UDP Sockets in C: client1 to server to client2 - c

I have a UDP client/server that sends a message to a server in lower or uppercase. The server receives the message and relays it back with switched cases. I can't figure out how I would instead of having the server relay it back to the first client, instead sending it to a client2. If my client2 sends a message the server receives and sends it back to client2 and same thing with client1. I want what client1 says to be sent to the server and then the server send that to client2. I've tried everything i can think of but cant figure out.
Server:
/*
Simple udp server
*/
#include<stdio.h> //printf
#include<string.h> //memset
#include<stdlib.h> //exit(0);
#include<arpa/inet.h>
#include<sys/socket.h>
#include<ctype.h>
#define BUFLEN 512 //Max length of buffer
#define PORT 8888 //The port on which to listen for incoming data
void die(char *s)
{
perror(s);
exit(1);
}
int main(void)
{
struct sockaddr_in si_me, si_other, si_other2;
int s, i, slen = sizeof(si_other) , recv_len;
char buf[BUFLEN];
//create a UDP socket
if ((s=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP)) == -1)
{
die("socket");
}
// zero out the structure
memset((char *) &si_me, 0, sizeof(si_me));
si_me.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_me.sin_port = htons(PORT);
si_me.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);
//bind socket to port
if( bind(s , (struct sockaddr*)&si_me, sizeof(si_me) ) == -1)
{
die("bind");
}
//keep listening for data
while(1)
{
printf("Waiting for data...");
fflush(stdout);
//try to receive some data, this is a blocking call
if ((recv_len = recvfrom(s, buf, BUFLEN, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, &slen)) == -1) // read datagram from server socket
{
die("recvfrom()");
}
//print details of the client/peer and the data received
printf("Received packet from %s:%d\n", inet_ntoa(si_other.sin_addr), ntohs(si_other.sin_port)); printf("Data: %s\n" , buf);
//now reply to server socket/the client with the same data
if (sendto(s, buf, recv_len, 0, (struct sockaddr*) &si_other, slen) == -1)
{
die("sendto()");
}
}
close(s);
return 0;
}
The Client:
/*
Simple udp client
*/
#include<stdio.h> //printf
#include<string.h> //memset
#include<stdlib.h> //exit(0);
#include<arpa/inet.h>
#include<sys/socket.h>
#include<ctype.h>
#define SERVER "192.x.x.x"
#define BUFLEN 512 //Max length of buffer
#define PORT 8888 //The port on which to send data
void die(char *s)
{
perror(s);
exit(1);
}
int main(void)
{
struct sockaddr_in si_other;
int s, s2, i, slen=sizeof(si_other);
char buf[BUFLEN];
char message[BUFLEN];
if ( (s=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP)) == -1) // create a client socket
{
die("socket");
}
memset((char *) &si_other, 0, sizeof(si_other));
si_other.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_other.sin_port = htons(PORT);
if (inet_aton(SERVER , &si_other.sin_addr) == 0) // Create datagram with server IP and port.
{
fprintf(stderr, "inet_aton() failed\n");
exit(1);
}
while(1)
{
printf("Enter message : ");
gets(message);
int a;
char message2[BUFLEN];
for(a=0;a<=BUFLEN-1;a++)
{
if(message[a] >= 97 && message[a] <= 122)
message2[a] = toupper(message[a]);
else
message2[a] = tolower(message[a]);
}
if (sendto(s, message2, strlen(message2) , 0 , (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, slen)==-1)
{
die("sendto()");
}
//receive a reply and print it
//clear the buffer by filling null, it might have previously received data
memset(buf,'\0', BUFLEN);
//try to receive some data, this is a blocking call
if (recvfrom(s, buf, BUFLEN, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, &slen) == -1) // read datagram from client socket
{
die("recvfrom()");
}
puts(buf);
}
close(s);
return 0;
}

It seems instead of a UDP server, you want to have a forwarder of packets like from client->server->client2, so you need to tell your server the ipaddress/port of client2, for this kindly configure client2 ip/port in server either using commandline arguments or read any input file, then before the sendto statement in server code, fill the si_other structure with client2 information as teken from command line or input file.

After you read() or recvfrom() your message, you process your data and then sendto() twice: one to the address returned by recvfrom() (the original sender) and other to the other client's address (which must be provided or detected somehow by your server).
Something along this (proper error checking not being performed):
char data[100];
struct sockaddr_in address;
socklen_t length = sizeof address;
/* Receive data from any client. */
ssize_t result = recvfrom(server, data, sizeof data, 0, &address, &length);
/* Process the data (change cases). */
process_data(data, result);
/* Send back to the first client. */
sendto(server, data, result, 0, &address, sizeof address);
/* Check who's the sender and relay to the other. */
if (address.sin_addr.s_addr == CLIENT1_ADDRESS)
address.sin_addr.s_addr = CLIENT2_ADDRESS;
else
address.sin_addr.s_addr = CLIENT1_ADDRESS;
/* Send to the other client. */
sendto(server, data, result, 0, &address, sizeof address);
In this example, the addresses are statically defined.

Related

Read blocks when no data are available to read from socket

I am implementing a server/client app for educational purposes. My server opens a socket and polls it for connections. If a connection is available it accepts it and sends some data over. Then it waits for input and sends some data back again.
When implementing the client side, I tried writing to the socket right away, but that did not work. I had to receive first what the server told me and then send it some data. Then wait to receive again.
This does not seem a good solution and since this is an educational project I was wondering how I would go about making it abstract (i.e. not care about how many times the server would send me something and I would send it something back.)
So far I have tried looping to receive the server's input but without success. The server writes twice to the socket, so the client must read twice before trying to send its own message. If I read a third time the read blocks (which I think is the normal behaviour).
I tried using poll on the socket from the client's side to watch for POLLOUT events, but it does not seem to work.
int connect(){
unsigned int backlog = 10;
/*
struct sockaddr_in {
short sin_family; // e.g. AF_INET
unsigned short sin_port; // e.g. htons(3490)
struct in_addr sin_addr; // see struct in_addr, below
char sin_zero[8]; // zero this if you want to
};
struct in_addr {
unsigned long s_addr; // load with inet_aton()
};
*/
struct sockaddr_in server{};
//Create socket
listeningSocket = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
if (listeningSocket == -1) {
spdlog::critical("Could not create socket");
}
spdlog::debug("Socket created.");
//Prepare the socket for incoming connections
server.sin_family = AF_INET;
server.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY;
server.sin_port = htons(PortNumber); // NOLINT(hicpp-signed-bitwise)
if (bind(listeningSocket, (const struct sockaddr *) &server, sizeof(sockaddr_in)) < 0) {
spdlog::critical("bind failed. Error");
exit(-1);
}
spdlog::debug("Bind succeeded\n");
if (!listen(listeningSocket, static_cast<int>(backlog))) {
return listeningSocket;
}
return -1;
}
Handle the message
void* sendMessage(){
//Get the socket descriptor
int sock = socket;
int read_size;
const char *message;
char client_message[200];
//Send some messages to the client
message = "Greetings! I am your connection handler\n";
write(sock, message, strlen(message));
message = "Now type something and i shall apply the caesar cipher to it \n";
write(sock, message, strlen(message));
//Receive a message from client
while ((read_size = recv(sock, client_message, 200, 0)) > 0) {
//end of string marker
client_message[read_size] = '\0';
std::string temp(client_message);
temp = cipher->operate(temp);
//Send the message back to client
write(sock, temp.c_str(), strlen(temp.c_str()));
//clear the message buffer
memset(client_message, 0, 200);
}
if (read_size == 0) {
spdlog::debug("Client disconnected");
fflush(stdout);
} else if (read_size == -1) {
spdlog::error("recv failed: {}",errno);
}
return nullptr;
}
As for the client side:
//Connect to the server
void connect()
{
struct hostent *he;
struct sockaddr_in their_addr{}; /* connector's address information */
if ((he=gethostbyname(mHost.c_str())) == nullptr) { /* get the host info */
spdlog::error("gethostbyname");
}
if ((mSocket = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) == -1) {
spdlog::error("socket");
exit(1);
}
their_addr.sin_family = AF_INET; /* host byte order */
their_addr.sin_port = htons(mPort); /* short, network byte order */ //NOLINT
their_addr.sin_addr = *((struct in_addr *)he->h_addr);
bzero(&(their_addr.sin_zero), 8); /* zero the rest of the struct */
if (connect(mSocket, (struct sockaddr *)&their_addr, sizeof(struct sockaddr)) == -1) {
spdlog::error("connect");
exit(1);
}
}
}
And try to send the message:
void sendMessage(){
#define MAX 100
if (!sockfd) {
sockfd = mSocket;
spdlog::info("Setting socket to {}", sockfd);
}
char buff[MAX];
struct pollfd fds[1];
fds[0].fd=sockfd;
while (( recv(sockfd, buff, 200, 0)) > 0) {
printf("From Server : %s", buff);
bzero(buff, sizeof(buff));
}
strcpy(buff, "PAPARI");
write(sockfd, buff, sizeof(buff));
bzero(buff, sizeof(buff));
read(sockfd, buff, sizeof(buff));
printf("From Server : %s", buff);
close(sockfd);
}
This will block after the two messages from the server are received by the client.

UDP socket demultiplexing at server port

TCP socket demultiplexing at the server port (which listens for multiple TCP connections) happens with a separate socket descriptor created for each established TCP connection(though the accept() call) and the socket descriptor is tightly coupled with tuple [source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination IP address]. Over this established connection we can use the high layer application protocols like HTTP, FTP, SSH etc.,
But in case of UDP there is no session/connection established between the peers. The server waiting at the particular port receives the message from any client. The client's IP address and port number is known after receiving the message(populated in the socket address structure). From the address structure the messages can be demultiplexed and given to respective applications.
Over the server port, If I want to establish a connected session over UDP[like the tuple mentioned in case of TCP] so that communication between the server and client (between particular port on server and client) can be demultiplexed before receiving the message(without inferring the same from socket address structure) so that the higher layer protocols can work like on TCP (ofcourse higher layer protocols like DTLS taking care of the reliability)
Below is the code for UDP server(leveraging the connect() API to keep the UDP socket connected) and UDP client
// server program for udp connection
#include <stdio.h>
#include <strings.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#define PORT 5000
#define MAXLINE 1000
//logical thread num
static unsigned int threadnum = 0;
struct pass_info {
struct sockaddr_in server_addr;
struct sockaddr_in client_addr;
unsigned int threadnum;
};
char *message = "Hello Client";
void* connection_handle(void *info) {
int fd = 0;
char buffer[100];
int n = 0;
const int on = 1;
struct pass_info *pinfo = (struct pass_info*) info;
printf("Executing thread : %d\n", pinfo->threadnum);
fd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
if (fd < 0) {
printf("Error socket!!!");
return;
}
setsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, (const void*) &on, (socklen_t) sizeof(on));
bind(fd, (const struct sockaddr *) &pinfo->server_addr, sizeof(struct sockaddr_in));
connect(fd, (struct sockaddr *) &pinfo->client_addr, sizeof(struct sockaddr_in));
while(1)
{
n = recv(fd, buffer, sizeof(buffer), 0);
if (n < 0)
{
printf("receive failed! in thread : %d", pinfo->threadnum);
break;
}
buffer[n] = '\0';
printf("Thread num %d: Recv message - %s\n", pinfo->threadnum, buffer);
n = send(fd, message, sizeof(message), 0);
if (n < 0)
{
printf("send failed! in thread : %d", pinfo->threadnum);
break;
}
}
free(info);
return NULL;
}
int main()
{
char buffer[100];
int listenfd, len, sockfd;
const int on = 1;
struct sockaddr_in servaddr, cliaddr;
bzero(&servaddr, sizeof(servaddr));
struct pass_info *info;
pthread_t tid;
// Create a UDP Socket
listenfd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
servaddr.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);
servaddr.sin_port = htons(PORT);
servaddr.sin_family = AF_INET;
setsockopt(listenfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, (const void*) &on, (socklen_t) sizeof(on));
// bind server address to socket descriptor
bind(listenfd, (struct sockaddr*)&servaddr, sizeof(servaddr));
while (1)
{
//receive the datagram
len = sizeof(cliaddr);
int n = recvfrom(listenfd, buffer, sizeof(buffer),
0, (struct sockaddr*)&cliaddr,&len); //receive message from server
buffer[n] = '\0';
printf("Main thread: Recv message - %s\n", buffer);
n = sendto(listenfd, message, MAXLINE, 0, (struct sockaddr*)&cliaddr, sizeof(cliaddr));
info = (struct pass_info*) malloc (sizeof(struct pass_info));
memcpy(&info->server_addr, &servaddr, sizeof(struct sockaddr_in));
memcpy(&info->client_addr, &cliaddr, sizeof(struct sockaddr_in));
threadnum++;
info->threadnum = threadnum;
if (pthread_create(&tid, NULL, connection_handle, info) != 0) {
perror("pthread_create");
exit(-1);
}
}
}
// udp client program
#include <stdio.h>
#include <strings.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include<netinet/in.h>
#include<unistd.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#define PORT 5000
#define MAXLINE 1000
int main()
{
char buffer[100];
char *message = "Hello Server";
int sockfd, n;
struct sockaddr_in servaddr, cliaddr;
int len = 0;
// clear servaddr
bzero(&servaddr, sizeof(servaddr));
servaddr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("127.0.0.1");
servaddr.sin_port = htons(PORT);
servaddr.sin_family = AF_INET;
// create datagram socket
sockfd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
while(1)
{
sleep(3);
sendto(sockfd, message, MAXLINE, 0, (struct sockaddr*)&servaddr, sizeof(servaddr));
// waiting for response
recvfrom(sockfd, buffer, sizeof(buffer), 0, (struct sockaddr*)&cliaddr, &len);
puts(buffer);
}
}
Queries:
Whether this would be the right way to do de-multiplexing at the UDP socket level
The server listens for any UDP packets from the client. once it receives a message, new socket descriptor is created and the connect() API is called so that the client's IP address, port is registered with this newly created socket descriptor and from here on newly created socket descriptor will used to send and receive messages to the particular client's IP address and port. Whether it is a fool proof method
Are there any other well known methods to use the higher layer protocols(protocols supporting reliability like DTLS) over UDP

Send a UDP message from Server to Client

I am experimenting with sending a message from a server to a client using UDP sockets... however, my client is not receiving any messages. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT: maybe I should clarify that the message seems to be sending successfully, however when I run the client it gets stuck on waiting for data... any pointers as to why this is happening would be appreciated!
UDP SERVER
#include<stdio.h>
#include<string.h>
#include<stdlib.h>
#include<arpa/inet.h>
#include<sys/socket.h>
#define SERVER "127.0.0.1"
#define BUFLEN 512 //Max length of buffer
#define PORT 8888 //The port on which to listen for incoming data
void die(char *s)
{
perror(s);
exit(1);
}
int main(void)
{
struct sockaddr_in si_other;
int s, i, slen = sizeof(si_other);
char buf[BUFLEN];
char message[BUFLEN];
//create a UDP socket
if ((s=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP)) == -1)
{
die("socket");
}
// zero out the structure
memset((char *) &si_other, 0, sizeof(si_other));
si_other.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_other.sin_port = htons(PORT);
if (inet_aton(SERVER , &si_other.sin_addr) == 0)
{
fprintf(stderr, "inet_aton() failed\n");
exit(1);
}
//bind socket to port
if( bind(s , (struct sockaddr*)&si_other, sizeof(si_other) ) == -1)
{
die("bind");
}
else
{
printf ("Success!\n");
}
while(1)
{
printf("Enter message : ");
gets(message);
//send the message
if (sendto(s, message, strlen(message) , 0 , (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, slen)==-1)
{
die("sendto()");
}
else
{
printf ("Success!\n");
}
}
close(s);
return 0;
}
UDP CLIENT
#include<stdio.h> //printf
#include<string.h> //memset
#include<stdlib.h> //exit(0);
#include<arpa/inet.h>
#include<sys/socket.h>
#define BUFLEN 512 //Max length of buffer
#define PORT 8888 //The port on which to send data
void die(char *s)
{
perror(s);
exit(1);
}
int main(void)
{
struct sockaddr_in si_me, si_other;
int s, i, slen=sizeof(si_other), recv_len;
char buf[BUFLEN];
char message[BUFLEN];
if ( (s=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP)) == -1)
{
die("socket");
}
// zero out the structure
memset((char *) &si_me, 0, sizeof(si_me));
si_me.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_me.sin_port = htons(PORT);
si_me.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);
while(1)
{
printf("Waiting for data...");
fflush(stdout);
//try to receive some data, this is a blocking call
if ((recv_len = recvfrom(s, buf, BUFLEN, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, &slen)) == -1)
{
die("recvfrom()");
}
//print details of the client/peer and the data received
printf("Received packet from %s:%d\n", inet_ntoa(si_other.sin_addr), ntohs(si_other.sin_port));
printf("Data: %s\n" , buf);
}
close(s);
return 0;
}
Call bind() from the client and not the server
you need to bind your client, not your server.

UPD client and UDP server

How can I use different machines to send messages using UPD client and server? I understand that using these two on the same machine, I just need to compile them and messages go through. But with different machines how?
This code is for the UDP client.
/*
Simple udp client
Silver Moon (m00n.silv3r#gmail.com)
*/
#include<stdio.h> //printf
#include<string.h> //memset
#include<stdlib.h> //exit(0);
#include<arpa/inet.h>
#include<sys/socket.h>
#define SERVER "127.0.0.1"
#define BUFLEN 512 //Max length of buffer
#define PORT 8888 //The port on which to send data
void die(char *s)
{
perror(s);
exit(1);
}
int main(void)
{
struct sockaddr_in si_other;
int s, i, slen=sizeof(si_other);
char buf[BUFLEN];
char message[BUFLEN];
if ( (s=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP)) == -1)
{
die("socket");
}
memset((char *) &si_other, 0, sizeof(si_other));
si_other.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_other.sin_port = htons(PORT);
if (inet_aton(SERVER , &si_other.sin_addr) == 0)
{
fprintf(stderr, "inet_aton() failed\n");
exit(1);
}
while(1)
{
printf("Enter message : ");
gets(message);
//send the message
if (sendto(s, message, strlen(message) , 0 , (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, slen)==-1)
{
die("sendto()");
}
//receive a reply and print it
//clear the buffer by filling null, it might have previously received data
memset(buf,'\0', BUFLEN);
//try to receive some data, this is a blocking call
if (recvfrom(s, buf, BUFLEN, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, &slen) == -1)
{
die("recvfrom()");
}
puts(buf);
}
close(s);
return 0;
}
This code is for the UDP server.
/* Simple udp server
Silver Moon (m00n.silv3r#gmail.com) */
#include<stdio.h> //printf
#include<string.h> //memset
#include<stdlib.h> //exit(0);
#include<arpa/inet.h>
#include<sys/socket.h>
#define BUFLEN 512 //Max length of buffer
#define PORT 8888 //The port on which to listen for incoming data
void die(char *s)
{
perror(s);
exit(1);
}
int main(void)
{
struct sockaddr_in si_me, si_other;
int s, i, slen = sizeof(si_other) , recv_len;
char buf[BUFLEN];
//create a UDP socket
if ((s=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP)) == -1)
{
die("socket");
}
// zero out the structure
memset((char *) &si_me, 0, sizeof(si_me));
si_me.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_me.sin_port = htons(PORT);
si_me.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);
//bind socket to port
if( bind(s , (struct sockaddr*)&si_me, sizeof(si_me) ) == -1)
{
die("bind");
}
//keep listening for data
while(1)
{
printf("Waiting for data...");
fflush(stdout);
//try to receive some data, this is a blocking call
if ((recv_len = recvfrom(s, buf, BUFLEN, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, &slen)) == -1)
{
die("recvfrom()");
}
//print details of the client/peer and the data received
printf("Received packet from %s:%d\n", inet_ntoa(si_other.sin_addr),
ntohs(si_other.sin_port));
printf("Data: %s\n" , buf);
//now reply the client with the same data
if (sendto(s, buf, recv_len, 0, (struct sockaddr*) &si_other, slen) == -1)
{
die("sendto()");
}
}
close(s);
return 0;
}
127.0.0.1 is a local IP address (assigned to loopback interface see below IP for lo0 interface). Its good for communicating across difference process acting in client server roles on the same host/system.
What you need is the assigned IP of the primary interface (like eth0/ en0 etc.) on your server system. On a MAC this looks as below
#ifconfig -au
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
..
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
..
inet 192.168.1.2 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
media: autoselect
status: active
In the above output I'd use the IP address on en0 which is 192.168.1.2 (for server to bind) and then the clients can connect to that IP over the network.

UDP Socket Programming in C: 2 Clients and 1 Server

Im very new to network programming. I have a UDP client/server that sends a message to a server in lower or uppercase. The server receives the message and relays it back with switches cases. I cant figure out how I would instead of relaying it back to the first client, sending it to client2. heres my code.
Server:
/*
Simple udp server
*/
#include<stdio.h> //printf
#include<string.h> //memset
#include<stdlib.h> //exit(0);
#include<arpa/inet.h>
#include<sys/socket.h>
#include<ctype.h>
#define BUFLEN 512 //Max length of buffer
#define PORT 8888 //The port on which to listen for incoming data
void die(char *s)
{
perror(s);
exit(1);
}
int main(void)
{
struct sockaddr_in si_me, si_other, si_other2;
int s, i, slen = sizeof(si_other) , recv_len;
char buf[BUFLEN];
//create a UDP socket
if ((s=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP)) == -1)
{
die("socket");
}
// zero out the structure
memset((char *) &si_me, 0, sizeof(si_me));
si_me.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_me.sin_port = htons(PORT);
si_me.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);
//bind socket to port
if( bind(s , (struct sockaddr*)&si_me, sizeof(si_me) ) == -1)
{
die("bind");
}
//keep listening for data
while(1)
{
printf("Waiting for data...");
fflush(stdout);
//try to receive some data, this is a blocking call
if ((recv_len = recvfrom(s, buf, BUFLEN, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, &slen)) == -1) // read datagram from server socket
{
die("recvfrom()");
}
//print details of the client/peer and the data received
printf("Received packet from %s:%d\n", inet_ntoa(si_other.sin_addr), ntohs(si_other.sin_port)); printf("Data: %s\n" , buf);
//now reply to server socket/the client with the same data
if (sendto(s, buf, recv_len, 0, (struct sockaddr*) &si_other, slen) == -1)
{
die("sendto()");
}
}
close(s);
return 0;
}
The Client:
/*
Simple udp client
*/
#include<stdio.h> //printf
#include<string.h> //memset
#include<stdlib.h> //exit(0);
#include<arpa/inet.h>
#include<sys/socket.h>
#include<ctype.h>
#define SERVER "192.x.x.x"
#define BUFLEN 512 //Max length of buffer
#define PORT 8888 //The port on which to send data
void die(char *s)
{
perror(s);
exit(1);
}
int main(void)
{
struct sockaddr_in si_other;
int s, s2, i, slen=sizeof(si_other);
char buf[BUFLEN];
char message[BUFLEN];
if ( (s=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_UDP)) == -1) // create a client socket
{
die("socket");
}
memset((char *) &si_other, 0, sizeof(si_other));
si_other.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_other.sin_port = htons(PORT);
if (inet_aton(SERVER , &si_other.sin_addr) == 0) // Create datagram with server IP and port.
{
fprintf(stderr, "inet_aton() failed\n");
exit(1);
}
while(1)
{
printf("Enter message : ");
gets(message);
int a;
char message2[BUFLEN];
for(a=0;a<=BUFLEN-1;a++)
{
if(message[a] >= 97 && message[a] <= 122)
message2[a] = toupper(message[a]);
else
message2[a] = tolower(message[a]);
}
if (sendto(s, message2, strlen(message2) , 0 , (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, slen)==-1)
{
die("sendto()");
}
//receive a reply and print it
//clear the buffer by filling null, it might have previously received data
memset(buf,'\0', BUFLEN);
//try to receive some data, this is a blocking call
if (recvfrom(s, buf, BUFLEN, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, &slen) == -1) // read datagram from client socket
{
die("recvfrom()");
}
puts(buf);
}
close(s);
return 0;
}
Since this has 21K views with no explicit answer, and it is basic understanding of coding for UDP.. I will give it some love.
As mentioned in the comments already: In your server code, you receive a message from the client using:
recvfrom(s, buf, BUFLEN, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &si_other, &slen))
The result of this function is that the message data will be written into buf and the ip address and port number of the socket that sent the message will be filled into si_other (which must be of type struct sockaddr_in).
So then, when you send a response using:
sendto(s, buf, recv_len, 0, (struct sockaddr*) &si_other, slen)
Since si_other, which you are passing as the destination address for sendto, contains the ip/port of the last message you got, the response will always go back to the sender of the last message you got. In many server applications this is a pretty common scenario: you get a request from somewhere, you send a response back to the same place.
If you want the message to go someplace else, other than the process that sent you the request, then you need to create a different struct sockaddr_in variable which contains the ip address and port of where you would like the message to go.
And in your client code, you already have the code that does that, eg (cleaned up a bit):
struct sockaddr_in si_client2;
memset((char *) &si_client2, 0, sizeof(si_client2));
si_client2.sin_family = AF_INET;
si_client2.sin_port = htons(CLIENT2_PORT);
if(inet_aton(CLIENT2_HOST, &si_client2.sin_addr) == 0)
perror("inet_aton");
So now, if you use si_client2 in your sendto(), the packet will go to that client.
Because it's UDP, delivery is not guaranteed. If there is a process listening for UDP at that ip address, on that port number, then (if no network error occurs) it will get the message. If not, nothing will happen.. your message vanishes into the void.
Keep in mind that if client 1 and client 2 are both running on the same machine, they will need to use different port numbers, because every destination (whether in a client or server role) must have a unique combination of IP and PORT.
Now, in real life applications, it is rare that a server will ever know the IP and PORT of its clients ahead of time.. usually clients will not use fixed port numbers but instead use "ephemeral ports".. port numbers which the operating system assigns at run-time. Whereas, the client will often be configured with the IP and port of the server.
So, in most cases, you would have some code in the server that keeps a list of client addresses.. perhaps a simple messaging service would keep a list of the last 100 clients it got messages from... But how this is actually done would be dictated by the needs of the application. For a simple exercise like this one, you can just hard code the addresses as I said...
The bottom line is that, to send a UDP packet to a specific destination, the sender must know the IP and PORT of that specific destination. And the only way to know that is either to have some configuration data, or for someone (such as the destination) to send a packet ahead of time letting you know of its existence. Just keep in mind that with a UDP socket you can get a message from anywhere, and you'll be given the ip/port along with the message. If you need to send a message, you need to know the ip/port of where you want to send it. It's your applications problem to figure out how it's going to get that information and where to store that information for later use.

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