How can I get the interface name/index associated with a TCP socket?

Question

I\'m writing a TCP server that needs to know which interface each connection arrived from. I cannot use the address/subnet to deduce which interface was used, since there mi

Answer 1

Here's some C++11 code to find the interface name of a socket:

std::string to_string(sockaddr_in const& addr)
{
    char buf[INET_ADDRSTRLEN];
    if (inet_ntop(AF_INET, &addr.sin_addr, buf, sizeof(buf)) == nullptr)
    {
        std::clog << "inet_ntop: " << strerror(errno) << '\n';
        return {};
    }
    return buf;
}

std::string to_string(sockaddr_in6 const& addr)
{
    char buf[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN];
    if (inet_ntop(AF_INET6, &addr.sin6_addr, buf, sizeof(buf)) == nullptr)
    {
        std::clog << "inet_ntop: " << strerror(errno) << '\n';
        return {};
    }
    return buf;
}

std::string to_string(sockaddr_storage const& addr, socklen_t len)
{
    switch (addr.ss_family)
    {
    case AF_INET:
    {
        auto& a = reinterpret_cast(addr);
        if (len < sizeof(a))
        {
            std::clog << "Invalid sockaddr length: " << len << '\n';
            return {};
        }
        return to_string(a);
    }
    case AF_INET6:
    {
        auto& a = reinterpret_cast(addr);
        if (len < sizeof(a))
        {
            std::clog << "Invalid sockaddr length: " << len << '\n';
            return {};
        }
        return to_string(a);
    }
    default:
    {
        std::clog << "Invalid sockaddr family: " << addr.ss_family << '\n';
        return {};
    }
    }
}

std::string get_iface_name(sockaddr_in const& addr)
{
    ifaddrs *ifa = nullptr;
    if (getifaddrs(&ifa) == -1)
    {
        std::clog << "getifaddrs: " << strerror(errno) << '\n';
        return {};
    }
    std::unique_ptr
        finally{ifa, freeifaddrs};

    for (; ifa; ifa = ifa->ifa_next)
    {
        if (!ifa->ifa_addr)
            continue;
        if (!ifa->ifa_name)
            continue;
        if (ifa->ifa_addr->sa_family != AF_INET)
            continue;
        auto& a = reinterpret_cast(*ifa->ifa_addr);
        if (a.sin_addr.s_addr == addr.sin_addr.s_addr)
            return ifa->ifa_name;
    }

    std::clog << "No interface found for IPv4 address " << to_string(addr) << '\n';
    return {};
}

std::string get_iface_name(sockaddr_in6 const& addr)
{
    ifaddrs *ifa = nullptr;
    if (getifaddrs(&ifa) == -1)
    {
        std::clog << "getifaddrs: " << strerror(errno) << '\n';
        return {};
    }
    std::unique_ptr
        finally{ifa, freeifaddrs};

    for (; ifa; ifa = ifa->ifa_next)
    {
        if (!ifa->ifa_addr)
            continue;
        if (!ifa->ifa_name)
            continue;
        if (ifa->ifa_addr->sa_family != AF_INET6)
            continue;
        auto& a = reinterpret_cast(*ifa->ifa_addr);
        if (memcmp(a.sin6_addr.s6_addr,
                   addr.sin6_addr.s6_addr,
                   sizeof(a.sin6_addr.s6_addr)) == 0)
            return ifa->ifa_name;
    }

    std::clog << "No interface found for IPv6 address " << to_string(addr) << '\n';
    return {};
}

std::string get_iface_name(sockaddr_storage const& addr, socklen_t len)
{
    switch (addr.ss_family)
    {
    case AF_INET:
    {
        auto& a = reinterpret_cast(addr);
        if (len < sizeof(a))
        {
            std::clog << "Invalid sockaddr length: " << len << '\n';
            return {};
        }
        return get_iface_name(a);
    }
    case AF_INET6:
    {
        auto& a = reinterpret_cast(addr);
        if (len < sizeof(a))
        {
            std::clog << "Invalid sockaddr length: " << len << '\n';
            return {};
        }
        return get_iface_name(a);
    }
    default:
    {
        std::clog << "Invalid sockaddr family: " << addr.ss_family << '\n';
        return {};
    }
    }
}

std::string get_iface_name(int sockfd)
{
    sockaddr_storage addr;
    socklen_t len = sizeof(addr);
    if (getsockname(sockfd, (sockaddr*)&addr, &len) == -1)
    {
        std::clog << "getsockname: " << strerror(errno) << '\n';
        return {};
    }
    std::clog << "getsockname '" << to_string(addr, len) << '\'' << '\n';
    return get_iface_name(addr, len);
}