Help with sockets

[SPlatten]

I have been working on an application which uses sockets to communicate between processes, the main application launches the other processes and then listens for heartbeat messages from the launch process. The main application then sends an acknowledgement message in response to the heartbeat. If the processes that are sending the heartbeat do not receive an acknowledge within a specified period of time then the process will self terminate.

The number of processes that are created by the main process is configurable and presently for testing I've set it to launch two processes, each process is assigned a unique port number to listen to.

• The main process listens to the local IP address and port 8123
• All created processes issue there heartbeat message to the local IP address on port 8123
• Child process 1 will listen for acknowledgment on the local IP address on port 8124
• Child process 2 will listen for acknowledgement on the local IP address on port 8125

The main application and each process have they're own log files which I log all traffic to. What I'm seeing is that both child processes are issuing heartbeat's to the local IP address on port 8123 which is correct, however only one of the child processes is receiving an acknowledgement and it seems that the main process is only receiving heartbeat messages from the second child process, which is launched last.

I can see when looking at the log file for Child process 1 that it is successfully writing the heartbeat to the socket, but no trace of ever receiving an acknowledgement and looking at the main process log file it is not receiving the heartbeat from child process 1.

I can see when looking at the log file for Child process 2 that is is successfully writing the heartbeat to the socket and is receiving an acknowledgement from the main process.

Can anyone suggest what could be wrong?

[JonB]

@SPlatten
Are you intending to use the sockets between server & clients for anything other than the "heartbeat" message?

[SPlatten]

@JonB , Yes, this is just the start, the sockets will be used for communications between processes.

[JonB]

@SPlatten
And to be 100% percent clear: you intend to have two sockets between each server<->client pair, one for the heartbeat and a different one for your "real" data?

[Christian Ehrlicher]

What connection? Udp or Tcp?
Please show your server code.

[SPlatten]

The main application listens on port 8123, this is the constructor from the listening class:

clsListener::clsListener(quint16 uint16Port, QObject* pParent)
                    : mpClient(nullptr)
                    , mpServer(nullptr)
                    , muint16Port(uint16Port) {
    if ( uint16Port == 0 ) {
        throw "Port invalid!";
    }
    if ( clsListener::pGetListener(uint16Port) != nullptr ) {
        throw "Port already in use by another listener!";
    }
    clsListener::msmpListeners.insert(std::make_pair(muint16Port, this));
    //Connect server signals
    mpServer = new QTcpServer(pParent);
    QObject::connect(mpServer, &QTcpServer::acceptError
                        ,this, &clsListener::onAcceptError);
    QObject::connect(mpServer, &QTcpServer::newConnection
                        ,this, &clsListener::onNewConnection);
    //Start listening to port
    if ( !mpServer->listen(QHostAddress::Any, muint16Port) ) {
        qdbg() << "Unable to lisen to port " << muint16Port;
    }
    qdbg() << "This module listening on port: " << muint16Port;
}

Each process also uses the same class with a different port, the idea being that all process will send data to the main process on port 8123. The main process will send data to specific processes on the port number assigned to each.

The onNewConnection slot:

void clsListener::onNewConnection() {
    mpClient = mpServer->nextPendingConnection();

    if ( mpClient == nullptr ) {
        return;
    }
    QAbstractSocket::SocketState sckState(mpClient->state());

    if ( sckState != QAbstractSocket::ConnectedState ) {
        return;
    }
    //Connect signals and slots
    QObject::connect(mpClient, &QAbstractSocket::disconnected
                ,mpClient, &QObject::deleteLater);
    QObject::connect(mpClient, &QTcpSocket::readyRead
                ,this, &clsListener::onDataIn);
    QObject::connect(mpClient, &QAbstractSocket::errorOccurred
                ,this, &clsListener::onErrorOccurred);
    qdbg() << "New Connection";
    QByteArray arybytMsg;
    QJsonObject objJSON;
    objJSON.insert(clsJSON::mscszMsgType, clsJSON::mscszCmdInitial);
    arybytMsg = QJsonDocument(objJSON).toJson(QJsonDocument::Compact);
    mpClient->write(arybytMsg);
    //Signal new connection
    emit newConnection(*mpClient);
}

[Christian Ehrlicher]

I wanted to see the tcp socket handling on the server side where you handle both incoming connections. Also it would be nice to get more information - e.g. how often onNewConnection() is called and so on.

[SPlatten]

@Christian-Ehrlicher, I must have added it whilst you were posting?

[Christian Ehrlicher]

@SPlatten said in Help with sockets:

mpClient

Why do you need this? Are you aware it's getting overwritten each time a new connection is coming in?

[JonB]

@SPlatten said in Help with sockets:

Child process 1 will listen for acknowledgment on the local IP address on port 8124
Child process 2 will listen for acknowledgement on the local IP address on port 8125

I'll leave @Christian-Ehrlicher to sort out where you are. But I don't think you should be doing this anyway. Why are you allocating new, fixed ports for clients? You normally allow the client-side to pick a random, unused port number as its side of the connection to a fixed server port number.

• Your way, how will each child know which port number to pick?

• Even if you made this work somehow, how many server port numbers do you intend to reserve/use for your app? A reasonable rule is no more than 2, IMHO. You seem to intend 50 reserved ports for 50 clients....

[SPlatten]

@Christian-Ehrlicher , thank you, its stupid mistakes like that I needed pointing out, which you have, thanks, I'll attend to it.

[SPlatten]

@Christian-Ehrlicher , I've added a class:

    class clsClient : public QObject {
    Q_OBJECT

    private:
        QTcpSocket* mpClient;

    public:
        clsClient(QTcpSocket* pConn);
        ~clsClient();
        QTcpSocket* psckClient() { return mpClient; }

    signals:
        void newConnection(QTcpSocket& robjClient);

    public slots:
        void onDataIn();
        void onErrorOccurred(QAbstractSocket::SocketError socketError);
    };

The implementation:

/**
 * @brief clsClient::clsClient
 * @param pConn : Pointer to connection
 */
clsClient::clsClient(QTcpSocket* pConn) : mpClient(pConn) {
    Q_ASSERT_X(pConn!=nullptr, "clsClient::clsClient", "pConn is not valid!");
    qdbg() << "New Connection";
    QJsonObject objJSON;
    objJSON.insert(clsJSON::mscszMsgType, clsJSON::mscszCmdInitial);
    mpClient->write(QJsonDocument(objJSON).toJson(QJsonDocument::Compact));
    //Signal new connection
    emit newConnection(*pConn);
    //Connect signals and slots
    QObject::connect(pConn, &QTcpSocket::readyRead
                ,this, &clsClient::onDataIn);
    QObject::connect(pConn, &QAbstractSocket::errorOccurred
                ,this, &clsClient::onErrorOccurred);
}
/**
 * @brief clsClient::~clsClient
 */
clsClient::~clsClient() {
    if ( mpClient != nullptr ) {
        QObject::disconnect(mpClient, &QAbstractSocket::disconnected
                    ,mpClient, &QObject::deleteLater);
        QObject::disconnect(mpClient, &QTcpSocket::readyRead
                    ,this, &clsClient::onDataIn);
        QObject::disconnect(mpClient, &QAbstractSocket::errorOccurred
                    ,this, &clsClient::onErrorOccurred);
        mpClient->close();
        mpClient = nullptr;
    }
}
/**
 * @brief Slot to receive data in from client
 */
void clsClient::onDataIn() {
    if ( mpClient->bytesAvailable() == 0 ) {
        return;
    }
    QByteArray arybytMsg(mpClient->readAll());
    if ( arybytMsg.isEmpty() == true ) {
        return;
    }
    //Does request start with a 'GET ' prefix?
    bool blnHTTP = arybytMsg.startsWith(QString("GET ").toLatin1());
    int intPos = 0;

    while( true ) {
    //Find the start of the JSON object
        int intOCB = arybytMsg.indexOf(clsJSON::msccOpenCurlyBracket, intPos);

        if ( intOCB == -1 ) {
    //No opening curly bracket found, abort
            return;
        }
    //Update reference position
        intPos = intOCB + 1;
    //Find the end of the JSON object
        int intCCB = intOCB, intOCBcnt = 1, intCCBcnt = 0;
        bool blnFound = false;

        while( intCCB < arybytMsg.length() ) {
    //Increment search position
            intCCB++;
            if ( arybytMsg[intCCB] == clsJSON::msccOpenCurlyBracket ) {
    //Another opening curly found, increment count
                intOCBcnt++;
            } else if ( arybytMsg[intCCB] == clsJSON::msccCloseCurlyBracket ) {
    //Increment closing curly count and compare with open count
                if ( ++intCCBcnt == intOCBcnt ) {
    //Match found
                    blnFound = true;
    //Update reference position
                    intPos = intCCB + 1;
    //Stop this search and continue processing the rest of the packet
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        if ( blnFound != true ) {
            continue;
        }
    //Trancate the request to just the JSON
        QString strRx(arybytMsg.mid(intOCB, intCCB - intOCB + 1));
    //Advance to end of this JSON for next search
        intOCB = intCCB + 1;
    //Translate request, converting escaped characters
        strRx = QUrl::fromPercentEncoding(strRx.toLatin1());
#if defined(DEBUG_SOCKETS)
        qdbg() << QString("clsClient::onDataIn [%1]: %2").arg(strRx.length()).arg(strRx);
#endif
    //Create JSON object
        clsJSON objMyJSON(strRx);

        if ( objMyJSON.blnIsValid() != true ) {
            continue;
        }
    //JSON is valid
        QJsonObject objJSON(objMyJSON.toQJsonObject());
        clsJSON::blnDecodeAccordingToType(objJSON);

        if ( blnHTTP == true ) {
    //Must be HTTP request, we need the module for the response
            QJsonObject::iterator itFind = objJSON.find(clsJSON::mscszModule);

            if ( itFind != objJSON.end() ) {
                QString strCRLF(clsJSON::mscszCRLF), strModuleName = itFind.value().toString();
                QTextStream tsResponse(mpClient);
                tsResponse.setAutoDetectUnicode(true);
    //Create thread to deal with request and send response
                tsResponse << "HTTP/1.0 200 Ok" + strCRLF +
                              "Content-Type: text/html; charset=\"utf-8\""
                              + strCRLF + strCRLF +
                              + "<h1>Request from " + strModuleName + "</h1>\n";
                mpClient->close();

                if ( mpClient->state() == QAbstractSocket::UnconnectedState ) {
                    delete this;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
/**
 * @brief This signal is emitted after an error occurred. The socketError
 * parameter describes the type of error that occurred.
 * @param socketError is not a registered metatype, so for queued connections,
 * you will have to register it with Q_DECLARE_METATYPE() and
 * qRegisterMetaType().
 */
void clsClient::onErrorOccurred(QAbstractSocket::SocketError socketError) {
    //Display error
    qdbg() << "Socket error(" << socketError
           << ") https://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=socket+error+code+"
           << socketError << "&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8"
           << socketError << ".php";
    delete this;
}

And modified the class clsListener::onNewConnection:

void clsListener::onNewConnection() {
    QTcpSocket* pConn = mpServer->nextPendingConnection();
    QObject::connect(pConn, &QAbstractSocket::disconnected
                    ,pConn, &QObject::deleteLater);
    new clsClient(pConn);
}

Its still not quite right, what else am I doing stupid?

[Christian Ehrlicher]

Now you should add some debug output to see if two instances with different sockets are created and if you receive data.

[SPlatten]

@Christian-Ehrlicher , I have log files for each process, the logged data is to big to post...I can see that one process is receiving acknowledges to the heartbeats, the other isn't. From the main process log I can see that ack messages are being issued to each process but it appears that only one process is receiving the ack's.

Is there any queuing of packets received but the socket class or should I implement a queue when a packet is received? I'm wondering if the overhead of receiving and processing each packet is causing the server to miss receipts?

I've modified the onDataIn slot, so it just logs the received data to file then exits and I can see without processing the received data that it does look like it is receiving everything:

D00000000000000000001S000000000000:This module listening on port: 8123
D00000000000000000002S000000000307:L00000192Fsimon.js[void clsScriptHelper::log]:
D00000000000000000003S000000000307:************** setup ****************
D00000000000000000004S000000000307:L00000150Fsimon.js[void clsScriptHelper::log]:
D00000000000000000005S000000000307:************** connect ****************
D00000000000000000006S000000000312:Process: Arg[1]: 8123
D00000000000000000007S000000000312:Process: Arg[2]: 8124
D00000000000000000008S000000000312:Process: Arg[3]: 25332
D00000000000000000009S000000000312:Process: Arg[4]: f1
D00000000000000000010S000000000312:Process is NOT running, launching
D00000000000000000011S000000000314:L00000100Fsimon.js[void clsScriptHelper::log]:
D00000000000000000012S000000000314:************** setupFIO **********
D00000000000000000013S000000000314:clsModule::onSendJSON (later): {"commands":[{"check":"a","command":"read","length":1,"mode":"binary","type":"char"},{"byteorder":"0,1","check":"32767","command":"read","length":2,"mode":"binary","type":"short"},{"byteorder":"0,1,2,3","check":"2147483647","command":"read","length":4,"mode":"binary","type":"int"},{"byteorder":"0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7","check":"9223372036854775807","command":"read","length":8,"mode":"binary","type":"long"},{"byteorder":"0,1,2,3","check":"3.4028234663852886e+38","command":"read","length":4,"mode":"binary","type":"float"}],"file":"~/XMLMPAM/config/test.dat","msgType":"notify","port":8124,"source":"XMLMPAM"}
D00000000000000000014S000000000320:Process: Arg[1]: 8123
D00000000000000000015S000000000320:Process: Arg[2]: 8125
D00000000000000000016S000000000320:Process: Arg[3]: 25332
D00000000000000000017S000000000320:Process: Arg[4]: f2
D00000000000000000018S000000000320:Process is NOT running, launching
D00000000000000000019S000000000321:************** setupFIO **********
D00000000000000000020S000000000321:clsModule::onSendJSON (later): {"commands":[{"check":"a","command":"read","length":1,"mode":"binary","type":"char"},{"byteorder":"0,1","check":"32767","command":"read","length":2,"mode":"binary","type":"short"},{"byteorder":"0,1,2,3","check":"2147483647","command":"read","length":4,"mode":"binary","type":"int"},{"byteorder":"0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7","check":"9223372036854775807","command":"read","length":8,"mode":"binary","type":"long"},{"byteorder":"0,1,2,3","check":"3.4028234663852886e+38","command":"read","length":4,"mode":"binary","type":"float"}],"file":"~/XMLMPAM/config/test.dat","msgType":"notify","port":8125,"source":"XMLMPAM"}
D00000000000000000021S000000000572:New Connection
D00000000000000000022S000000000572:New Connection
D00000000000000000023S000000000573:{"msgID":"1","msgType":"ready","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000024S000000000573:{"msgID":"1","msgType":"ready","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000025S000000000825:Process: mdFileIO started, PID: 25347
D00000000000000000026S000000000825:Process: mdFileIO started, PID: 25343
D00000000000000000027S000000002473:{"msgID":"2","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000028S000000002473:{"msgID":"2","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000029S000000004385:{"msgID":"3","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000030S000000004385:{"msgID":"3","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000031S000000006382:{"msgID":"4","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000032S000000006382:{"msgID":"4","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000033S000000008382:{"msgID":"5","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000034S000000008382:{"msgID":"5","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000035S000000010383:{"msgID":"6","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000036S000000010386:{"msgID":"6","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000037S000000012382:{"msgID":"7","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000038S000000012382:{"msgID":"7","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000039S000000014387:{"msgID":"8","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000040S000000014387:{"msgID":"8","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000041S000000016382:{"msgID":"9","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000042S000000016382:{"msgID":"9","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000043S000000018384:{"msgID":"10","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000044S000000018384:{"msgID":"10","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000045S000000020383:{"msgID":"11","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000046S000000020383:{"msgID":"11","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000047S000000022382:{"msgID":"12","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000048S000000022382:{"msgID":"12","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000049S000000024383:{"msgID":"13","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000050S000000024383:{"msgID":"13","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000051S000000026382:{"msgID":"14","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000052S000000026383:{"msgID":"14","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000053S000000028383:{"msgID":"15","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000054S000000028383:{"msgID":"15","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}
D00000000000000000055S000000030383:{"msgID":"16","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f1"}
D00000000000000000056S000000030383:{"msgID":"16","msgType":"hb","port":8123,"source":"f2"}

[Christian Ehrlicher]

I don't want to see your logfiles. I told you where you should add logs and what you should see there. It's up to you to do the debug work.