Socket Core Functions

This tutorial describes the core socket functions required to write a complete TCP client and server.
Following is the diagram showing complete Client and Server interaction:

The socket Function:

To perform network I/O, the first thing a process must do is call the socket function, specifying the type of communication protocol desired and protocol family etc.

#include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/socket.h>   int socket (int family, int type, int protocol);

This call gives you a socket descriptor that you can use in later system calls or it gives you -1 on error.

Parameters:

family: specifies the protocol family and is one of the constants shown below:

Family	Description
AF_INET	IPv4 protocols
AF_INET6	IPv6 protocols
AF_LOCAL	Unix domain protocols
AF_ROUTE	Routing Sockets
AF_KEY	Ket socket

This tutorial does not talk about other protocols except IPv4.
type: specifies kind of socket you want. It can take one of the following values:

Type	Description
SOCK_STREAM	Stream socket
SOCK_DGRAM	Datagram socket
SOCK_SEQPACKET	Sequenced packet socket
SOCK_RAW	Raw socket

protocol: argument should be set to the specific protocol type given below or 0 to select the system's default for the given combination of family and type:

Protocol	Description
IPPROTO_TCP	TCP transport protocol
IPPROTO_UDP	UDP transport protocol
IPPROTO_SCTP	SCTP transport protocol

The connect Function:

The connect function is used by a TCP client to establish a connection with a TCP server.

#include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/socket.h>   int connect(int sockfd, struct sockaddr *serv_addr, int addrlen);

This call returns 0 if it successfully connects to the server otherwise it gives you -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         serv_addr is a pointer to struct sockaddr that contains destination IP address and port.

·         addrlen set it to sizeof(struct sockaddr).

The bind Function:

The bind function assigns a local protocol address to a socket. With the Internet protocols, the protocol address is the combination of either a 32-bit IPv4 address or a 128-bit IPv6 address, along with a 16-bit TCP or UDP port number. This function is called by TCP server only.

#include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/socket.h>   int bind(int sockfd, struct sockaddr *my_addr,int addrlen);

This call returns 0 if it successfully binds to the address otherwise it gives you -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         my_addr is a pointer to struct sockaddr that contains local IP address and port.

·         addrlen set it to sizeof(struct sockaddr).

You can put your IP address and your port automatically:
A 0 value for port number means system will choose a random port and INADDR_ANY value for IP address means server's IP address will be assigned automatically.

server.sin_port = 0;                 server.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY;

NOTE: As descript in Ports and Services tutorials, all ports bellow 1024 are reserved. So you can set a port above 1024 and bellow 65535 unless the ones being used by other programs.

The listen Function:

The listen function is called only by a TCP server and it performs two actions:

·         The listen function converts an unconnected socket into a passive socket, indicating that the kernel should accept incoming connection requests directed to this socket.

·         The second argument to this function specifies the maximum number of connections the kernel should queue for this socket.

#include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/socket.h>   int listen(int sockfd,int backlog);

This call returns 0 on success otherwise it gives you -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         backlog is the number of allowed connections.

The accept Function:

The accept function is called by a TCP server to return the next completed connection from the front of the completed connection queue. Following is the signature of the call:

#include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/socket.h>   int accept (int sockfd, struct sockaddr *cliaddr, socklen_t *addrlen);

This call returns non negative descriptor on success otherwise it gives you -1 on error. The returned decriptor is assumed to be a client socket descriptor and all read write operations will be done on this descripton to communicate with the client.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         cliaddr is a pointer to struct sockaddr that contains client IP address and port.

·         addrlen set it to sizeof(struct sockaddr).

The send Function:

The send function is used to send data over stream sockets or CONNECTED datagram sockets. If you want to send data over UNCONNECTED datagram sockets you must use sendto() function.
You can use write() system call to send the data. This call is explained in helper functions tutorial.

int send(int sockfd, const void *msg, int len, int flags);

This call returns the number of bytes sent out otherwise it will return -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         msg is a pointer to the data you want to send.

·         len is the length of the data you want to send (in bytes).

·         flags is set to 0.

The recv Function:

The recv function is used to receive data over stream sockets or CONNECTED datagram sockets. If you want to receive data over UNCONNECTED datagram sockets you must use recvfrom().
You can use read() system call to read the data. This call is explained in helper functions tutorial.

int recv(int sockfd, void *buf, int len, unsigned int flags);

This call returns the number of bytes read into the buffer otherwise it will return -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         buf is the buffer to read the information into.

·         len is the maximum length of the buffer.

·         flags is set to 0.

The sendto Function:

The sendto function is used to send data over UNCONNECTED datagram sockets. Put simply, when you use scoket type as SOCK_DGRAM

int sendto(int sockfd, const void *msg, int len, unsigned int flags,                   const struct sockaddr *to, int tolen);

This call returns the number of bytes sent otherwise it will return -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         msg is a pointer to the data you want to send.

·         len is the length of the data you want to send (in bytes).

·         flags is set to 0.

·         to is a pointer to struct sockaddr for the host where data has to be sent.

·         tolen is set it to sizeof(struct sockaddr).

The recvfrom Function:

The recvfrom function is used to receive data from UNCONNECTED datagram sockets. Put simply, when you use scoket type as SOCK_DGRAM

int recvfrom(int sockfd, void *buf, int len, unsigned int flags                     struct sockaddr *from, int *fromlen);

This call returns the number of bytes read into the buffer otherwise it will return -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         buf is the buffer to read the information into.

·         len is the maximum length of the buffer.

·         flags is set to 0.

·         from is a pointer to struct sockaddr for the host where data has to be read.

·         fromlen is set it to sizeof(struct sockaddr).

The close Function:

The close function is used to close the communication between client and server.

int close( int sockfd );

This call returns 0 on success otherwise it will return -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

The shutdown Function:

The shutdown function is used to gracefully close the communication between client and server. This function gives more control in caomparision of close function.

int shutdown(int sockfd, int how);

This call returns 0 on success otherwise it will return -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         sockfd: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         how: put one of the numbers:

o        0 indicates receives disallowed,

o        1 indicatesthat sends disallowed and

o        2 indicates that sends and receives disallowed. When how is set to 2, it's the same thing as close().

The select Function:

The select function indicates which of the specified file descriptors is ready for reading, ready for writing, or has an error condition pending.
When an application calls recv or recvfrom it is blocked until data arrives for that socket. An application could be doing other useful processing while the incoming data stream is empty. Another situation is when an application receives data from multiple sockets.
Calling recv or recvfrom on a socket that has no data in it's input queue prevents immediate reception of data from other sockets. The select function call solves this problem by allowing the program to poll all the socket handles to see if they are available for non-blocking reading and writing operations.

int select(int  nfds,  fd_set  *readfds,  fd_set  *writefds,      fd_set *errorfds, struct timeval *timeout);

This call returns 0 on success otherwise it will return -1 on error.

Parameters:

·         nfds: specifies the range of file descriptors to be tested. The select() function tests file descriptors in the range of 0 to nfds-1

·         readfds:points to an object of type fd_set that on input specifies the file descriptors to be checked for being ready to read, and on output indicates which file descriptors are ready to read. Can be NULL to indicate an empty set.

·         writefds:points to an object of type fd_set that on input specifies the file descriptors to be checked for being ready to write, and on output indicates which file descriptors are ready to write Can be NULL to indicate an empty set.

·         exceptfds :points to an object of type fd_set that on input specifies the file descriptors to be checked for error conditions pending, and on output indicates which file descriptors have error conditions pending. Can be NULL to indicate an empty set.

·         timeout :poins to a timeval struct that specifies how long the select call should poll the descriptors for an available I/O operation. If the timeout value is 0, then select will return immediately. If the timeout argument is NULL, then select will block until at least one file/socket handle is ready for an available I/O operation. Otherwise select will return after the amount of time in the timeout has elapsed OR when at least one file/socket descriptor is ready for an I/O operation.

The return value from select is the number of handles specified in the file descriptor sets that are ready for I/O. If the time limit specified by the timeout field is reached, select return 0. The following macros exist for manipulating a file descriptor set:

·         FD_CLR(fd, &fdset): Clears the bit for the file descriptor fd in the file descriptor set fdset

·         FD_ISSET(fd, &fdset): Returns a non-zero value if the bit for the file descriptor fd is set in the file descriptor set pointed to by fdset, and 0 otherwise.

·         FD_SET(fd, &fdset): Sets the bit for the file descriptor fd in the file descriptor set fdset.

·         FD_ZERO(&fdset): Initializes the file descriptor set fdset to have zero bits for all file descriptors.

The behavior of these macros is undefined if the fd argument is less than 0 or greater than or equal to FD_SETSIZE.

The write Function:

The write function attempts to write nbyte bytes from the buffer pointed to by buf to the file associated with the open file descriptor, fildes.
You can also use send() function to send data to another process.

#include <unistd.h>   int write(int fildes, const void *buf, int nbyte);

Upon successful completion, write() returns the number of bytes actually written to the file associated with fildes. This number is never greater than nbyte. Otherwise, -1 is returned,

Parameters:

·         fildes: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         buf is a pointer to the data you want to send.

·         nbyte is the number of bytes to be written. If nbyte is 0, write() will return 0 and have no other results if the file is a regular file; otherwise, the results are unspecified.

The read Function:

The read function attempts to read nbyte bytes from the file associated with the open file descriptor, fildes, into the buffer pointed to by buf.
You can also use recv() function to read data to another process.

#include <unistd.h>   int read(int fildes, const void *buf, int nbyte);

Upon successful completion, write() returns the number of bytes actually written to the file associated with fildes. This number is never greater than nbyte. Otherwise, -1 is returned,

Parameters:

·         fildes: is a socket descriptor returned by the socket function.

·         buf is the buffer to read the information into..

·         nbyte is the number of bytes to read.

The fork Function:

The fork function create a new process. The new process is called child process will be an exact copy of the calling process (parent process). The child process inherits many attributes from the parent process.

#include <sys/types.h> #include <unistd.h>   int fork(void);

Upon successful completion, fork() return 0 to the child process and return the process ID of the child process to the parent process. Otherwise -1 is returned to the parent process, no child process is created and errno is set to indicate the error.

Parameters:

·         void: means no parameter is required.

The bzero Function:

The bzero function places nbyte null bytes in the string s. This function will be used to set all the socket structures with null values.

void bzero(void *s, int nbyte);

This function does not return anything.

Parameters:

·         s: specifies string which has to be filled with null bytes.This will be a point to socket structure variable

·         nbyte: specifies the number of bytes to be filled with null values. This will be the size of the socket structure.

The bcmp Function:

The bcmp function compares byte string s1 against byte string s2. Both strings are assumed to be nbyte bytes long.

int bcmp(const void *s1, const void *s2, int nbyte);

This function returns 0 if both strings are identical, 1 otherwise. The bcmp() function always returns 0 when nbyte is 0.

Parameters:

·         s1: specifies the first string to be compared.

·         s2: specifies the second string to be compared.

·         nbyte: specifies the number of bytes to be compared.

The bcopy Function:

The bcopy function copies nbyte bytes from string s1 to the string s2. Overlapping strings are handled correctly.

void bcopy(const void *s1, void *s2, int nbyte);

This function does not return anything.

Parameters:

·         s1: specifies the source string.

·         s2: specifies the destination string.

·         nbyte: specifies the number of bytes to be copied.

The memset Function:

The memset function is also used to set structure variables in the same way as bzero.

void *memset(void *s, int c, int nbyte);

This function returns a pointer to void, in fact pointer to the set memory and you need to caste it accordingly.

Parameters:

·         s: specifies the source to be set.

·         c: specifies the character to set on nbyte places..

·         nbyte: specifies the number of bytes to be set.

 
Video tutorials: 

http://youtu.be/DSmQHfqZkws 

http://youtu.be/G-oaJaZfy9A 

http://youtu.be/0ajmWvg0UUs