBUG   enable debug tracing  int
bypass routing table
SO_DONTROUTE    int
lookup
SO_ERROR   get pending error & clear  int
periodically test if
SO_KEEPALIVE    int
connection still alive
Linger on close if data to
SO_LINGER    linger{}
send

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Generic: SOL_SOCKET
● level: SOL_SOCKET
optname get set Description Flag Datatype

leave received out-of-band data

SO_OOBINLINE    int
inline

SO_RCVBUF   receive buffer size  int

SO_SNDBUF   send buffer size  int

SO_RCVLOWAT   receive buffer low-water mark  int

SO_SNDLOWAT   send buffer low-water mark  int

SO_RCVTIMEO   receive timeout  timeval{}

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Generic: SOL_SOCKET
● level: SOL_SOCKET

optname get set Description Flag Datatype

timeval{
SO_SNDTIMEO   send timeout 
}
allow local address
SO_REUSEADDR    int
reuse

SO_REUSEPORT   allow local port reuse  int

SO_TYPE   get socket type  int

routing socket gets

SO_USELOOPBACK    int
copy of what it sends

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Generic socket option
● SO_BROADCAST =>enable or disable the ability of the process to send broadcast
message.(only datagram socket : Ethernet, token ring..)
You cannot broadcast – point to point link and connection based transport protocol.
● SO_DEBUG => When enable for TCP socket, kernel keep track of detailed information
about all packets sent or received by TCP(only supported by TCP).
● SO_DONTROUTE=>outgoing packets are to bypass the normal routing mechanisms of
the underlying protocol.
 The equivalent of this option can also be applied to individual datagrams using the MSG_DONTROUTE
flag with the send , sendto, or sendmsg function.
 "Does not route: sends directly to interface. E.G: routing daemons

● SO_ERROR=>when error occurs on a socket, the protocol module in a Berkeley-derived

kernel sets a variable named so_error for that socket. Process can obtain the value of
so_error by fetching the SO_ERROR socket option
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Contd..
● SO_KEEPALIVE=>When the keep alive option is set for a TCP socket and no data has
been exchanged across the socket in either direction for 2 hours, and then TCP
automatically sends a keepalive probe to the peer.
Peer response
ACK(everything OK)
RST(peer crashed and rebooted):ECONNRESET
no response:ETIMEOUT =>socket closed

example: Rlogin, Telnet…

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SO_LINGER
● SO_LINGER =>specify how the close function operates for a connection-oriented
protocol(default:close returns immediately)
struct linger{
int l_onoff; /* 0 = off, nonzero = on */
int l_linger; /*linger time : second*/
};
● l_onoff = 0 : turn off , l_linger is ignored
● l_onoff = nonzero and l_linger is 0:TCP abort the connection, discard any remaining data
in send buffer.
● l_onoff = nonzero and l_linger is nonzero : process wait until remained data sending, or
until linger time expired. If socket has been set nonblocking it will not wait for the close to
complete, even if linger time is nonzero.
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SO_LINGER

client server

write data

Close Data queued by TCP

FIN
close returns
Ack of data and FIN

Application reads queued

data and FIN
FIN close

Ack of data and FIN

Default operation of close:it returns immediately

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SO_LINGER

client server

write data

Close Data queued by TCP

FIN
Ack of data and FIN
close returns
Application reads queued
data and FIN
FIN close

Ack of data and FIN

Close with SO_LINGER socket option set and l_linger a positive value
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SO_LINGER

client server

write data

Shutdown Data queued by TCP

FIN
read block
Ack of data and FIN

Application reads queued

data and FIN
FIN close
read returns 0
Ack of data and FIN

Using shutdown to know that peer has received our data

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Contd..

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Contd..
● An way to know that the peer application has read the data
use an application-level ack or application ACK
client
char ack;
Write(sockfd, data, nbytes); // data from client to server
n=Read(sockfd, &ack, 1); // wait for application-level ack
server
nbytes=Read(sockfd, buff, sizeof(buff)); //data from client
//server verifies it received the correct amount of data from the client
Write(sockfd, “”, 1); //server’s ACK back to client

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Buffer
● Every socket has a send buffer and receive buffer.
● The receive buffer are used by TCP,UDP, and SCTP to hold received data until it is read by
the application.
● TCP?
● UDP?
● Two socket options let us change the default sizes. The default values differ widely between
implementation.

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SO_RCVBUF , SO_SNDBUF
● let us change the default send-buffer, receive-buffer size.
Default TCP send and receive buffer size :
4096bytes
8192-61440 bytes(newer system)
Default UDP buffer size : 9,000bytes(send buff if the host supports NFS), 40,000 bytes(receive buff)

● SO_RCVBUF option must be setting before connection established.

● TCP socket buffer size should be at least three times the MSSs(Ethernet with mss 1,460)

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SO_RCVLOWAT , SO_SNDLOWAT
● Every socket has a receive low-water mark and send low-water mark.(used by select
function)
● Receive low-water mark:
 The amount of data that must be in the socket receive buffer for select to return “readable”.
 Default receive low-water mark : 1 for TCP and UDP

● Send low-water mark:

 The amount of available space that must exist in the socket send buffer for select to return “writable”
 Default send low-water mark : 2048 for TCP
 UDP send buffer never change because dose not keep a copy of send datagram.

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SO_RCVTIMEO, SO_SNDTIMEO
● These two socket option allow us to place a timeout on socket receives and sends.
● We disable timeout by setting its value to 0 seconds and 0 micro seconds.
● The receive timeout affects the five input functions: read , readv, recv,recvfrom and
recvmsg
● The send time out affect the five output functions: write, writev, send , sendto and
sendmesg
● Readv means read vector;
● The term "vector" refers to the array of struct iovec structures that is passed to the system
call, enabling the reading of data into multiple buffers in a single operation. This is why it's
often associated with scatter I/O, where the data is "scattered" across multiple non-
contiguous memory buffers.

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SO_REUSEADDR, SO_REUSEPORT
● Allow a listening server to start and bind its well known port even if previously established
connection exist that use this port as their local port.
● Allow multiple instance of the same server to be started on the same port, as long as each
instance binds a different local IP address.
● Allow a single process to bind the same port to multiple sockets, as long as each bind
specifies a different local IP address.
● Allow completely duplicate bindings : multicasting

The socket options with the following recommendations:

● Set the SO_REUSEADDR socket option before calling bind in all TCP servers.
● When writing a multicast application that can be run multiple times on the same host at the
same time, set the SO_REUSEADDR socket option and bind the group’s multicast address
as the local IP address. 30
SO_REUSEADDR

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SO_TYPE
● Return the socket type.
● Returned value is such as SOCK_STREAM, SOCK_DGRAM...

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SO_USELOOPBACK
● This option applies only to sockets in the routing domain(AF_ROUTE).
● The socket receives a copy of everything sent on the socket.

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IPv4 socket option
● Level => IPPROTO_IP
● IP_HDRINCL => If this option is set for a raw IP socket, we must build our IP header for
all the datagrams that we send on the raw socket.

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IPv4 socket option
● IP_OPTIONS=>allows us to set IP option in IPv4 header.
● IP_RECVDSTADDR=>This socket option causes the destination IP address of a received
UDP datagram to be returned as ancillary data by recvmsg.

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recvmsg()
● The recvmsg() API is similar to other socket APIs, such as recv() and read(), that allow an
application to receive data, but also provides the capability of receiving ancillary data.
● Ancillary data allows the TCP/IP protocol stack to return additional option data to the
application along with the normal data from the IP network.

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IP_RECVIF
● Cause the index of the interface on which a UDP datagram is received to be returned as
ancillary data by recvmsg.

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IP_TOS
● lets us set the type-of-service(TOS) field in IP header for a TCP or UDP socket.
● If we call getsockopt for this option, the current value that would be placed into the
TOS(type of service) field in the IP header is returned.

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IP_TTL
● User can set and fetch the default TTL that the system will use for unicast packets sent on a
given socket.

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TCP socket option
● There are five socket option for TCP, but three are new with Posix.1g and not widely
supported.
● Specify the level as IPPROTO_TCP.

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IPPROTO_TCP
● level: IPPROTO_TCP
optname get set Description Flag Datatype

seconds between keepalive

TCP_KEEPALIVE    int
probe

TCP maximum retransmit

TCP_MAXRT    int
time

TCP_MAXSEG   TCP maximum segment size  int

TCP_NODELAY   disable Nagle algorithm  int

interpretation of urgent
TCP_STDURG    int
pointer
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TCP_KEEPALIVE
● This is new with Posix.1g
● It specifies the idle time in second for the connection before TCP starts sending keepalive
probe.
● Default 2hours
● This option is effective only when the SO_KEEPALIVE socket option enabled.

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TCP_MAXRT
● This is new with Posix.1g.
● It specifies the amount of time in seconds before a connection is broken once TCP starts
retransmitting data.
 0 : use default
 -1:retransmit forever
 positive value: rounded up to next transmission time

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TCP_MAXSEG
● This allows us to fetch or set the maximum segment size(MSS) for TCP connection.

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TCP_NODELAY
● This option disables TCP’s Nagle algorithm.
(default this algorithm enabled)
● purpose of the Nagle algorithm.
==>prevent a connection from having multiple small packets outstanding at any time.
● Small packet => any packet smaller than MSS.

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Nagle algorithm
● Default enabled.
● Reduce the number of small packet on the WAN.
● If given connection has outstanding data , then no small packet data will be sent on
connection until the existing data is acknowledged.

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Nagle Algorithm Disabled

h 0
e 250
l 500
l 750
o 1000
! 1250
1500
1500
1750
2000

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NAGLE ALGORITHM ENABLED
Example
● Consider a client is sending message “Network Programming” to the server. Here, client
sends with exactly 250ms delay between each character and RTT is 600ms. The server
sends back the echo along with the ACK for each character sent by the client. Calculate and
compare the total time taken in this communication for TCP_NODELAY enable and
disable. Write Nagle algorithm to prove that it reduces the number of packets communicated
in a communication.

49
Contd..
Note: Total number of packet sent and received when
TCP_NODELAY enable and disable. And Total time also
need to mention clearly.

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fcntl function
● File control
● The fcntl function can change the properties of a file that is already open.
● This function perform various descriptor control operation.
● Provide the following features
 Nonblocking I/O
 Signal-driven I/O
 Set socket owner to receive SIGIO signal.

51
Contd..

52
Fcntl: Nonblocking I/O

● A blocking function is capable of delaying execution of other tasks, especially those that are
independent
 In case of a server, other requests may get blocked
 In case of a worker consuming tasks from a queue other independent tasks may get delayed.

● The overall system is not able to progress

● A socket is in blocking mode when an I/O call waits for an event to complete.
● If the blocking mode is set for a socket, the calling program is suspended until the expected event
completes.
● Non-Blocking I/O: Dealing with I/O in a way so that execution dos not get delayed because of it.
● If nonblocking is set by the FCNTL() or IOCTL() calls, the calling program continues even
though the I/O call might not have completed.
● If the I/O call could not be completed, it returns with ERRNO EWOULDBLOCK. (The calling
program should use SELECT() to test for completion of any socket call returning an
EWOULDBLOCK.) 53
Contd..
#include <fcntl.h>
int fcntl(int fd, int cmd, …./* int arg */);
Returns:depends on cmd if OK, -1 on error

The fcntl (file control) API is used to retrieve or set the flags that are associated with a socket or stream file.

O_NONBLOCK : nonblocking I/O

O_ASYNC : signal driven I/O notification

54
Nonblocking I/O using fcntl
int flags;
/* set a socket as nonblocking */
if((flags = fcntl(fd, f_GETFL, 0)) < 0)
err_sys(“F_GETFL error”);
flags |= O_NONBLOCK;
if(fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, flags) < 0)
err_sys(“F_ SETFL error”);
The only correct way to set one of the file status flags is to fetch the current flags, logically
OR in the new flag, and then set the flag.
each descriptor has a set of file flags that fetched with
the F_GETFL command
and set with F_SETFL command.
56
Misuse of fcntl
/* wrong way to set socket nonblocking */
if(fcntl(fd, F_SETFL,O_NONBLOCK) < 0)
err_sys(“F_ SETFL error”);

/* because it also clears all the other file status flags.*/

57
Turn off the nonblocking flag
Flags &= ~O_NONBLOCK;
if(fcntl(fd, F_SETFL, flags) < 0)
err_sys(“F_SETFL error”);

58
F_SETOWN
● The integer arg value can be either positive(process ID) or negative (group ID)value to
receive the signal.
● F_GETOWN => retrurn the socket owner by fcntl function, either process ID or process
group ID.

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61
62
Name and Address Conversions
Elementary Name and Address Conversions
● Domain Name System(DNS)
● gethostbyname Function
● gethostbyname2 Function and IPv6 support
● gethostbyaddr Function
● uname and gethostname Functions
● getservbyname and getservbyport Functions
● Other networking information

63
Introduction DNS

1. What is the
IP address of
udel.edu ?

It is 128.175.13.92

1. What is the
host name of
128.175.13.74

It is
strauss.udel.edu

64
DNS Components
● Resolvers:
Client programs that extract information from Name Servers.
● Name Servers:
Server programs which hold information about the structure and the names.

65
Resolvers
A Resolver maps a name to an address and vice versa.

Query

Response

Resolver Name Server

66
Iterative Resolution
a.root
server

a a.gtld-
3 server
. 5
n udel ns1.goo
s server gle.com
t 7
iterative response (referral)
3l
“I don't know. Try a.root-servers.net.”
d iterative response (referral)
. 9
c 1 iterative response (referral)
“I don't know. Try a.gtld-servers.net.”
o iterative response (referral)
“I don't know. Try a3.nstld.com.”
m 2 4 “I don't know. Try ns1.google.com.”
6 iterative response
8 “The IP address of www.google.com
client 10 is 216.239.37.99.”
iterative request
“What is the IP address of
www.google.com?” 67
Recursive Resolution
root
server
edu 3 com
server server
7 4
udel 2 8 google
server server
6 5
9

1
10 recursive request
“What is the IP address of
www.google.com?”
client recursive response
“The IP address of www.google.com is
216.239.37.99.”
68
Domain Name System
● Entries in DNS: resource records (RRs) for a host
A record: maps a hostname to a 32-bit IPv4 addr
AAAA (quad A) record: maps to a 128-bit IPv6 addr
PTR record: maps IP addr to hostname
MX record: specifies a mail exchanger of the host
CNAME record: assigns canonical name for common services

e.g. solaris IN A 206.62.226.33

IN AAAA 5f1b:df00:ce3e:e200:0020:0800:2078:e3e3
IN MX 5 solaris.kohala.com
IN MX 10 mailhost.kohala.com
IN PTR 33.226.62.206.in-addr.arpa
www IN CNAME bsdi.kohala.com

69
MX Record
● Three servers can receive emails for the kerio.com email domain. The lowest number means
the highest server preference.
● In this example the primary MX server (the server with highest preference) is
mx1.kerio.com

70
Contd..
● If you have to change the IP-address you only have to change it in one place, i.e. in the A
record.

71
DNS: Application, Resolver, Name Servers
application

application
code
UDP
call return
request
resolver local other
code name name
UDPserver servers
reply
resolver
configuration
files
• resolver functions: gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr
• name server: BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain)
• static hosts files (DNS alternatives): /etc/hosts
• resolver configuration file (specifies name server IPs): /etc/resolv.conf
72
Contd..

73
Contd..
● The gethostbyname() function returns a structure of type hostent for the
given host name.
● gethostbyname Function performs a DNS query for an A record or a
AAAA record
#include <netdb.h>
struct hostent *gethostbyname (const char *hostname);
returns: nonnull pointer if OK, NULL on error with h_errno set

struct hostent {
char *h_name; /* official (canonical) name of host */
char **h_aliases; /* ptr to array of ptrs to alias names */
/ *A list of aliases that can be accessed with arrays*/
int h_addrtype; /* host addr type: AF_INET or AF_INET6 */
int h_length; /* length of address: 4 or 16 */
char **h_addr_list; /* ptr to array of ptrs with IPv4/IPv6 addrs */
};
#define h_addr h_addr_list[0] /* first address in list */
74
hostent Structure Returned by gethostbyname
hostent { }
h_name canonical hostname \0
h_aliases alias #1 \0
h_addrtype AF_INET/6
h_length 4/16 alias #2 \0
h_addr_list NULL

in/6_addr { }
IP addr #1
in/6_addr { }
IP addr #2
NULL in/6_addr { }
IP addr #3

75
RES_USE_INET6 Resolver Option
● Per-application: call res_init
#include <resolv.h>
res_init ( );
_res.options |= RES_USE_INET6

● Per-user: set environment variable RES_OPTIONS

export RES_OPTIONS=inet6

● Per-system: update resolver configuration file

options inet6 (in /etc/resolv.conf)

● For a host without a AAAA record, IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses are returned.
gethostbyname2 Function and IPv6 Support
#include <netdb.h>
struct hostent *gethostbyname2 (const char *hostname, int family);
returns: nonnull pointer if oK, NULL on error with h_errno set

RES_USE_INET6 option
off on
gethostbyname A record AAAA record
(host) or A record returning
IPv4-mapped IPv6 addr
gethostbyname2 A record A record returning
(host, AF_INET) IPv4-mapped IPv6 addr
gethostbyname2 AAAA record AAAA record
(host, AF_INET6)
Note: Resolver’s RES_USE_INET6 option along with which function is called (gethostbyname or
gethostbyname2) dictates the type of records that are searched for in the DNS (A or AAAA) and what type of
addresses are returned (IPv4, IPv6, or IPv4-mapped IPv6).
77
gethostbyaddr Function binary IP address to hostent structure
#include <netdb.h>
struct hostent *gethostbyaddr (const char *addr, size_t len, int family);
returns: nonnull pointer if OK, NULL on error with h_errno set

addr argument: a pointer to an in_addr or in6_addr structure

h_name in hostent: canonical hostname
gethostbyaddr: queries a DNS name server for a PTR record
in the in-addr.arpa domain for IPv4 or a PTR record
in the ip6.int domain for IPv6.

78
getservbyname and getservbyport Functions
● The getservbyname() function searches the database and finds an entry which matches the
specified service name and the specified protocol, opening a connection to the database if
necessary.
● The getservbyport() function searches the database and finds an entry which matches the
specified port number and the specified protocol, opening a connection to the database if
necessary.

81
getservbyname and getservbyport
Functions
#include <netdb.h>
struct servent *getservbyname (const char *servname, const char
*protoname);
returns: nonnull pointer if OK, NULL on error
struct servent *getservbyport (int port, const char *protoname);
returns: nonnull pointer if OK, NULL on error
The getservbyport socket function returns the Internet service name based on a specified Internet service port
number and protocol.

struct servent {
char *s_name; /* official service name */
char **s_aliases; /*alias list */
int s_port; /* port number, network-byte order */
char *s_proto; /* protocol, TCP or UDP, to use */
}
Mapping from name to port number: in /etc/services
Services that support multiple protocols often use the same TCP and UDP port
number. But it’s not always true:
shell 514/tcp 82
Contd..

83
Daytime Client using gethostbyname and getservbyname
● Call gethostbyname and getservbyname
● Try each server address
● Call connect
● Check for failure
● Read server’s reply

84
Other Networking Info
● Four types of info:
hosts (gethostbyname, gethostbyaddr)
through DNS or /etc/hosts, hostent structure
networks (getnetbyname, getnetbyaddr)
through DNS or /etc/networks, netent structure
protocols (getprotobyname, getprotobynumber)
through /etc/protocols, protoent structure
services (getservbyname, getservbyport)
through /etc/servies, servent structure

85
 CHAPTER 12
IPV4 AND IPV6
INTEROPERABILI
TY
Contents
● Introduction
● IPv4 Client, IPv6 Server
● IPv6 Client, IPv4 Server
● IPv6 Address Testing Macros
● IPV6_ADDRFORM Socket Option
● Source Code Portability
IPV6
● IPv6 can theoretically hold 2128 IP addresses. As you’re probably aware of, that’s a huge
number:
● 2128 = 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456
● 340 undecillion, 282 decillion, 366 nonillion, 920 octillion, 938 septillion, 463 sextillion,
463 quintillion, 374 quadrillion, 607 trillion, 431 billion, 768 million, 211 thousand and 456
Introduction
● Server and client combination
 IPv4 <=> IPv4(most server and client)
 IPv4 <=> IPv6
 IPv6 <=> IPv4
 IPv6 <=> IPv6

● How IPv4 application and IPv6 application can communicate with each other.
● Host are running dual stacks, both an IPv4 protocol stack and IPv6 protocol stack
Dual stack

A station should simultaneously run both IPv4 & IPv6 protocols until all Internet
uses IPv6.
To determine which version to use, the source host queries the DNS and send
whichever version of IP packet the DNS returns.
90
IPv4 Client , IPv6 Server
● IPv6 dual stack server can handle both IPv4 and IPv6 clients.
● This is done using IPv4-mapped IPv6 address
● server create an IPv6 listening socket that is bound to the IPv6 wildcard address
IPv4 Mapped IPv6 Address
IPv6 IPv4 IPv6 listening socket,
IPv6
client client server
bound to 0::0, port 9999

TCP TCP TCP

IPv6 address
IPv4 mapped
IPv6 address
IPv6 IPv4 IPv4 IPv6
206.62.226.42 5flb:df00:ce3
Data Data Data e:e200:20:80
0:2b37:6426
link link link

Enet IPv4 TCP TCP

Type0800 hdr hdr hdr data
Dport 9999
Enet IPv6 TCP TCP
hdr hdr hdr data
Type86dd Dport 9999
Contd..
We can summarize the steps that allow an IPv4 TCP client to communicate with an IPv6 server as follows:
● The IPv6 server starts, creates an IPv6 listening socket, and we assume it binds the wildcard address to the
socket.
● The IPv4 client calls gethostbyname and finds an A record for the server. The server host will have both an A
record and a AAAA record since it supports both protocols, but the IPv4 client asks for only an A record.
● The client calls connect and the client’s host sends an IPv4 SYN to the server.
● The server host receives the IPv4 SYN directed to the IPv6 listening socket, sets a flag indicating that this
connection is using IPv4-mapped IPv6 addresses, and responds with an IPv4 SYN/ACK. When the
connection is established, the address returned to the server by accept is the IPv4-mapped IPv6 address.
● When the server host sends to the IPv4-mapped IPv6 address, its IP stack generates IPv4 datagrams to the
IPv4 address. Therefore, all communication between this client and server takes place using IPv4 datagrams.
● Unless the server explicitly checks whether this IPv6 address is an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address (using the
IN6_IS_ADDR_V4MAPPED macro described in Section 12.4), the server never knows that it is
communicating with an IPv4 client. The dual-protocol stack handles this detail. Similarly, the IPv4 client has
no idea that it is communicating with an IPv6 server.
94
 AF_INET AF_INET
IPv4 SOCK_STREAM SOCK_DGRAM
sockets sockaddr_in sockaddr_in
AF_INET6 AF_INET6
IPv6 SOCK_STREAM SOCK_DGRAM
sockets sockaddr_in6 sockaddr_in6

TCP UDP

IPv4 mapped
Address IPv4 IPv6
returned by
accept or
recvfrom
IPv4 IPv6

IPv4 datagram IPv6 datagram

Contd..
Summarizes how a received IPv4 or IPv6 datagram is processed, depending on the type of the
receiving socket, for TCP and UDP, assuming a dual-stack host.
● If an IPv4 datagram is received for an IPv4 socket, nothing special is done. These are the two
arrows labeled ‘‘IPv4’’ in the figure: one to TCP and one to UDP. IPv4 datagrams are exchanged
between the client and server.
● If an IPv6 datagram is received for an IPv6 socket, nothing special is done. These are the two
arrows labeled ‘‘IPv6’’ in the figure: one to TCP and one to UDP. IPv6 datagrams are exchanged
between the client and server.
● When an IPv4 datagram is received for an IPv6 socket, the kernel returns the corresponding
IPv4-mapped IPv6 address as the address returned by accept (TCP) or recvfrom (UDP). These
are the two dashed arrows in the figure. This mapping is possible because an IPv4 address can
always be represented as an IPv6 address. IPv4 datagrams are exchanged between the client and
server.
● The converse of the previous bullet is false: In general, an IPv6 address cannot be represented as
an IPv4 address; therefore, there are no arrows from the IPv6 protocol box to the two IPv4 96
Contd..
Most dual-stack hosts should use the following rules in dealing with listening sockets:
● A listening IPv4 socket can accept incoming connections from only IPv4 clients.
● If a server has a listening IPv6 socket that has bound the wildcard address and the
IPV6_V6ONLY socket option is not set, that socket can accept incoming connections from
either IPv4 clients or IPv6 clients. For a connection from an IPv4 client, the server’s local
address for the connection will be the corresponding IPv4-mapped IPv6 address.
● If a server has a listening IPv6 socket that has bound an IPv6 address other than an IPv4-
mapped IPv6 address, or has bound the wildcard address but has set the IPV6_V6ONLY
socket option, that socket can accept incoming connections from IPv6 clients only.

97
IPv6 client, IPv4 server
● IPv4 server start on an IPv4 only host and create an IPv4 listening socket
● IPv6 client start, call gethostbyname. IPv4 mapped IPv6 address is returned.
● Using IPv4 datagram
Contd..
First consider an IPv6 TCP client running on a dual-stack host.
● An IPv4 server starts on an IPv4-only host and creates an IPv4 listening socket.
● The IPv6 client starts and calls getaddrinfo asking for only IPv6 addresses (it requests the
AF_INET6 address family and sets the AI_V4MAPPED flag in its hints structure). Since
the IPv4-only server host has only A records, an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address is returned to
the client.
● The IPv6 client calls connect with the IPv4-mapped IPv6 address in the IPv6 socket address
structure. The kernel detects the mapped address and automatically sends an IPv4 SYN to
the server.
● The server responds with an IPv4 SYN/ACK, and the connection is established using IPv4
datagrams.

99
 AF_INET AF_INET
IPv4 SOCK_STREAM SOCK_DGRAM
sockets sockaddr_in sockaddr_in
AF_INET6 AF_INET6
IPv6 SOCK_STREAM SOCK_DGRAM
sockets sockaddr_in6 sockaddr_in6

TCP UDP

IPv6 IPv4 mapped

Address IPv4 IPv6
for connect
or sendto

IPv4 IPv6

IPv4 datagram IPv6 datagram

Contd..
● If an IPv4 TCP client calls connect specifying an IPv4 address, or if an IPv4 UDP client
calls sendto specifying an IPv4 address, nothing special is done. These are the two arrows
labeled ‘‘IPv4’’ in the figure.
● If an IPv6 TCP client calls connect specifying an IPv6 address, or if an IPv6 UDP client
calls sendto specifying an IPv6 address, nothing special is done. These are the two arrows
labeled ‘‘IPv6’’ in the figure.
● If an IPv6 TCP client specifies an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address to connect or if an IPv6 UDP
client specifies an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address to sendto, the kernel detects the mapped
address and causes an IPv4 datagram to be sent instead of an IPv6 datagram. These are the
two dashed arrows in the figure.
● An IPv4 client cannot specify an IPv6 address to either connect or sendto because a 16-byte
IPv6 address does not fit in the 4-byte in_addr structure within the IPv4 sockaddr_in
structure. Therefore, there are no arrows from the IPv4 sockets to the IPv6 protocol box in
the figure.
101
Contd..

102
IPv6 Address Testing Macros
There are small class of IPv6 application that must know whether they are talking to an IPv4
peer.
● These application need to know if the peer’s address is an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address.
● Twelve macro defined
● Eg: int IN6_IS_ADDR_LOOPBACK(const struct in6_addr * aptr ) ;
● Eg: int IN6_IS_ADDR_V4MAPPED(const struct in6_addr * aptr ) ;
Contd..

104
IPV6_ADDRFORM Socket Option
● Change the IPV6 address into a different address family
● Can change a socket from one type to another, following restriction.
 An IPv4 socket can always be changed to an IPv6. Any IPv4 address already associated with the socket
are converted to IPv4- mapped IPv6 address.
 An IPv6 socket can changed to an IPv4 socket only if any address already associated with the socket are
IPv4-mapped IPv6 address.
Converting an IPv4 to IPv6
Int af;
socklen_t clilen;
struct sockaddr_int6 cli; /* IPv6 struct */
struct hostent *ptr;

af = AF_INT6;
Setsockopt(STDIN_FILENO, IPPROTO_IPV6, IPV6_ADDRFORM, &af, sizeof(af));

clilen = sizeof(cli);
Getpeername(0, &cli, &clilen);
ptr = gethostbyaddr(&cli.sin6_addr, 16, AF_INET);
Contd..
● setsockopt => change the Address format of socket from IPv4 to IPv6.
Return value is AF_INET or AF_INET6
● getpeername =>return an IPv4-mapped IPv6 address