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Connection refused error when using sockets between C# (server) and Java (Client) applications

I am trying to create a socket connection between a .Net server application and Java Client Application.
I am getting an error from the java client application:
Connection refused: connect
Notes:
Communicating with a .Net Client Application, works fine.
I have disables the windows firewall
Undoubtedly, I am running the server application in the background and then I am running the client application
Following are my server code (C#):
public class Server
{
public Server()
{
CreateListener();
}
public void CreateListener()
{
// Create an instance of the TcpListener class.
TcpListener tcpListener = null;
IPAddress ipAddress = Dns.GetHostEntry("localhost").AddressList[0];
string output;
try
{
// Set the listener on the local IP address
// and specify the port.
tcpListener = new TcpListener(ipAddress, 13);
tcpListener.Start();
output = "Waiting for a connection...";
}
catch (Exception e)
{
output = "Error: " + e.ToString();
MessageBox.Show(output);
}
}
}
and client application code (Java):
public class smtpClient {
public void Send() {
Socket smtpSocket = null;
DataOutputStream os = null;
DataInputStream is = null;
try {
smtpSocket = new Socket("localhost", 13); // FAILURE
os = new DataOutputStream(smtpSocket.getOutputStream());
is = new DataInputStream(smtpSocket.getInputStream());
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
System.err.println("Don't know about host: hostname");
} catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println(e.getMessage());
}
}
It fails at the following line in the Java Client Application:
smtpSocket = new Socket("localhost", 13);

I can't tell what is the issue you are facing, but you need to start with a solid foundation to discover these issues.
As a rule of thumb, you should always write one piece (typically the server) first and verify connectivity (say using telnet) and then write the other piece (typically client) and verify its connectivity.
I always keep a Standard Client and Server handy to test whether its my code or its the environment/configuration.
Below is a sample code that works fine to test connectivity.
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
class ClientServer {
static void Main() {
new Thread(() => { StartServer("localhost", 5013); }).Start();
Thread.Sleep(100);
Console.WriteLine("\nPress enter to start the client...");
Console.ReadLine();
StartClient("localhost", 5013);
}
public static void StartServer(string serverInterface, int port) {
try {
IPHostEntry hostInfo = Dns.GetHostEntry(serverInterface);
string hostName = hostInfo.HostName;
IPAddress ipAddress = hostInfo.AddressList[0];
var server = new TcpListener(ipAddress, port);
server.Start();
Console.WriteLine($"Waiting for a connection at {server.LocalEndpoint}");
Console.WriteLine("Press ctrl+c to exit server...");
while (true) {
TcpClient client = server.AcceptTcpClient();
Console.WriteLine($"Server says - Client connected: {client.Client.RemoteEndPoint}");
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem((state) => {
using (var _client = (TcpClient)state)
using (NetworkStream stream = _client.GetStream()) {
string msg = stream.ReadAsciiData();
if (msg == "Hello!") {
stream.WriteAsciiData($"Time:{DateTime.Now: yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm zzz}. Server name is {hostName}");
}
}
}, client);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
Console.WriteLine(e);
}
}
public static void StartClient(string serverInterface, int port) {
Console.WriteLine("Client started...");
try {
using (var client = new TcpClient(serverInterface, port))
using (NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream()) {
Console.WriteLine("Client says - Hello!");
stream.Write(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("Hello!"));
string msg = stream.ReadAsciiData();
Console.WriteLine($"Client says - Message from server: Server#{client.Client.RemoteEndPoint}: {msg}");
}
} catch (Exception e) {
Console.WriteLine(e);
}
Console.WriteLine("Client exited");
}
}
static class Utils {
public static void WriteAsciiData(this NetworkStream stream, string data) {
stream.Write(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data));
}
public static string ReadAsciiData(this NetworkStream stream) {
var buffer = new byte[1024];
int read = stream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
return Encoding.ASCII.GetString(buffer, 0, read);
}
public static void Write(this NetworkStream stream, byte[] data) {
stream.Write(data, 0, data.Length);
}
}
Now to your specific problem,
The choice of port 13, is not ideal for testing. Usually all ports below 1024 are considered privileged. i.e. a firewall or antivirus might block your attempt to listen on that port
Remember that IPV6 addresses plays a role. Your machine might have that enabled or disabled based on your configuration. You want to make sure that if your server is listening on a IPv6 interface, then your client also connects on the same
Which brings us to another related point: Irrespective of you are using IPv6 interface or not, the client needs to connect to the same interface the server is listening on. This might seem obvious, but is often missed. A typical machine
has at-least 2 interfaces: One for localhost (127...* called loopback interface) and another non local (typically 10...* or 192...*, but not restricted to it). It can so happen (especially when you pick the first available interface to bind your server without knowing which one it is) that server might be listening on non loopback interface like say 192.168.1.10 interface and the client might be connecting to 127.0.0.1, and you can see why the client will get "connection refused" errors
The sample code above works and you can test your code with it. You can us telnet for a client or just my sample code. You can play around changing the serverInterface values to some surprising discoveries which are accentuated by
ipAddress = hostInfo.AddressList[0] line
Hope this helps you with your debugging

What should a Socket Thread class do [duplicate]

This question already has an answer here:
Java Multiple threads for just 2 computers, how to do it in main
(1 answer)
Closed 7 years ago.
public class SOCKET_SERVER {
private JmailHelp JmailHELPER = new JmailHelp();
static int PORT = 444;
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
SOCKET_SERVER SERVER = new SOCKET_SERVER();
SERVER.JmailHELPER.resetONN();
ServerSocket SRVSOCK = new ServerSocket(PORT);
//ArrayList<SocketStatus> OnlineUsers = new ArrayList<SocketStatus>();
Socket SOCK = SRVSOCK.accept();
//new ServerThread(SOCK).start();
SocketStatus a = new SocketStatus(SOCK, false);
//OnlineUsers.add(a);
//String action = "";
SERVER.ServerActionsHandler(SERVER, SRVSOCK, SOCK, a);
}//
}
forgive me if what i am giving is not enough don't hesitate to ask more if you can and want to try to help me
Well,
this is my socket server class ServerActionHandler is a method i created that takes as "input"(by BufferedReader) from the client a string and calls the right methods to serve the client.
for example he wants to login:
he(client) sends the string "login"
then server takes it as an "input" by the ServerActionHandler in a string called action, then recognise the the "login" and then calls the Acceptlogin method from the server class
Meanwhile client who send the "logi message" is calling the Dologin method from the client class
4.a loop of the ServerActionsHandler ends
5.A new loop starts asking the new action from the Client
my project works for A server and One client
I want to make it working for many clients
also something more I use JmailHELPER object
in almost all the methods of SOCKET_SERVER class(eg. login_accept,register_accept...)
in order to call some methods of it's class.
And SocketStatus keeps one variable if the certain socket which uses the Server is logged in or not
from what I know i have to make a ServerThreads class that extends Threads to handle more than one users.
What is the constructor and the run of that classmethod supposed to do
for example of A SocketThread I have this http://www.cdk5.net/ipc/programCode/TCPServer.java
thanks.

ok,
I know its funny but after a break of two hours I tried to find the solution for 3 minutes and i solved it(thats what i believe for now :P )
At least it is working on my pc for two clients so I will check it tommorow in more than one pc
Anyway I am posting the answer to my problem so that you can see it if you have a common problem
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
SOCKET_SERVER SERVER = new SOCKET_SERVER();
SERVER.JmailHELPER.resetONN();
ServerSocket SRVSOCK = new ServerSocket(PORT);
while (true) {
Socket SOCK = SRVSOCK.accept();
SocketStatus a = new SocketStatus(SOCK, false);
new Thread() {
public void run() {
try {
SERVER.ServerActionsHandler(SERVER, SRVSOCK, SOCK, a);
} catch (Exception ex) {
Logger.getLogger(SOCKET_SERVER.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
};
}
}.start();
}
}

Communication management in client/server application

Let me explain the purpose of my application so you can guide me about the best possible approach.
The idea is building a web application to remotely manage some particular equipments that my company manufactures. These equipments will periodically connect to the remote server to send/receive certain data (through simple socket communication but they don't use Java); this data will be stored in the corresponding data base and will be available through the web application for the different users.
In the same way, when you access through the web interface, each client will be able to see their equipments and perform different changes in the configuration. At this point there are 2 possible options and this is the reason of this post:
The easiest but not the best option: the user performs some changes and I save those changes in the data base. When the equipment later establish communication to the server, then it'll read those changes and update its configuration.
The ideal solution: as soon as the user save the changes through the web interface and push the "send" button, those changes are sent to the corresponding equipment.
As mentioned above, these equipments will periodically open a socket communication (let's say every 5 minutes) to the server to send their configuration. At this moment, in order to implement the "ideal solution", the only option I can think of is not to close that socket so I can use it to immediately send information back to the equipment when a certain user makes any changes.
If this application grows along the time, I'm afraid that too many open sockets/threads can crash my application.
Let me illustrate with some code I was playing around. I know this is far from the final solution, it's just to help you understand what I'm looking for.
First of all, I register the socket server during the start-up of the web server (Tomcat in this case):
package org.listeners;
import javax.servlet.ServletContextEvent;
import javax.servlet.ServletContextListener;
import org.sockets.KKMultiServer;
public class ApplicationListener implements ServletContextListener {
public void contextInitialized(ServletContextEvent event) {
KKMultiServer kKMultiServer = new KKMultiServer();
Thread serverThread = new Thread(kKMultiServer);
serverThread.start();
event.getServletContext().setAttribute("PlainKKMultiServer", kKMultiServer);
}
public void contextDestroyed(ServletContextEvent event) { }
}
This is the main socket server class that listens for new connections:
public class KKMultiServer implements Runnable {
private Map<Long, KKMultiServerThread_v2> createdThreads = new HashMap<Long, KKMultiServerThread_v2>();
#Override
public void run() {
boolean listening = true;
try (ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(5000)) {
while (listening) {
KKMultiServerThread_v2 newServerThread = new KKMultiServerThread_v2(serverSocket.accept(), this);
Thread myThread = new Thread(newServerThread);
myThread.start();
Long threadId = myThread.getId();
System.out.println("THREAD ID: " + threadId);
}
} catch (IOException e) {
System.err.println("Could not listen on port " + 5000);
System.exit(-1);
}
}
public Map<Long, KKMultiServerThread_v2> getCreatedThreads() {
return createdThreads;
}
}
And the thread class created with every single petition from each of the equipments (dispensers) to handle the socket communication:
public class KKMultiServerThread_v2 implements Runnable {
private Socket socket = null;
PrintWriter out = null;
BufferedReader in = null;
private long dispenserCode;
private KKMultiServer kKMultiServer;
public KKMultiServerThread_v2(Socket socket, KKMultiServer kKMultiServer) {
this.socket = socket;
this.kKMultiServer = kKMultiServer;
}
public void run() {
try {
out = new PrintWriter(socket.getOutputStream(), true);
in = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(
socket.getInputStream()));
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
readDataFromDispenser();
}
private void readDataFromDispenser() {
String inputLine;
try {
while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
if (inputLine.equals("Bye")) {
break;
}
if (dispenserCode == 0) {
dispenserCode = 1111; // this code will be unique per equipment
this.kKMultiServer.getCreatedThreads().put(dispenserCode, this);
}
}
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void sendDataToDispenser(String dataToSend) {
if (!socket.isClosed() && socket.isConnected()) {
out.println(dataToSend);
} else {
this.kKMultiServer.getCreatedThreads().remove(this);
}
}
}
Now that the socket is created and alive I can use it directly from the web application to send messages back to the equipment (Struts Action in this case)
public class HelloWorldAction extends ActionSupport {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
public String sendMessageToDispenser() throws Exception {
ServletContext context = ServletActionContext.getServletContext();
KKMultiServer kKMultiServer = (KKMultiServer) context.getAttribute("PlainKKMultiServer");
Map<Long, KKMultiServerThread_v2> currentThreads = kKMultiServer.getCreatedThreads();
Iterator<Long> it = currentThreads.keySet().iterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
Long key = (Long) it.next();
KKMultiServerThread_v2 currentThread = currentThreads.get(key);
currentThread.sendDataToDispenser("DATA TO YOU!");
}
return SUCCESS;
}
}
Do you think it's possible to perform this solution? I mean, keeping these connections open so I can access my equipments whenever necessary (without waiting for the periodically connections). What's the best approach? If you have any other suggestions please let me know.
Thank you very much.

To my mind it clearly depends on how many equipment will be connected to your system. Sockets are not always sending data so it can have low effect on the overall performance. Though, Socket are know to be a little slow, if you have a lot of data to send to/from your equipments, you should consider this.
If you want to have send data from your server to your client you have few solutions
Your server knows all your equipment after registering for example. When starting you equipment connect to the server. (be careful about local network redirection)
Your equipment and server use sockets to communicate
I don't think there is another solution but I can be wrong. If your equipment request your server every X seconds, it will never be exactly perfeclty on time.

Why does this ServerSocket in Andorid (attached to PC via USB/ADB) accept connections only once?

Situation: An Android phone has been connected to a PC via USB. Using the ADB command adb forward tcp:35000 tcp:30000, I succeed in forwarding a port.
I want the PC to send its system time to the Android phone every 5 seconds for an hour. To this end, I do the socket programming.
The PC side as a client: (I ignore the exception handling code.)
public void sendTime()
{
class SendTask implements Runnable
{
public void run()
{
// Here: I store the host_socket in a member field which is:
// Socket host_socket = new Socket("localhost", 35000);
ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(this.host_socket.getOutputStream());
oos.writeObject(msg);
oos.flush();
}
}
// Here: private Executor exec = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
this.exec.execute(new SendTask());
}
The Android phone side as server:
public void getReadyForSync()
{
ServerSocket server_socket = new ServerSocket();
server_socket.bind(new InetSocketAddress("localhost", 30000));
while (true)
{
final Socket client_socket = server_socket.accept();
Runnable receive_task = new Runnable()
{
public void run()
{
ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(client_socket.getInputStream());
Message msg = (Message) ois.readObject();
SyncTimeFragment.this.onReceive(msg);
}
};
// Here: private static final Executor exec = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
exec.execute(receive_task);
}
}
In addition, the ServerSocket is established in a separate thread from the main Android thread using AsyncTask and new ServerTask().execute():
public class ServerTask extends AsyncTask<String, Void, Void>
{
protected Void doInBackground(String... params)
{
getReadyForSync();
return null;
}
}
Problems:
In my test, the server socket in Android phone accepts connections from PC only once.
Specifically, some debug information is as follows:
(1) Each time (every 5 seconds) sendTime() is called, the host_socket reads:
Socket[addr=localhost/127.0.0.1,port=35000,localport=56520]
Notice: The localport(s) here are the same for all sendTime() calls in a single execution, but different across executions. (I am not sure whether this information is important or not.)
(2) The server_socket reads:
Socket[addr=localhost/127.0.0.1,port=0,localport=30000]
(3) The client_socket received (only once) by the server_socket reads:
Socket[addr=/127.0.0.1,port=43890,localport=30000]

After creating receive_task the code returns to final Socket client_socket = server_socket.accept(); So the server throws away the connection as the run() will only grab one message. You would have to made a while loop in run() too.

Exception in thread "main" java.net.BindException: Address already in use - Error in Netbeans only

On my machine, the following code compiles within Eclipse but throws an exception within Netbeans. The error message says "Exception in thread "main" java.net.BindException: Address already in use".
What is the proper configuration within Netbeans to make this code compile? It seems like the problem has to do with the fact that I have two main functions. If I start running either one of the apps, the second will fail to start, throwing the exception posted above.
Server.java
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class Server {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
Server myServ = new Server();
myServ.run();
}
public void run() throws Exception {
ServerSocket mySS = new ServerSocket(9999);
Socket SS_accept = mySS.accept();
InputStreamReader mySR = new InputStreamReader(SS_accept.getInputStream());
BufferedReader myBR = new BufferedReader(mySR);
String temp = myBR.readLine();
System.out.println(temp);
}
}
Client.java
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class Client {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
Client myCli = new Client();
myCli.run();
}
public void run() throws Exception {
Socket mySkt = new Socket("localhost", 9999);
PrintStream myPS = new PrintStream(mySkt.getOutputStream());
myPS.println("Hello server");
}
}

The problem is due to the fact that you left one instance of your server running and then started another one.

The way to achieve what I want is to right-click on the particular class (ex. Server.java) that I want to run and select "Run this file". This enables me to run only the Server app. Then, do the same process for the other file, Client.java.
However, Netbeans is somewhat confusing/deceiving in this particular circumstance. What Netbeans does is it runs the Server process, but labels that process as the name of the project (ex. MyTestNetworkingProject) and puts a run number on it, thus giving us MyTestNetworkingProject run #1 (it actually leaves out the #1 on the first process). Then, if I go to the Client.java file and select "Run this file", it generates a second process, MyTestNetworkingProject run #2. It then generates a second results window down at the bottom of the screen, as it generates these in new tabs as new processes get created.
Because of the nature of my specific code, what I wanted to see in my results window to confirm that my application was working was I wanted to observe the Server.java results window (which in this case is MyTestNetworkingProject run #1). Given my exact sequence of steps outlined above of running the different files, run #2 is the last run process and thus the tab on top, covering the run #1 tab. I can click on run #1 and see the results I was hoping to see in the console ("Hello server"), but I just have to know/remember that MyTestNetworkingProject run #1 represents the Server app and not the Client app.
Uncool, IMO.

If you write this in Windows OS,you can use "netstat -nao" to see which process use the 9999 port.If it is some unimportant process,you can kill this process.Otherwise you can change the port of the pragram.

I change the port address and it work for me in the Neat Beans IDE . This problem will come if we used the same port address for other one times . so to fix this error you have to change the port address and I am sure it will work

Server.java
public class SocServer {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
ServerSocket server = new ServerSocket(5001);
Socket client = server.accept();
DataOutputStream os = new DataOutputStream(client.getOutputStream());
os.writeBytes("Hello Sockets\n");
client.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Client.java
public class SocClient {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
Socket socClient = new Socket("localhost", 5001);
InputStream is = socClient.getInputStream();
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
String receivedData = br.readLine();
System.out.println("Received Data: " + receivedData);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
refer above code and it works for me..

I did try the method catch and solved the problem.