35 KiB
Net
Stability: 2 - Stable
The net
module provides an asynchronous network API for creating stream-based
TCP or IPC servers (net.createServer()
) and clients
(net.createConnection()
).
It can be accessed using:
const net = require('net');
IPC Support
The net
module supports IPC with named pipes on Windows, and UNIX domain
sockets on other operating systems.
Identifying paths for IPC connections
net.connect()
, net.createConnection()
, server.listen()
and
socket.connect()
take a path
parameter to identify IPC endpoints.
On UNIX, the local domain is also known as the UNIX domain. The path is a
filesystem path name. It gets truncated to sizeof(sockaddr_un.sun_path) - 1
,
which varies on different operating system between 91 and 107 bytes.
The typical values are 107 on Linux and 103 on macOS. The path is
subject to the same naming conventions and permissions checks as would be done
on file creation. It will be visible in the filesystem, and will persist until
unlinked.
On Windows, the local domain is implemented using a named pipe. The path must
refer to an entry in \\?\pipe\
or \\.\pipe\
. Any characters are permitted,
but the latter may do some processing of pipe names, such as resolving ..
sequences. Despite appearances, the pipe name space is flat. Pipes will not
persist, they are removed when the last reference to them is closed. Do not
forget JavaScript string escaping requires paths to be specified with
double-backslashes, such as:
net.createServer().listen(
path.join('\\\\?\\pipe', process.cwd(), 'myctl'));
Class: net.Server
This class is used to create a TCP or IPC server.
new net.Server([options][, connectionListener])
- Returns: {net.Server}
See net.createServer([options][, connectionListener])
.
net.Server
is an EventEmitter
with the following events:
Event: 'close'
Emitted when the server closes. Note that if connections exist, this event is not emitted until all connections are ended.
Event: 'connection'
- {net.Socket} The connection object
Emitted when a new connection is made. socket
is an instance of
net.Socket
.
Event: 'error'
- {Error}
Emitted when an error occurs. Unlike net.Socket
, the 'close'
event will not be emitted directly following this event unless
server.close()
is manually called. See the example in discussion of
server.listen()
.
Event: 'listening'
Emitted when the server has been bound after calling server.listen()
.
server.address()
Returns the bound address, the address family name, and port of the server
as reported by the operating system if listening on an IP socket.
Useful to find which port was assigned when getting an OS-assigned address.
Returns an object with port
, family
, and address
properties:
{ port: 12346, family: 'IPv4', address: '127.0.0.1' }
For a server listening on a pipe or UNIX domain socket, the name is returned as a string.
Example:
const server = net.createServer((socket) => {
socket.end('goodbye\n');
}).on('error', (err) => {
// handle errors here
throw err;
});
// grab an arbitrary unused port.
server.listen(() => {
console.log('opened server on', server.address());
});
Don't call server.address()
until the 'listening'
event has been emitted.
server.close([callback])
- Returns: {net.Server}
Stops the server from accepting new connections and keeps existing
connections. This function is asynchronous, the server is finally
closed when all connections are ended and the server emits a 'close'
event.
The optional callback
will be called once the 'close'
event occurs. Unlike
that event, it will be called with an Error as its only argument if the server
was not open when it was closed.
Returns server
.
server.connections
Stability: 0 - Deprecated: Use
server.getConnections()
instead.
The number of concurrent connections on the server.
This becomes null
when sending a socket to a child with
child_process.fork()
. To poll forks and get current number of active
connections use asynchronous server.getConnections()
instead.
server.getConnections(callback)
- Returns: {net.Server}
Asynchronously get the number of concurrent connections on the server. Works when sockets were sent to forks.
Callback should take two arguments err
and count
.
server.listen()
Start a server listening for connections. A net.Server
can be a TCP or
a IPC server depending on what it listens to.
Possible signatures:
server.listen(handle[, backlog][, callback])
server.listen(options[, callback])
server.listen(path[, backlog][, callback])
for IPC serversserver.listen([port][, host][, backlog][, callback])
for TCP servers
This function is asynchronous. When the server starts listening, the
'listening'
event will be emitted. The last parameter callback
will be added as a listener for the 'listening'
event.
All listen()
methods can take a backlog
parameter to specify the maximum
length of the queue of pending connections. The actual length will be determined
by the OS through sysctl settings such as tcp_max_syn_backlog
and somaxconn
on Linux. The default value of this parameter is 511 (not 512).
Note:
- All
net.Socket
are set toSO_REUSEADDR
(See socket(7) for details). - The
server.listen()
method can be called again if and only if there was an error during the firstserver.listen()
call orserver.close()
has been called. Otherwise, anERR_SERVER_ALREADY_LISTEN
error will be thrown.
One of the most common errors raised when listening is EADDRINUSE
.
This happens when another server is already listening on the requested
port
/ path
/ handle
. One way to handle this would be to retry
after a certain amount of time:
server.on('error', (e) => {
if (e.code === 'EADDRINUSE') {
console.log('Address in use, retrying...');
setTimeout(() => {
server.close();
server.listen(PORT, HOST);
}, 1000);
}
});
server.listen(handle[, backlog][, callback])
handle
{Object}backlog
{number} Common parameter ofserver.listen()
functionscallback
{Function} Common parameter ofserver.listen()
functions- Returns: {net.Server}
Start a server listening for connections on a given handle
that has
already been bound to a port, a UNIX domain socket, or a Windows named pipe.
The handle
object can be either a server, a socket (anything with an
underlying _handle
member), or an object with an fd
member that is a
valid file descriptor.
Note: Listening on a file descriptor is not supported on Windows.
server.listen(options[, callback])
options
{Object} Required. Supports the following properties:port
{number}host
{string}path
{string} Will be ignored ifport
is specified. See Identifying paths for IPC connections.backlog
{number} Common parameter ofserver.listen()
functionsexclusive
{boolean} Default tofalse
callback
{Function} Common parameter ofserver.listen()
functions- Returns: {net.Server}
If port
is specified, it behaves the same as
server.listen([port][, hostname][, backlog][, callback])
.
Otherwise, if path
is specified, it behaves the same as
server.listen(path[, backlog][, callback])
.
If none of them is specified, an error will be thrown.
If exclusive
is false
(default), then cluster workers will use the same
underlying handle, allowing connection handling duties to be shared. When
exclusive
is true
, the handle is not shared, and attempted port sharing
results in an error. An example which listens on an exclusive port is
shown below.
server.listen({
host: 'localhost',
port: 80,
exclusive: true
});
server.listen(path[, backlog][, callback])
path
{String} Path the server should listen to. See Identifying paths for IPC connections.backlog
{number} Common parameter ofserver.listen()
functionscallback
{Function} Common parameter ofserver.listen()
functions- Returns: {net.Server}
Start a IPC server listening for connections on the given path
.
server.listen([port][, host][, backlog][, callback])
port
{number}host
{string}backlog
{number} Common parameter ofserver.listen()
functionscallback
{Function} Common parameter ofserver.listen()
functions- Returns: {net.Server}
Start a TCP server listening for connections on the given port
and host
.
If port
is omitted or is 0, the operating system will assign an arbitrary
unused port, which can be retrieved by using server.address().port
after the 'listening'
event has been emitted.
If host
is omitted, the server will accept connections on the
unspecified IPv6 address (::
) when IPv6 is available, or the
unspecified IPv4 address (0.0.0.0
) otherwise.
Note: In most operating systems, listening to the
unspecified IPv6 address (::
) may cause the net.Server
to also listen on
the unspecified IPv4 address (0.0.0.0
).
server.listening
A Boolean indicating whether or not the server is listening for connections.
server.maxConnections
Set this property to reject connections when the server's connection count gets high.
It is not recommended to use this option once a socket has been sent to a child
with child_process.fork()
.
server.ref()
- Returns: {net.Server}
Opposite of unref
, calling ref
on a previously unref
d server will not
let the program exit if it's the only server left (the default behavior). If
the server is ref
d calling ref
again will have no effect.
server.unref()
- Returns: {net.Server}
Calling unref
on a server will allow the program to exit if this is the only
active server in the event system. If the server is already unref
d calling
unref
again will have no effect.
Class: net.Socket
This class is an abstraction of a TCP socket or a streaming IPC endpoint
(uses named pipes on Windows, and UNIX domain sockets otherwise). A
net.Socket
is also a duplex stream, so it can be both readable and
writable, and it is also a EventEmitter
.
A net.Socket
can be created by the user and used directly to interact with
a server. For example, it is returned by net.createConnection()
,
so the user can use it to talk to the server.
It can also be created by Node.js and passed to the user when a connection
is received. For example, it is passed to the listeners of a
'connection'
event emitted on a net.Server
, so the user can use
it to interact with the client.
new net.Socket([options])
Creates a new socket object.
options
{Object} Available options are:fd
: {number} If specified, wrap around an existing socket with the given file descriptor, otherwise a new socket will be created.allowHalfOpen
{boolean} Indicates whether half-opened TCP connections are allowed. Seenet.createServer()
and the'end'
event for details. Defaults tofalse
.readable
{boolean} Allow reads on the socket when anfd
is passed, otherwise ignored. Defaults tofalse
.writable
{boolean} Allow writes on the socket when anfd
is passed, otherwise ignored. Defaults tofalse
.
- Returns: {net.Socket}
The newly created socket can be either a TCP socket or a streaming IPC
endpoint, depending on what it connect()
to.
Event: 'close'
had_error
{boolean}true
if the socket had a transmission error.
Emitted once the socket is fully closed. The argument had_error
is a boolean
which says if the socket was closed due to a transmission error.
Event: 'connect'
Emitted when a socket connection is successfully established.
See net.createConnection()
.
Event: 'data'
- {Buffer}
Emitted when data is received. The argument data
will be a Buffer
or
String
. Encoding of data is set by socket.setEncoding()
.
(See the Readable Stream section for more information.)
Note that the data will be lost if there is no listener when a Socket
emits a 'data'
event.
Event: 'drain'
Emitted when the write buffer becomes empty. Can be used to throttle uploads.
See also: the return values of socket.write()
Event: 'end'
Emitted when the other end of the socket sends a FIN packet, thus ending the readable side of the socket.
By default (allowHalfOpen
is false
) the socket will send a FIN packet
back and destroy its file descriptor once it has written out its pending
write queue. However, if allowHalfOpen
is set to true
, the socket will
not automatically end()
its writable side, allowing the
user to write arbitrary amounts of data. The user must call
end()
explicitly to close the connection (i.e. sending a
FIN packet back).
Event: 'error'
- {Error}
Emitted when an error occurs. The 'close'
event will be called directly
following this event.
Event: 'lookup'
Emitted after resolving the hostname but before connecting. Not applicable to UNIX sockets.
err
{Error|null} The error object. Seedns.lookup()
.address
{string} The IP address.family
{string|null} The address type. Seedns.lookup()
.host
{string} The hostname.
Event: 'timeout'
Emitted if the socket times out from inactivity. This is only to notify that the socket has been idle. The user must manually close the connection.
See also: socket.setTimeout()
socket.address()
Returns the bound address, the address family name and port of the
socket as reported by the operating system. Returns an object with
three properties, e.g.
{ port: 12346, family: 'IPv4', address: '127.0.0.1' }
socket.bufferSize
net.Socket
has the property that socket.write()
always works. This is to
help users get up and running quickly. The computer cannot always keep up
with the amount of data that is written to a socket - the network connection
simply might be too slow. Node.js will internally queue up the data written to a
socket and send it out over the wire when it is possible. (Internally it is
polling on the socket's file descriptor for being writable).
The consequence of this internal buffering is that memory may grow. This property shows the number of characters currently buffered to be written. (Number of characters is approximately equal to the number of bytes to be written, but the buffer may contain strings, and the strings are lazily encoded, so the exact number of bytes is not known.)
Users who experience large or growing bufferSize
should attempt to
"throttle" the data flows in their program with
socket.pause()
and socket.resume()
.
socket.bytesRead
The amount of received bytes.
socket.bytesWritten
The amount of bytes sent.
socket.connect()
Initiate a connection on a given socket.
Possible signatures:
- socket.connect(options[, connectListener])
- socket.connect(path[, connectListener]) for IPC connections.
- socket.connect(port[, host][, connectListener]) for TCP connections.
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
This function is asynchronous. When the connection is established, the
'connect'
event will be emitted. If there is a problem connecting,
instead of a 'connect'
event, an 'error'
event will be emitted with
the error passed to the 'error'
listener.
The last parameter connectListener
, if supplied, will be added as a listener
for the 'connect'
event once.
socket.connect(options[, connectListener])
options
{Object}connectListener
{Function} Common parameter ofsocket.connect()
methods. Will be added as a listener for the'connect'
event once.- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Initiate a connection on a given socket. Normally this method is not needed,
the socket should be created and opened with net.createConnection()
. Use
this only when implementing a custom Socket.
For TCP connections, available options
are:
port
{number} Required. Port the socket should connect to.host
{string} Host the socket should connect to. Defaults to'localhost'
.localAddress
{string} Local address the socket should connect from.localPort
{number} Local port the socket should connect from.family
{number}: Version of IP stack, can be either 4 or 6. Defaults to 4.hints
{number} Optionaldns.lookup()
hints.lookup
{Function} Custom lookup function. Defaults todns.lookup()
.
For IPC connections, available options
are:
path
{string} Required. Path the client should connect to. See Identifying paths for IPC connections. If provided, the TCP-specific options above are ignored.
Returns socket
.
socket.connect(path[, connectListener])
path
{string} Path the client should connect to. See Identifying paths for IPC connections.connectListener
{Function} Common parameter ofsocket.connect()
methods. Will be added as a listener for the'connect'
event once.- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Initiate an IPC connection on the given socket.
Alias to
socket.connect(options[, connectListener])
called with { path: path }
as options
.
Returns socket
.
socket.connect(port[, host][, connectListener])
port
{number} Port the client should connect to.host
{string} Host the client should connect to.connectListener
{Function} Common parameter ofsocket.connect()
methods. Will be added as a listener for the'connect'
event once.- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Initiate a TCP connection on the given socket.
Alias to
socket.connect(options[, connectListener])
called with {port: port, host: host}
as options
.
Returns socket
.
socket.connecting
If true
-
socket.connect(options[, connectListener])
was called and haven't yet finished. Will be set to false
before emitting
connect
event and/or calling
socket.connect(options[, connectListener])
's
callback.
socket.destroy([exception])
- Returns: {net.Socket}
Ensures that no more I/O activity happens on this socket. Only necessary in case of errors (parse error or so).
If exception
is specified, an 'error'
event will be emitted and any
listeners for that event will receive exception
as an argument.
socket.destroyed
A Boolean value that indicates if the connection is destroyed or not. Once a connection is destroyed no further data can be transferred using it.
socket.end([data][, encoding])
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Half-closes the socket. i.e., it sends a FIN packet. It is possible the server will still send some data.
If data
is specified, it is equivalent to calling
socket.write(data, encoding)
followed by socket.end()
.
socket.localAddress
The string representation of the local IP address the remote client is
connecting on. For example, in a server listening on '0.0.0.0'
, if a client
connects on '192.168.1.1'
, the value of socket.localAddress
would be
'192.168.1.1'
.
socket.localPort
The numeric representation of the local port. For example,
80
or 21
.
socket.pause()
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Pauses the reading of data. That is, 'data'
events will not be emitted.
Useful to throttle back an upload.
socket.ref()
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Opposite of unref
, calling ref
on a previously unref
d socket will not
let the program exit if it's the only socket left (the default behavior). If
the socket is ref
d calling ref
again will have no effect.
socket.remoteAddress
The string representation of the remote IP address. For example,
'74.125.127.100'
or '2001:4860:a005::68'
. Value may be undefined
if
the socket is destroyed (for example, if the client disconnected).
socket.remoteFamily
The string representation of the remote IP family. 'IPv4'
or 'IPv6'
.
socket.remotePort
The numeric representation of the remote port. For example,
80
or 21
.
socket.resume()
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Resumes reading after a call to socket.pause()
.
socket.setEncoding([encoding])
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Set the encoding for the socket as a Readable Stream. See
stream.setEncoding()
for more information.
socket.setKeepAlive([enable][, initialDelay])
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Enable/disable keep-alive functionality, and optionally set the initial
delay before the first keepalive probe is sent on an idle socket.
enable
defaults to false
.
Set initialDelay
(in milliseconds) to set the delay between the last
data packet received and the first keepalive probe. Setting 0 for
initialDelay will leave the value unchanged from the default
(or previous) setting. Defaults to 0
.
socket.setNoDelay([noDelay])
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Disables the Nagle algorithm. By default TCP connections use the Nagle
algorithm, they buffer data before sending it off. Setting true
for
noDelay
will immediately fire off data each time socket.write()
is called.
noDelay
defaults to true
.
socket.setTimeout(timeout[, callback])
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Sets the socket to timeout after timeout
milliseconds of inactivity on
the socket. By default net.Socket
do not have a timeout.
When an idle timeout is triggered the socket will receive a 'timeout'
event but the connection will not be severed. The user must manually call
socket.end()
or socket.destroy()
to end the connection.
socket.setTimeout(3000);
socket.on('timeout', () => {
console.log('socket timeout');
socket.end();
});
If timeout
is 0, then the existing idle timeout is disabled.
The optional callback
parameter will be added as a one time listener for the
'timeout'
event.
socket.unref()
- Returns: {net.Socket} The socket itself.
Calling unref
on a socket will allow the program to exit if this is the only
active socket in the event system. If the socket is already unref
d calling
unref
again will have no effect.
socket.write(data[, encoding][, callback])
Sends data on the socket. The second parameter specifies the encoding in the case of a string--it defaults to UTF8 encoding.
Returns true
if the entire data was flushed successfully to the kernel
buffer. Returns false
if all or part of the data was queued in user memory.
'drain'
will be emitted when the buffer is again free.
The optional callback
parameter will be executed when the data is finally
written out - this may not be immediately.
net.connect()
Aliases to
net.createConnection()
.
Possible signatures:
net.connect(options[, connectListener])
net.connect(path[, connectListener])
for IPC connections.net.connect(port[, host][, connectListener])
for TCP connections.
net.connect(options[, connectListener])
Alias to
net.createConnection(options[, connectListener])
.
net.connect(path[, connectListener])
Alias to
net.createConnection(path[, connectListener])
.
net.connect(port[, host][, connectListener])
Alias to
net.createConnection(port[, host][, connectListener])
.
net.createConnection()
A factory function, which creates a new net.Socket
,
immediately initiates connection with socket.connect()
,
then returns the net.Socket
that starts the connection.
When the connection is established, a 'connect'
event will be emitted
on the returned socket. The last parameter connectListener
, if supplied,
will be added as a listener for the 'connect'
event once.
Possible signatures:
net.createConnection(options[, connectListener])
net.createConnection(path[, connectListener])
for IPC connections.net.createConnection(port[, host][, connectListener])
for TCP connections.
Note: The net.connect()
function is an alias to this function.
net.createConnection(options[, connectListener])
options
{Object} Required. Will be passed to both thenew net.Socket([options])
call and thesocket.connect(options[, connectListener])
method.connectListener
{Function} Common parameter of thenet.createConnection()
functions. If supplied, will be added as a listener for the'connect'
event on the returned socket once.- Returns: {net.Socket} The newly created socket used to start the connection.
For available options, see
new net.Socket([options])
and socket.connect(options[, connectListener])
.
Additional options:
timeout
{number} If set, will be used to callsocket.setTimeout(timeout)
after the socket is created, but before it starts the connection.
Following is an example of a client of the echo server described
in the net.createServer()
section:
const net = require('net');
const client = net.createConnection({ port: 8124 }, () => {
//'connect' listener
console.log('connected to server!');
client.write('world!\r\n');
});
client.on('data', (data) => {
console.log(data.toString());
client.end();
});
client.on('end', () => {
console.log('disconnected from server');
});
To connect on the socket /tmp/echo.sock
the second line would just be
changed to
const client = net.createConnection({ path: '/tmp/echo.sock' });
net.createConnection(path[, connectListener])
path
{string} Path the socket should connect to. Will be passed tosocket.connect(path[, connectListener])
. See Identifying paths for IPC connections.connectListener
{Function} Common parameter of thenet.createConnection()
functions, an "once" listener for the'connect'
event on the initiating socket. Will be passed tosocket.connect(path[, connectListener])
.- Returns: {net.Socket} The newly created socket used to start the connection.
Initiates an IPC connection.
This function creates a new net.Socket
with all options set to default,
immediately initiates connection with
socket.connect(path[, connectListener])
,
then returns the net.Socket
that starts the connection.
net.createConnection(port[, host][, connectListener])
port
{number} Port the socket should connect to. Will be passed tosocket.connect(port[, host][, connectListener])
.host
{string} Host the socket should connect to. Defaults to'localhost'
. Will be passed tosocket.connect(port[, host][, connectListener])
.connectListener
{Function} Common parameter of thenet.createConnection()
functions, an "once" listener for the'connect'
event on the initiating socket. Will be passed tosocket.connect(path[, connectListener])
.- Returns: {net.Socket} The newly created socket used to start the connection.
Initiates a TCP connection.
This function creates a new net.Socket
with all options set to default,
immediately initiates connection with
socket.connect(port[, host][, connectListener])
,
then returns the net.Socket
that starts the connection.
net.createServer([options][, connectionListener])
Creates a new TCP or IPC server.
options
{Object}allowHalfOpen
{boolean} Default tofalse
. Indicates whether half-opened TCP connections are allowed.pauseOnConnect
{boolean} Default tofalse
. Indicates whether the socket should be paused on incoming connections.
connectionListener
{Function} Automatically set as a listener for the'connection'
event- Returns: {net.Server}
If allowHalfOpen
is set to true
, when the other end of the socket
sends a FIN packet, the server will only send a FIN packet back when
socket.end()
is explicitly called, until then the connection is
half-closed (non-readable but still writable). See 'end'
event
and RFC 1122 (section 4.2.2.13) for more information.
If pauseOnConnect
is set to true
, then the socket associated with each
incoming connection will be paused, and no data will be read from its handle.
This allows connections to be passed between processes without any data being
read by the original process. To begin reading data from a paused socket, call
socket.resume()
.
The server can be a TCP server or a IPC server, depending on what it
listen()
to.
Here is an example of an TCP echo server which listens for connections on port 8124:
const net = require('net');
const server = net.createServer((c) => {
// 'connection' listener
console.log('client connected');
c.on('end', () => {
console.log('client disconnected');
});
c.write('hello\r\n');
c.pipe(c);
});
server.on('error', (err) => {
throw err;
});
server.listen(8124, () => {
console.log('server bound');
});
Test this by using telnet
:
$ telnet localhost 8124
To listen on the socket /tmp/echo.sock
the third line from the last would
just be changed to
server.listen('/tmp/echo.sock', () => {
console.log('server bound');
});
Use nc
to connect to a UNIX domain socket server:
$ nc -U /tmp/echo.sock
net.isIP(input)
Tests if input is an IP address. Returns 0 for invalid strings, returns 4 for IP version 4 addresses, and returns 6 for IP version 6 addresses.
net.isIPv4(input)
Returns true if input is a version 4 IP address, otherwise returns false.
net.isIPv6(input)
Returns true if input is a version 6 IP address, otherwise returns false.