What to do when ServerSocket throws IOException and keeping server running

Question

Basically I want to create a rock solid server.

while (keepRunning.get()) {
    try {
        Socket clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();

        ... spawn a n         


        

Answer 1

If in doubt, you could try re-creating the server socket, using the same port. If the socket has been closed, then the creation will succeed and you can continue processing new connections. The old connections are gone, but that's outside of your control since the socket was closed. If the socket was not closed, then creating a new instance will fail since the port is still in use, which you can just ignore - i.e. don't replace the current server socket reference.

In general, clients should also assume that connections will be broken and that reconnection is necessary. In other words, it's not just the server that has to be robust - clients should also anticipate connection errors and reconnect.