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Handling multiple connections in python with sockets

I have a code which works perfectly for one connection. I have seen two options for multi-client handling but I don't really understand it.
Here is the server socket code:
with socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as listening_sock:
listening_sock.bind(('', port))
listening_sock.listen()
client_soc, client_address = listening_sock.accept()
client_soc.sendall('200#Welcome to my server!'.encode())
print(f'Address {client_soc.getsockname()[0]} connected with port {client_soc.getsockname()[1]}')
while True:
# get message
msg = client_soc.recv(1024).decode()
# receive log print:
print(f'"{msg}" sent from {client_soc.getsockname()[0]}')
if 'Quit' in msg:
client_soc.sendall('200#Thanks for using my server!'.encode())
client_soc.close()
elif '0' < msg.split('#')[0] <= '9': # one of the valid actions
answer = call_action(msg.split('#')[0], db, msg.split('#')[1]) # the answer for given parameter
client_soc.sendall("200#".encode() + answer.encode())
If I have only one connection it works good and last thing I need to add is option for multiple-client handling. What is the shortest and easiest way to do it?

The code only calls accept once. Instead, call accept in a while loop and create a thread for each client connection so they are handled in parallel. Use the following pattern as an example:
import socket
import threading
# Thread to handle each "client_soc" connection
def handler(client_soc):
...
client_soc.close()
with socket.socket() as listening_sock:
listening_sock.bind(('', 8000))
listening_sock.listen()
while True:
client_soc, client_address = listening_sock.accept()
# Send each "client_soc" connection as a parameter to a thread.
threading.Thread(target=handler,args=(client_soc,), daemon=True).start()
There is also a built-in socket server that simplifies this process. Here's a tested example echo server that echoes back newline-terminated data:
from socketserver import ThreadingTCPServer,StreamRequestHandler
class echohandler(StreamRequestHandler):
def handle(self):
print(f'Connected: {self.client_address[0]}:{self.client_address[1]}')
while True:
# get message
msg = self.rfile.readline()
if not msg:
print(f'Disconnected: {self.client_address[0]}:{self.client_address[1]}')
break # exits handler, framework closes socket
print(f'Received: {msg}')
self.wfile.write(msg)
self.wfile.flush()
server = ThreadingTCPServer(('',8000),echohandler)
server.serve_forever()

Your code blocks itself.
For instance: client_soc, client_address = listening_sock.accept()
Accepts client, then while True: runs forever, so you can work with 1 connection only, because socket.accept() is called once. You should learn some of these to solve your problem: asyncio, threading, multiprocessing. These libraries will help your code to accept and work with clients concurrently. Sockets can use every, but often they are paired with asyncio: https://asyncio.readthedocs.io/

How to fix multiprocessing echo server to handle multiple clients

I want to create a multiprocessing echo server. I am currently using telnet as my client to send messages to my echo server.Currently I can handle one telnet request and it echos the response. I initially, thought I should intialize the pid whenever I create a socket. Is that correct?
How do I allow several clients to connect to my server using multiprocessing.
#!/usr/bin/env python
import socket
import os
from multiprocessing import Process
def create_socket():
# Create socket
sockfd = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
# Port for socket and Host
PORT = 8002
HOST = 'localhost'
# bind the socket to host and port
sockfd.bind((HOST, PORT))
# become a server socket
sockfd.listen(5)
start_socket(sockfd)
def start_socket(sockfd):
while True:
# Establish and accept connections woth client
(clientsocket, address) = sockfd.accept()
# Get the process id.
process_id = os.getpid()
print("Process id:", process_id)
print("Got connection from", address)
# Recieve message from the client
message = clientsocket.recv(2024)
print("Server received: " + message.decode('utf-8'))
reply = ("Server output: " + message.decode('utf-8'))
if not message:
print("Client has been disconnected.....")
break
# Display messags.
clientsocket.sendall(str.encode(reply))
# Close the connection with the client
clientsocket.close()
if __name__ == '__main__':
process = Process(target = create_socket)
process.start()

It's probably a good idea to understand which are blocking system calls and which are not. listen for example is not blocking and accept is blocking one. So basically - you created one process through Process(..), that blocks at the accept and when a connection is made - handles that connection.
Your code should have a structure - something like following (pseudo code)
def handle_connection(accepted_socket):
# do whatever you want with the socket
pass
def server():
# Create socket and listen to it.
sock = socket.socket(....)
sock.bind((HOST, PORT))
sock.listen(5)
while True:
new_client = sock.accept() # blocks here.
# unblocked
client_process = Process(target=handle_connection, args=(new_client))
client_process.start()
I must also mention, while this is a good way to just understand how things can be done, it is not a good idea to start a new process for every connection.

The initial part of setting up the server, binding, listening etc (your create_socket) should be in the master process.
Once you accept and get a socket, you should spawn off a separate process to take care of that connection. In other words, your start_socket should be spawned off in a separate process and should loop forever.

Python Sockets, Advanced Chat Box

I want to create a server that handles a lot of clients at the same time (handles: receiving data from clients and sending data to all clients at the same time!!!)
Actually i'm trying to create a chat box. The program will work like this:
1) There's going to be a server which handles the clients.
2) More than one clients can join the server.
3) Clients send messages (Strings) to the server.
4) The server receive's the message from a client and then it send's it to all
the clients except the one he got it from.
And this is how the clients will communicate each other. No private messages available. When someone hits the enter all the clients will see the message on their screen.
The client module is easy to make, because the client communicates only with one socket (The Server).
The server module from the other hand is really complicated, i don't know how to do it (I also know about threads).
This is my atempt:
import socket, threading
class Server:
def __init__(self, ip = "", port = 5050):
'''Server Constructor. If __init__ return None, then you can use
self.error to print the specified error message.'''
#Error message.
self.error = ""
#Creating a socket object.
self.server = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
#Trying to bind it.
try:
self.server.bind( (ip, port) )
pass
#Failed, because socket has been shuted down.
except OSError :
self.error = "The server socket has been shuted down."
return None
#Failed, because socket has been forcibly reseted.
except ConnectionResetError:
self.error = "The server socket has been forcibly reseted."
return None
#Start Listening.
self.server.listen()
#_____Other Variables_____#
#A flag to know when to shut down thread loops.
self.running = True
#Store clients here.
self.clients = []
#_____Other Variables_____#
#Start accepting clients.
thread = threading.thread(target = self.acceptClients)
thread.start()
#Start handling the client.
self.clientHandler()
#Accept Clients.
def acceptClients(self):
while self.running:
self.clients.append( self.server.accept() )
#Close the server.
self.server.close()
#Handle clients.
def clientHandler(self):
while self.running:
for client in self.clients:
sock = client[0]
addr = client[1]
#Receive at most 1 mb of data.
#The problem is that recv will block the loop!!!
data = sock.recv(1024 ** 2)
As you can see, i accept clients using a thread so the server.accept() won't block the program. And then i store the clients into a list.
But the problem is on the clientHandler. How am i going to recv from all
clients at the same time? The first recv will block the loop!!!
I also tried to start new threads (clientHandlers) for every new client
but the problem was the synchronization.
And what about the send? The server must send data to all the clients, so the clientHandler is not yet finished. But if i mix the methods recv and send then the problem become's more complicated.
So what is the proper and best way to do this?
I'd like to give me an example too.

Multithreading is great when the different clients are independant of each other: you write your code as if only one client existed and you start a thread for each client.
But here, what comes from one client must be send to the others. One thread per client will certainly lead to a synchronization nightmare. So let's call select to the rescue! select.select allows to poll a list of sockets and returns as soon as one is ready. Here you can just build a list containing the listening socket and all the accepted ones (that part is initially empty...):
when the listening socket is ready for read, accept a new socket and add it to the list
when another socket is ready for read, read some data from it. If you read 0 bytes, its peer has been shut down or closed: close it and remove it from the list
if you have read something from one accepted socket, loop on the list, skipping the listening socket and the one from which you have read and send data to any other one
Code could be (more or less):
main = socket.socket() # create the listening socket
main.bind((addr, port))
main.listen(5)
socks = [main] # initialize the list and optionaly count the accepted sockets
count = 0
while True:
r, w, x = select.select(socks, [], socks)
if main in r: # a new client
s, addr = main.accept()
if count == mx: # reject (optionaly) if max number of clients reached
s.close()
else:
socks.append(s) # appends the new socket to the list
elif len(r) > 0:
data = r[0].recv(1024) # an accepted socket is ready: read
if len(data) == 0: # nothing to read: close it
r[0].close()
socks.remove(r[0])
else:
for s in socks[1:]: # send the data to any other socket
if s != r[0]:
s.send(data)
elif main in x: # close if exceptional condition met (optional)
break
elif len(x) > 0:
x[0].close()
socks.remove(x[0])
# if the loop ends, close everything
for s in socks[1:]:
s.close()
main.close()
You will certainly need to implement a mechanism to ask the server to stop, and to test all that but it should be a starting place

This my final program and works like a charm.
Server.py
import socket, select
class Server:
def __init__(self, ip = "", port = 5050):
'''Server Constructor. If __init__ return None, then you can use
self.error to print the specified error message.'''
#Error message.
self.error = ""
#Creating a socket object.
self.server = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
#Trying to bind it.
try:
self.server.bind( (ip, port) )
pass
#Failed, because socket has been shuted down.
except OSError :
self.error = "The server socket has been shuted down."
#Failed, because socket has been forcibly reseted.
except ConnectionResetError:
self.error = "The server socket has been forcibly reseted."
#Start Listening.
self.server.listen()
#_____Other Variables_____#
#A flag to know when to shut down thread loops.
self.running = True
#Store clients here.
self.sockets = [self.server]
#_____Other Variables_____#
#Start Handling the sockets.
self.handleSockets()
#Handle Sockets.
def handleSockets(self):
while True:
r, w, x = select.select(self.sockets, [], self.sockets)
#If server is ready to accept.
if self.server in r:
client, address = self.server.accept()
self.sockets.append(client)
#Elif a client send data.
elif len(r) > 0:
#Receive data.
try:
data = r[0].recv( 1024 )
#If the client disconnects suddenly.
except ConnectionResetError:
r[0].close()
self.sockets.remove( r[0] )
print("A user has been disconnected forcible.")
continue
#Connection has been closed or lost.
if len(data) == 0:
r[0].close()
self.sockets.remove( r[0] )
print("A user has been disconnected.")
#Else send the data to all users.
else:
#For all sockets except server.
for client in self.sockets[1:]:
#Do not send to yourself.
if client != r[0]:
client.send(data)
server = Server()
print("Errors:",server.error)
Client.py
import socket, threading
from tkinter import *
class Client:
def __init__(self, ip = "192.168.1.3", port = 5050):
'''Client Constructor. If __init__ return None, then you can use
self.error to print the specified error message.'''
#Error message.
self.error = ""
#Creating a socket object.
self.server = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
#Trying to bind it.
try:
self.server.connect( (ip, port) )
pass
#Failed, because socket has been shuted down.
except OSError :
self.error = "The client socket has been shuted down."
return
#Failed, because socket has been forcibly reseted.
except ConnectionResetError:
self.error = "The client socket has been forcibly reseted."
return
#Failed, because socket has been forcibly reseted.
except ConnectionRefusedError:
self.error = "The server socket refuses the connection."
return
#_____Other Variables_____#
#A flag to know when to shut down thread loops.
self.running = True
#_____Other Variables_____#
#Start the GUI Interface.
def startGUI(self):
#Initialiazing tk.
screen = Tk()
screen.geometry("200x100")
#Tk variable.
self.msg = StringVar()
#Creating widgets.
entry = Entry( textvariable = self.msg )
button = Button( text = "Send", command = self.sendMSG )
#Packing widgets.
entry.pack()
button.pack()
screen.mainloop()
#Send the message.
def sendMSG(self):
self.server.send( str.encode( self.msg.get() ) )
#Receive message.
def recvMSG(self):
while self.running:
data = self.server.recv(1024)
print( bytes.decode(data) )
#New client.
main = Client()
print("Errors:", main.error)
#Start a thread with the recvMSG method.
thread = threading.Thread(target = main.recvMSG)
thread.start()
#Start the gui.
main.startGUI()
#Close the connection when the program terminates and stop threads.
main.running = False
main.server.close()
The program works fine exactly as i wanted.
But i have some more questions.
r, w, x = select.select(self.sockets, [], self.sockets)
r is a list which contains all the ready sockets.
But i did not undesrand what w and x are.
The first parameter is the sockets list, the second the accepted clients
and the third parameter what is it? Why am i giving again the sockets list?

python multithreading server

I am new to networking programming and python.
I am trying to figure out how to run different jobs at the server side.
For example, I want one function to create connections for incoming clients but in the same time I can still do some administration work from the terminal.
My code is as below but it doesn't work:
Edited: it doesn't work means it will get stuck in the init_conn() function
Like:
starting up on localhost port 8887
Thread: 0 Connected with 127.0.0.1:48080
# waiting
I am looking into SocketServer framework but don't know how that works.
from thread import *
import socket
def init_conn():
thread_count =0
# Create a TCP/IP socket
sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
# Bind the socket to the port
server_address = ('localhost', 8887)
print >>sys.stderr, 'starting up on %s port %s' % server_address
sock.bind(server_address)
# Listen for incoming connections
sock.listen(10)
#now keep talking with the client
while 1:
#wait to accept a connection - blocking call
conn, addr = sock.accept()
print 'Thread: '+ str(thread_count) + ' Connected with ' + addr[0] + ':' + str(addr[1])
#start new thread takes 1st argument as a function name to be run, second is the tuple of arguments to the function.
start_new_thread(clientthread ,(conn,))
thread_count +=1
sock.close()
def clientthread(conn):
# receive data from client and send back
def console():
print 'this is console'
option = raw_input('-v view clients')
if option == 'v':
print 'you press v'
def main():
start_new_thread( init_conn(),() )
start_new_thread( console(),() )
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()

Your problem is probably that you start the program, sometimes it prints "this is console" and then it ends.
The first bug is that you call the methods instead of passing the handle to start_new_thread. It must be:
start_new_thread( init_conn, () )
i.e. no () after the function name.
The program doesn't do much because start_new_thread() apparent starts a thread and then waits for it to stop. The documentation is pretty unclear. It's better to use the new threading module; See http://pymotw.com/2/threading/
def main():
t = threading.Thread( target=init_conn )
t.daemon = True
t.start()
console()
so the code will run until console() ends.
I suggest to split the server and the command line tool. Create a client which accepts commands from the command line and sends them to the server. That way, you can start the console from anywhere and you can keep the code for the two separate.

Seeing that you're new to python, have you tried taking a look at the threading module that comes with the standard library?
import threading
... #rest of your code
while conditions==True:
i = threading.Thread(target=init_conn)
c = threading.Thread(target=console)
i.start()
c.start()
Can't say I've done too much with networking programming with python, so I don't really have much to say in that manner, but at least this should get you started with adding multithreading to your project.

Using SocketServer you may implement a client/server system. The documentation gives small examples which may be useful for you. Here is an extended example from there:
server.py :
import SocketServer
import os
import logging
FORMAT = '[%(asctime)-15s] %(message)s'
logging.basicConfig(format=FORMAT, level=logging.DEBUG)
class MyServer(SocketServer.ThreadingMixIn, SocketServer.TCPServer):
# By setting this we allow the server to re-bind to the address by
# setting SO_REUSEADDR, meaning you don't have to wait for
# timeouts when you kill the server and the sockets don't get
# closed down correctly.
allow_reuse_address = True
request_queue_size = 10
def __init__(self, port):
self.host = os.uname()[1]
self.port = port
SocketServer.TCPServer.__init__(self, (self.host,self.port), MyTCPHandler)
logging.info( "Server has been started on {h}:{p}".format(h=self.host,p=self.port) )
class MyTCPHandler(SocketServer.BaseRequestHandler):
"""
The RequestHandler class for our server.
It is instantiated once per connection to the server, and must
override the handle() method to implement communication to the
client.
"""
def handle(self):
# self.request is the TCP socket connected to the client
# max length is here 1024 chars
self.data = self.request.recv(1024).strip()
logging.info( "received: {d}".format(d=self.data) )
# here you may execute different functions according to the
# request string
# here: just send back the same data, but upper-cased
self.request.sendall(self.data.upper())
PORT = 8887
if __name__ == "__main__":
# Create the server, binding to localhost on port 8887
#server = SocketServer.TCPServer((HOST, PORT), MyTCPHandler)
server = MyServer( PORT )
# Activate the server; this will keep running until you
# interrupt the program with Ctrl-C
server.serve_forever()
client.py
import socket
import sys
import logging
FORMAT = '[%(asctime)-15s] %(message)s'
logging.basicConfig(format=FORMAT, level=logging.DEBUG)
HOST, PORT = "workstation04", 8887
logging.info( "connect to server {h}:{p}".format(h=HOST,p=PORT ) )
# read command line
data = " ".join(sys.argv[1:])
# Create a socket (SOCK_STREAM means a TCP socket)
sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
try:
# Connect to server and send data
sock.connect((HOST, PORT))
sock.sendall(data + "\n")
# Receive data from the server and shut down
received = sock.recv(1024)
finally:
sock.close()
logging.info( "Sent: {}".format(data) )
logging.info( "Received: {}".format(received) )
The output looks something like:
server side:
> python server.py
[2015-05-28 11:17:49,263] Server has been started on disasterarea:8887
[2015-05-28 11:17:50,972] received: my message
client side:
[2015-05-28 11:17:50,971] connect to server disasterarea:8887
[2015-05-28 11:17:50,972] Sent: my message
[2015-05-28 11:17:50,972] Received: MY MESSAGE
You can run several clients (from different consoles) in parallel. You may implement a request processor on the server side which processes the incoming requests and executes certain functions.
Alternatively, you may use the python module ParallelPython which executes python code locally on a multicore system or on a cluster and clusters. Check the http examples.
I had to force pip to install this module:
pip install --allow-external pp --allow-unverified pp pp

Python chat client-server modification goes horribly wrong

As an exercise, I looked for a simple Python chat client-server system to modify and toy with. The first major failing I found in the system was that it used a single tcp connection for the server and client to communicate. The second was that you could only have two people (one using the client, and the other using the server) communicate. Thirdly, consecutive posts were impossible. One person sent a message, then had to wait for the other person to send a single message before talking again. Very, very limiting.
So I began threading it and experimenting with the sockets. Clients connect to the server once, give their IP addresses, create a listening thread, and then reconnect to the server's message receiver.
All posts are sent to that receiver, which iterates through a list of connected clients and connects to each of them and sends the message (with the sender's name in the beginning; misc feature).
(I know that opening a new connection so often like that is inefficient, but I wanted to keep with tcp connections until I had it working, and THEN go to UDP)
However, weird crap began happening. Suffice it to say that I have nightmares of Error 91.
Could anyone identify how to render this code operable within this structure and feature-set?
(Python version 2.6 yey; ignore the infinite loop that is just a placeholder)
SERVER CODE:
from socket import *
from time import time, ctime
import Queue, threading
IP = ''
PORT = 5000
PORTPlus = 2
PORTRec = 1000
ADS = (IP, PORT)
namelist = []
clientlist = []
class clientRec(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self):
threading.Thread.__init__(self)
print "I'm this far:", (IP, (PORT + PORTRec))
self.receiver = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
self.receiver.bind((IP, PORT + PORTRec))
self.sender = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
def run(self):
global clientlist, namelist
self.receiver.listen(10)
connected = True
while connected:
tcpcli, addr = receiver.accept()
message = tcpcli.recv(1024) # Accept clien't IP for home-dialing
for i in range(clientlist.__len__()): # For each connected client
try:
sender.connect(clientlist(i)) # connect
sender.send(namelist[i] + message) # and deliver message with sender's name
sender.close()
except:
del clientlist[i], namelist[i]
print "ADS:", (IP, 5000)
handle = clientRec()
tcpsoc = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM) # Paperwork
tcpsoc.bind(ADS) # Bind self to port
tcpsoc.listen(5) # Listen on that port0
handle.start() # Start thread
# Main
while 1:
print "Waiting for connection"
tcpcli, addr = tcpsoc.accept() # Accept unknown client
print "Connection received; handling..."
namelist.append(tcpcli.recv(1024)) # Accept client's name
client_IP = tcpcli.recv(1024) # Accept clien't IP for home-dialing
client_port = int(tcpcli.recv(1024))# Accept clien't listening port
port_assign = PORT + PORTRec
tcpcli.send(str(port_assign)) # Tell the client that port
tcpcli.close() # Close client connection
clientlist.append((client_IP, client_port))# Add client to send-list
print "Handled."
tcpsoc.close()
CLIENT CODE:
#!/usr/bin/env python
from socket import *
import threading, cgi, os
IP = ''
PORT = 5000
PORTmy = 100
ADS = (IP, PORT)
class iListen(threading.Thread):
def __init__(self):
threading.Thread.__init__(self)
self.receiver = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)# Paperwork
self.receiver.bind(('', PORT + PORTmy)) # Listen on that port
self.receiver.listen(5) # Listen for posts
def run(self):
while listening:
tcpcli, addr = receiver.accept() # Accept unknown client
message = tcpcli.recv(1024)
if message == "/q":
listening = False
tcpcli.close()
# Initial CONNECT
myname = raw_input("Tell me yer name partnah: ")
tcpsoc = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
tcpsoc.connect(ADS) # First Connect
tcpsoc.send(myname) # Declare name
tcpsoc.send(gethostbyname(gethostname()))# Give IP address
tcpsoc.send(str(PORT + PORTmy)) # Give listening port
ADS = (IP, int(tcpsoc.recv(1024))) # Get new connect details
tcpsoc.close() # Close old connection
listen = iListen() # Create listener thread
listen.start() # Start listening
# RECONNECT
print ADS
tcpsoc = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
tcpsoc.connect(ADS) # reconnect to new port
connected = True
# Main Chat-loop
while connected:
mes = raw_input(">>>")
tcpsoc.send(mes)
if mes == "/q":
tcpsoc.close()
connected = False
time.sleep(4)
sys.exit()

I am working on something alot like this, but I am instead going to implement text encryption. I see you are suing lists for the client list... but I would say there is a better way of doing that. I am using a dictionary.
if you are familiar with dictionaries, skip the next paragraph.
Dicionaries can handle basicly 2 variables, and are defined using the {}.
>>> stuff = {'a':'hello','b':'world'}
>>> print stuff['a']
hello
>>> print stuff['a'],stuff['b']
hello world
so using this, you can can make a dictionary like {'username':'ipaddr'} this way you can make it so that both usernames and ips are all in one variable. If you want the end product like me, you will be making it so all the server does is repeat the message, and send it to everyone who is connected. then the server can just cycle through the usernames.
as another note, I think the tcpsoc.listen(5) is how many people can beconnected at once... I think thats what i read somewhere.
I have no idea why you would be having that error, but if you want to look at my halfway constucted code, you are more than welcome too. (ignore the import random, this is not yet used, but will be part of the encryption system)
http://piratepad.net/PwQzdU0bkk