node/doc/api/dgram.markdown

UDP / Datagram Sockets

Datagram sockets are available through require('dgram'). Datagrams are most commonly handled as IP/UDP messages but they can also be used over Unix domain sockets.

Event: 'message'

function (msg, rinfo) { }

Emitted when a new datagram is available on a socket. msg is a Buffer and rinfo is an object with the sender's address information and the number of bytes in the datagram.

Event: 'listening'

function () { }

Emitted when a socket starts listening for datagrams. This happens as soon as UDP sockets are created. Unix domain sockets do not start listening until calling bind() on them.

Event: 'close'

function () { }

Emitted when a socket is closed with close(). No new message events will be emitted on this socket.

dgram.createSocket(type, [callback])

Creates a datagram socket of the specified types. Valid types are: udp4, udp6, and unix_dgram.

Takes an optional callback which is added as a listener for message events.

dgram.send(buf, offset, length, path, [callback])

For Unix domain datagram sockets, the destination address is a pathname in the filesystem. An optional callback may be supplied that is invoked after the sendto call is completed by the OS. It is not safe to re-use buf until the callback is invoked. Note that unless the socket is bound to a pathname with bind() there is no way to receive messages on this socket.

Example of sending a message to syslogd on OSX via Unix domain socket /var/run/syslog:

var dgram = require('dgram');
var message = new Buffer("A message to log.");
var client = dgram.createSocket("unix_dgram");
client.send(message, 0, message.length, "/var/run/syslog",
  function (err, bytes) {
    if (err) {
      throw err;
    }
    console.log("Wrote " + bytes + " bytes to socket.");
});

dgram.send(buf, offset, length, port, address, [callback])

For UDP sockets, the destination port and IP address must be specified. A string may be supplied for the address parameter, and it will be resolved with DNS. An optional callback may be specified to detect any DNS errors and when buf may be re-used. Note that DNS lookups will delay the time that a send takes place, at least until the next tick. The only way to know for sure that a send has taken place is to use the callback.

Example of sending a UDP packet to a random port on localhost;

var dgram = require('dgram');
var message = new Buffer("Some bytes");
var client = dgram.createSocket("udp4");
client.send(message, 0, message.length, 41234, "localhost");
client.close();

dgram.bind(path)

For Unix domain datagram sockets, start listening for incoming datagrams on a socket specified by path. Note that clients may send() without bind(), but no datagrams will be received without a bind().

Example of a Unix domain datagram server that echoes back all messages it receives:

var dgram = require("dgram");
var serverPath = "/tmp/dgram_server_sock";
var server = dgram.createSocket("unix_dgram");

server.on("message", function (msg, rinfo) {
  console.log("got: " + msg + " from " + rinfo.address);
  server.send(msg, 0, msg.length, rinfo.address);
});

server.on("listening", function () {
  console.log("server listening " + server.address().address);
})

server.bind(serverPath);

Example of a Unix domain datagram client that talks to this server:

var dgram = require("dgram");
var serverPath = "/tmp/dgram_server_sock";
var clientPath = "/tmp/dgram_client_sock";

var message = new Buffer("A message at " + (new Date()));

var client = dgram.createSocket("unix_dgram");

client.on("message", function (msg, rinfo) {
  console.log("got: " + msg + " from " + rinfo.address);
});

client.on("listening", function () {
  console.log("client listening " + client.address().address);
  client.send(message, 0, message.length, serverPath);
});

client.bind(clientPath);

dgram.bind(port, [address])

For UDP sockets, listen for datagrams on a named port and optional address. If address is not specified, the OS will try to listen on all addresses.

Example of a UDP server listening on port 41234:

var dgram = require("dgram");

var server = dgram.createSocket("udp4");
var messageToSend = new Buffer("A message to send");

server.on("message", function (msg, rinfo) {
  console.log("server got: " + msg + " from " +
    rinfo.address + ":" + rinfo.port);
});

server.on("listening", function () {
  var address = server.address();
  console.log("server listening " +
      address.address + ":" + address.port);
});

server.bind(41234);
// server listening 0.0.0.0:41234

dgram.close()

Close the underlying socket and stop listening for data on it. UDP sockets automatically listen for messages, even if they did not call bind().

dgram.address()

Returns an object containing the address information for a socket. For UDP sockets, this object will contain address and port. For Unix domain sockets, it will contain only address.

dgram.setBroadcast(flag)

Sets or clears the SO_BROADCAST socket option. When this option is set, UDP packets may be sent to a local interface's broadcast address.

dgram.setTTL(ttl)

Sets the IP_TTL socket option. TTL stands for "Time to Live," but in this context it specifies the number of IP hops that a packet is allowed to go through. Each router or gateway that forwards a packet decrements the TTL. If the TTL is decremented to 0 by a router, it will not be forwarded. Changing TTL values is typically done for network probes or when multicasting.

The argument to setTTL() is a number of hops between 1 and 255. The default on most systems is 64.

dgram.setMulticastTTL(ttl)

Sets the IP_MULTICAST_TTL socket option. TTL stands for "Time to Live," but in this context it specifies the number of IP hops that a packet is allowed to go through, specifically for multicast traffic. Each router or gateway that forwards a packet decrements the TTL. If the TTL is decremented to 0 by a router, it will not be forwarded.

The argument to setMulticastTTL() is a number of hops between 0 and 255. The default on most systems is 64.

dgram.setMulticastLoopback(flag)

Sets or clears the IP_MULTICAST_LOOP socket option. When this option is set, multicast packets will also be received on the local interface.

dgram.addMembership(multicastAddress, [multicastInterface])

Tells the kernel to join a multicast group with IP_ADD_MEMBERSHIP socket option.

If multicastAddress is not specified, the OS will try to add membership to all valid interfaces.

dgram.dropMembership(multicastAddress, [multicastInterface])

Opposite of addMembership - tells the kernel to leave a multicast group with IP_DROP_MEMBERSHIP socket option. This is automatically called by the kernel when the socket is closed or process terminates, so most apps will never need to call this.

If multicastAddress is not specified, the OS will try to drop membership to all valid interfaces.