recvfrom with Raw Sockets, get just the data - c

I'm trying to implement my own transport layer protocol, but I'm perfectly happy to leave the network layer as-is and not need to mess with the actual IP header information.
But of course, when calling recvfrom() on a raw socket, you are given the raw IP datagram, while the sockaddr struct is not filled in.
Is there anyway to coax the stack to fill in those structs and leave the ip header out of the data portion, or does that need to be implemented by hand?
Receiver:
struct sockaddr_in sender;
int sender_len;
raw_socket = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_RAW, 56);
...
if((n = recvfrom(raw_socket, buf, 1024, 0, (struct sockaddr*)&sender, &sender_len)) == -1){
perror("recvfrom");
return -1;
}

The IP header will always be included when receiving on a SOCK_RAW socket.
Per raw(7):
The IPv4 layer generates an IP header when sending a packet unless the IP_HDRINCL socket option is enabled on the socket. When it is enabled, the packet must contain an IP header. For receiving the IP header is always included in the packet.
Reference:
ip(7) man page
SOCK_RAW Demystified
Advanced TCP/IP - THE RAW SOCKET PROGRAM EXAMPLES

Use recvmsg() with the msg[] buffers initialized so that the first one receives the IP header, then the second one will only contain data.

Related

How to find local/epheremal port number?

I have a UDP client program that uses Berkley sockets and Winsock (depending on the platform).
Basically it uses getaddrinfo(), then socket(), then sendto(). sendto() takes the address info returned by getaddrinfo(). My code looks like this:
struct addrinfo hint;
memset(&hint, 0, sizeof(hint));
hint.ai_socktype = SOCK_DGRAM;
struct addrinfo *address;
getaddrinfo("127.0.0.1", "9999", &hint, &address);
SOCKET s = socket(address->ai_family, address->ai_socktype, address->ai_protocol);
sendto(s, "test", 4, 0, address->ai_addr, address->ai_addrlen);
My question is, when is the local/ephemeral port number set? Is it set with the call to sendto()? If I send more data to a different server, does sendto() reuse the same ephemeral port number? How can I get the ephemeral port number (in a protocol independent way)? I know that knowing this may not be useful, and NAT can change it anyway, but I'm just trying to understand how it all works better.
I also know I can use bind() to set the local port, but my question is about what happens when the OS chooses the local port for me.
You want the getsockname function:
struct sockaddr_storage ss;
socklen_t len;
len = sizeof(ss);
if (getsockname(s, (struct sockaddr *)&ss, &len) == 0) {
// print contents of ss
}
It populates the given sockaddr with the address and port that the socket is bound to.
This function is available in both winsock and Berkely sockets.
MSDN's documentation for sendto() states:
Note If a socket is opened, a setsockopt call is made, and then a sendto call is made, Windows Sockets performs an implicit bind function call.
If the socket is unbound, unique values are assigned to the local association by the system, and the socket is then marked as bound. If the socket is connected, the getsockname function can be used to determine the local IP address and port associated with the socket.
If the socket is not connected, the getsockname function can be used to determine the local port number associated with the socket but the IP address returned is set to the wildcard address for the given protocol (for example, INADDR_ANY or "0.0.0.0" for IPv4 and IN6ADDR_ANY_INIT or "::" for IPv6).
You can bind to port zero (0) which will cause OS to find an open ephemeral port that you can discover with getsockname, or return EADDRINUSE, even before you tried to send anything.
As for when an ephemeral port is allocated by the operating system, from ip(7) Linux manual page:
[...] An ephemeral port is allocated to a socket in the following
circumstances:
the port number in a socket address is specified as 0 when
calling bind(2);
listen(2) is called on a stream socket that was not previously bound;
connect(2) was called on a socket that was not previously
bound;
sendto(2) is called on a datagram socket that was not previously bound.

Raw Sockets in C

1.
socket(AF_INET, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_RAW);
The linux manual page says about this code.
In socket option, if IP_HDRINCL is set, I can make IP header. Am I right?
If it's right, above socket also let me make TCP header, too?
Then, if IP_HDRINCL is not set, what means above socket?
2.
socket(AF_INET, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_TCP);
socket(AF_INET, SOCK_RAW, IPPROTO_UDP);
what means above code comparing to number 1 question's code?
I know IPPROTO_RAW can't receive any IP packets. And here, these sockets only can receive TCP packets, and UDP pakcets each.(Can I see IP Header, Ethernet Header also?)
But how about sending?? I don'know exactly about this.
IP_HDRINCL means: I want my data (for send and recv) to include the ip hdr. And if your data include the ip hdr, it means that the tcp hdr follows (just after the ip hdr), and finally the app's message too (the message your normally give to send ...). Without IP_HDRINCL, you have access to apps data only.
Yes, IPPROTO_TCP and IPPROTO_UDP whith SOCK_RAW are just filters as you say, for sending and receiving. Use IPPROTO_RAW to be able to send any TCP/IP packet (no filter). But to also receive packets, you need also to change AF_INET into AF_PACKET.

how can i find ip/udp header while it created by socket SOCK_DGRAM option

can anyone tell how can i find ip/udp header while it created by socket type SOCK_DGARM option.in my VOIP application while this option set sendto() function send only RTP data not whole buffer of IP/UDP/RTP header and data.that's why i want to find that where IP/UDP header are created.so can anyone tell at which point i find it..???
error = sendto (sockfd, (char*)m->b_rptr, (int) (m->b_wptr - m->b_rptr),
0,destaddr,destlen);
here,m->b_rptr is point out rtp header and data. and only this send and recv.
You can find it using a packet capture tool like tcpdump or Wireshark. You can't access the low-level protocol details directly via the sendto() function call--the OS crafts the headers for you and normally you wouldn't need to see them. But a packet capture on either the sending or the receiving end will show you the headers.
Using the socket API, you do not need to create the IP/UDP header. The OS will automatically fill the appropriate headers. All that you need, is to create your RTP packet and encapsulate it inside a UDP packet. At the receiver side, when you use recvfrom(), your buffer will contain only the UDP payload, which is the RTP packet in your case.
If you want to retrieve other information too, like the source IP or source port of a UDP packet received you have too do some more steps. For example for the source IP:
struct sockaddr src_addr;
socklen_t src_addr_len;
struct sockaddr_in *src_addr_in;
/* Receive a UDP packet. Error Checking is omitted */
memset(&src_addr, 0, sizeof(struct sockaddr));
recvfrom(sockfd, buffer, MSG_MAX_LEN, 0, &src_addr, &src_addr_len));
/* Now lets retrieve the IP of the sender */
/* Cast first the sockaddr struct to another more appropriate struct */
src_addr_in = (struct sockaddr_in *) &src_addr;
/* And now use inet_ntoa to print the source IP in a human readable form */
printf("Source IP: %s\n", inet_ntoa(src_addr_in->sin_addr));
In a similar way you can retrieve the the source port of the packet.

Strange Linux socket protocols behaviour

I'm a little confused about the difference between the definitions of protocols on Linux when using socket(). I am attempting to listen for connections over TCP using socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, proto), where proto is (in my mind) disputed, or at least seems odd.
From <netinet/in.h>:
...
IPPROTO_IP = 0, /* Dummy protocol for TCP. */
...
IPPROTO_TCP = 6, /* Transmission Control Protocol. */
...
Agreed with by /etc/protocols:
ip 0 IP # internet protocol, pseudo protocol number
hopopt 0 HOPOPT # hop-by-hop options for ipv6
...
tcp 6 TCP # transmission control protocol
...
I learned from an online tutorial, and also from the man page tcp(7) that you initialise a TCP socket using
tcp_socket = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
which works absolutely fine, and certainly is a TCP socket. One thing about using the above arguments to initialise a socket is that the code
struct timeval timeout = {1, 0};
setsockopt(tcp_socket, 0, SO_RCVTIMEO, &timeout, sizeof(timeout); // 1s timeout
// Exactly the same for SO_SNDTIMEO here
works absolutely fine, but not after replacing all protocol arguments (including in socket()) with IPPROTO_TCP, as opposed to IPPROTO_IP which they have, as above.
So after experimenting with the difference, I've needed to ask a few searching questions:
Why, when I replace all protocol arguments with IPPROTO_TCP, do I get error 92 ("Protocol not available") when setting timeouts, when protocol 0 is apparently just a 'dummy' TCP?
Why does socket() require the information of whether it should be a stream, datagram or raw socket when that information is (always?) implicitly known from the protocol, and vice versa? (i.e. TCP is a stream protocol, UDP is a datagram protocol, ...)
What could be meant by "dummy TCP"?
What is hopopt, and why does it have the same protocol number as 'ip'?
Many thanks.
Giving 0 as protocol to socket just means that you want to use the default protocol for the family/socktype pair. In this case that is TCP, and thus you get the same result as with IPPROTO_TCP.
Your error is in the setsockopt call. The correct one would be
setsockopt(tcp_socket, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVTIMEO, &timeout, sizeof(timeout)); // 1s timeout
the 0 there is not for protocol, but for option level. IPPROTO_TCP is another option level, but you can't combine that with SO_RCVTIMEO. It can only be used together with SOL_SOCKET.
The ones you use with IPPROTO_TCP are the ones listed in tcp(7), e.g. TCP_NODELAY.
socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP); should work fine.
Passing 0 as the protocol just means, give me the default. Which on every system is TCP for stream sockets and UDP for datagram sockets, when dealing with IP. But socket() can be used for many other things bar giving you a TCP or UDP socket.
socket() is quite general in nature. socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0); just reads as; "give me a streaming socket within the IP protocol family". Passing 0 means you have no preferences over which protocol - though TCP is the obvious choice for any system. But theoretically, it could have given you e.g. an SCTP socket.
Whether you want datagram or streaming sockets is not implicit for protocols. There are many more protocols bar IP based protocols, and many can be used in either datagram or streaming mode such as SCCP used in SS7 networks.
For IP based protocols, SCTP can be used in a datagram based, or streaming fashion. Thus socket(AF_INET,IPPROTO_SCTP); would be ambiguous. And for datagram sockets, there's other choices as well, UDP, DCCP, UDPlite.
socket(AF_INET,SOCK_SEQPACKET,0); is another interesting choice. It cannot return a TCP socket, TCP is not packet based. It cannot return and UDP socket, UDP gives no guarantee of sequential delivery. But an SCTP socket would do, if the system supports it.
I have no explanation for why someone made the comment "dummy TCP" in that the linux netinet/in.h
hopopt is the IPv6 HOP by hop option. In IPv6, the protocol discriminator field is also used as an extension mechanism. In IPv4 packets there is a protocol field which is the protocol discriminator, it'll be set to IPPROTO_TCP if that IPv4 datagram carries TCP. If that IPv4 packet also carries some additional info(options), they are coded by other mechanisms.
IPv6 does this differently, if there is an extension(option), that extension is coded in the protocol field. So if the IPv6 packet needs the hop-by-hop option, IPPROTO_HOPOPTS is placed in the protocol field. The actual hop-by-hop option also have a protocol discriminator, which signals what the next protocol is - which might be IPPROTO_TCP, or yet another option.

Unix Domain Socket: Using datagram communication between one server process and several client processes

I would like to establish an IPC connection between several processes on Linux. I have never used UNIX sockets before, and thus I don't know if this is the correct approach to this problem.
One process receives data (unformated, binary) and shall distribute this data via a local AF_UNIX socket using the datagram protocol (i.e. similar to UDP with AF_INET). The data sent from this process to a local Unix socket shall be received by multiple clients listening on the same socket. The number of receivers may vary.
To achieve this the following code is used to create a socket and send data to it (the server process):
struct sockaddr_un ipcFile;
memset(&ipcFile, 0, sizeof(ipcFile));
ipcFile.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
strcpy(ipcFile.sun_path, filename.c_str());
int socket = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
bind(socket, (struct sockaddr *) &ipcFile, sizeof(ipcFile));
...
// buf contains the data, buflen contains the number of bytes
int bytes = write(socket, buf, buflen);
...
close(socket);
unlink(ipcFile.sun_path);
This write returns -1 with errno reporting ENOTCONN ("Transport endpoint is not connected"). I guess this is because no receiving process is currently listening to this local socket, correct?
Then, I tried to create a client who connects to this socket.
struct sockaddr_un ipcFile;
memset(&ipcFile, 0, sizeof(ipcFile));
ipcFile.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
strcpy(ipcFile.sun_path, filename.c_str());
int socket = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
bind(socket, (struct sockaddr *) &ipcFile, sizeof(ipcFile));
...
char buf[1024];
int bytes = read(socket, buf, sizeof(buf));
...
close(socket);
Here, the bind fails ("Address already in use"). So, do I need to set some socket options, or is this generally the wrong approach?
Thanks in advance for any comments / solutions!
There's a trick to using Unix Domain Socket with datagram configuration. Unlike stream sockets (tcp or unix domain socket), datagram sockets need endpoints defined for both the server AND the client. When one establishes a connection in stream sockets, an endpoint for the client is implicitly created by the operating system. Whether this corresponds to an ephemeral TCP/UDP port, or a temporary inode for the unix domain, the endpoint for the client is created for you. Thats why you don't normally need to issue a call to bind() for stream sockets in the client.
The reason you're seeing "Address already in use" is because you're telling the client to bind to the same address as the server. bind() is about asserting external identity. Two sockets can't normally have the same name.
With datagram sockets, specifically unix domain datagram sockets, the client has to bind() to its own endpoint, then connect() to the server's endpoint. Here is your client code, slightly modified, with some other goodies thrown in:
char * server_filename = "/tmp/socket-server";
char * client_filename = "/tmp/socket-client";
struct sockaddr_un server_addr;
struct sockaddr_un client_addr;
memset(&server_addr, 0, sizeof(server_addr));
server_addr.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
strncpy(server_addr.sun_path, server_filename, 104); // XXX: should be limited to about 104 characters, system dependent
memset(&client_addr, 0, sizeof(client_addr));
client_addr.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
strncpy(client_addr.sun_path, client_filename, 104);
// get socket
int sockfd = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
// bind client to client_filename
bind(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &client_addr, sizeof(client_addr));
// connect client to server_filename
connect(sockfd, (struct sockaddr *) &server_addr, sizeof(server_addr));
...
char buf[1024];
int bytes = read(sockfd, buf, sizeof(buf));
...
close(sockfd);
At this point your socket should be fully setup. I think theoretically you can use read()/write(), but usually I'd use send()/recv() for datagram sockets.
Normally you'll want to check error after each of these calls and issue a perror() afterwards. It will greatly aid you when things go wrong. In general, use a pattern like this:
if ((sockfd = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, 0)) < 0) {
perror("socket failed");
}
This goes for pretty much any C system calls.
The best reference for this is Steven's "Unix Network Programming". In the 3rd edition, section 15.4, pages 415-419 show some examples and lists many of the caveats.
By the way, in reference to
I guess this is because no receiving process is currently listening to this local socket, correct?
I think you're right about the ENOTCONN error from write() in the server. A UDP socket would normally not complain because it has no facility to know if the client process is listening. However, unix domain datagram sockets are different. In fact, the write() will actually block if the client's receive buffer is full rather than drop the packet. This makes unix domain datagram sockets much superior to UDP for IPC because UDP will most certainly drop packets when under load, even on localhost. On the other hand, it means you have to be careful with fast writers and slow readers.
The proximate cause of your error is that write() doesn't know where you want to send the data to. bind() sets the name of your side of the socket - ie. where the data is coming from. To set the destination side of the socket, you can either use connect(); or you can use sendto() instead of write().
The other error ("Address already in use") is because only one process can bind() to an address.
You will need to change your approach to take this into account. Your server will need to listen on a well-known address, set with bind(). Your clients will need to send a message to the server at this address to register their interest in receiving datagrams. The server will recieve the registration messages from clients using recvfrom(), and record the address used by each client. When it wants to send a message, it will have to loop over all the clients it knows about, using sendto() to send the message to each one in turn.
Alternatively, you could use local IP multicast instead of UNIX domain sockets (UNIX domain sockets don't support multicast).
If the question intended to be about broadcasting (as I understand it), then according to unix(4) - UNIX-domain protocol family, broadcasting it is not available with UNIX Domain Sockets:
The Unix Ns -domain protocol family does not support
broadcast addressing or any form of "wildcard" matching
on incoming messages. All addresses are absolute- or
relative-pathnames of other Unix Ns -domain sockets.
May be multicast could be an option, but I feel to know it's not available with POSIX, although Linux supports UNIX Domain Socket multicast.
Also see: Introducing multicast Unix sockets.
It will happen because of
server or client die before unlink/remove for bind() file associate.
any of client/server using this bind path, try to run server again.
solutions :
when you want to bind again just check that file is already associate then unlink that file.
How to step :
first check access of this file by access(2);
if yes then unlink(2) it.
put this peace of code before bind() call,position is independent.
if(!access(filename.c_str()))
unlink(filename.c_str());
for more reference read unix(7)
Wouldn't it be easier to use shared memory or named pipes? A socket is a connection between two processes (on the same or a different machine). It isn't a mass communication method.
If you want to give something to multiple clients, you create a server that waits for connections and then all the clients can connect and it gives them the information. You can accept concurrent connections by making the program multi-threaded or by forking processes. The server establishes multiple socket-based connections with multiple clients, rather than having one socket that multiple clients connect to.
You should look into IP multicasting instead of Unix-domain anything. At present you are just trying to write to nowhere. And if you connect to one client you will only be writing to that client.
This stuff doesn't work the way you seem to think it does.
You can solve the bind error with the following code:
int use = yesno;
setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, (char*)&use, sizeof(int));
With UDP protocol, you must invoke connect() if you want to use write() or send(), otherwise you should use sendto() instead.
To achieve your requirements, the following pseudo code may be of help:
sockfd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0)
set RESUSEADDR with setsockopt
bind()
while (1) {
recvfrom()
sendto()
}

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