SCTP Multihoming

Question

I\'ve been developing this simple client - server application with C where the client is just sending random data to the server and the server just listens to what the clien

Answer 1

I have never tried SCTP but according to this site it supports two models.

one-to-one style and one-to-many style.

As far as I understand multihoming works for one-to-one style.

In order to open a one-to-one style socket you need a call like :

connSock = socket( AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_SCTP );

Note that SOCK_STREAM is different than your SOCK_SEQPACKET

When you do

sock = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_SEQPACKET, IPPROTO_SCTP)

it seems to open one-to-many style socket which I could not understand if it supports multihoming or not.

So try your code with SOCK_STREAM parameter.

Also here is an example that uses SOCK_STREAM.

Answer 2

Ok I resolved the multihoming problem finally. Here's what I did.

I adjusted the heartbeat value to 5000 ms with sctp_paddrparams struct. The flags variable located in the struct has to in SPP_HB_ENABLE mode because otherwise SCTP ignores the heartbeat value when trying to set the value with setsockopt().

That was the reason why SCTP didn't send heartbeats as often as I wanted. The reason, why I didn't notice the flag variable, was the obsolete reference guide to SCTP I was reading, which stated that there didn't exist a flags variable inside the struct! Newer reference revealed that there was. So heartbeat problem solved!

Another thing was to modify the rto_max value to, for example, 2000 ms or so. Lowering the value tells SCTP to change the path much sooner. The default value was 60 000 ms which was too high (1 minute before it starts to change the path). rto_max value can be adjusted with sctp_rtoinfo struct.

With these two modifications the multihoming started to work. Oh and a another thing. Client has to be in STREAM mode when the Server is in SEQPACKET mode. Client sends data to server with normal send() command and Server read data with sctp_recvmsg() where addr struct is set to NULL.

I hope that this information helps other guys struggling with the multihoming of SCTP. Cheers guys for your opinions, those were a big help for me! Here is some code example so this maybe the first multihoming simple example in the net if you ask me (didnt find any examples than multistreaming examples)

Server:

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <netinet/sctp.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
#include <net/if.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>

#define BUFFER_SIZE (1 << 16)
#define PORT 10000   

int sock, ret, flags;
int i, reuse = 1;
int addr_count = 0;
char buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];
socklen_t from_len;

struct sockaddr_in addr;
struct sockaddr_in *laddr[10];
struct sockaddr_in *paddrs[10];
struct sctp_sndrcvinfo sinfo;
struct sctp_event_subscribe event;  
struct sctp_prim prim_addr; 
struct sctp_paddrparams heartbeat;
struct sigaction sig_handler;
struct sctp_rtoinfo rtoinfo;

void handle_signal(int signum);

int main(void)
{
    if((sock = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_SEQPACKET, IPPROTO_SCTP)) < 0)
        perror("socket");

    memset(&addr,       0, sizeof(struct sockaddr_in));
    memset(&event,      1, sizeof(struct sctp_event_subscribe));
    memset(&heartbeat,  0, sizeof(struct sctp_paddrparams));
    memset(&rtoinfo,    0, sizeof(struct sctp_rtoinfo));

    addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
    addr.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);
    addr.sin_port = htons(PORT);

    from_len = (socklen_t)sizeof(struct sockaddr_in);

    sig_handler.sa_handler = handle_signal;
    sig_handler.sa_flags = 0;

    heartbeat.spp_flags = SPP_HB_ENABLE;
    heartbeat.spp_hbinterval = 5000;
    heartbeat.spp_pathmaxrxt = 1;

    rtoinfo.srto_max = 2000;

    /*Set Heartbeats*/
    if(setsockopt(sock, SOL_SCTP, SCTP_PEER_ADDR_PARAMS , &heartbeat, sizeof(heartbeat)) != 0)
        perror("setsockopt");

    /*Set rto_max*/
    if(setsockopt(sock, SOL_SCTP, SCTP_RTOINFO , &rtoinfo, sizeof(rtoinfo)) != 0)
        perror("setsockopt");

    /*Set Signal Handler*/
    if(sigaction(SIGINT, &sig_handler, NULL) == -1)
        perror("sigaction");

    /*Set Events */
    if(setsockopt(sock, IPPROTO_SCTP, SCTP_EVENTS, &event, sizeof(struct sctp_event_subscribe)) < 0)
        perror("setsockopt");

    /*Set the Reuse of Address*/
    if(setsockopt(sock, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, &reuse, sizeof(int))< 0)
        perror("setsockopt");

    /*Bind the Addresses*/
    if(bind(sock, (struct sockaddr*)&addr, sizeof(struct sockaddr)) < 0)
        perror("bind");

    if(listen(sock, 2) < 0)
        perror("listen");

    /*Get Heartbeat Value*/
    i = (sizeof heartbeat);
    getsockopt(sock, SOL_SCTP, SCTP_PEER_ADDR_PARAMS, &heartbeat, (socklen_t*)&i);
    printf("Heartbeat interval %d\n", heartbeat.spp_hbinterval);

    /*Print Locally Binded Addresses*/
    addr_count = sctp_getladdrs(sock, 0, (struct sockaddr**)laddr);
    printf("Addresses binded: %d\n", addr_count);
    for(i = 0; i < addr_count; i++)
         printf("Address %d: %s:%d\n", i +1, inet_ntoa((*laddr)[i].sin_addr), (*laddr)[i].sin_port);
    sctp_freeladdrs((struct sockaddr*)*laddr);

    while(1)
    {
        flags = 0;

        ret = sctp_recvmsg(sock, buffer, BUFFER_SIZE, NULL, 0, NULL, &flags);

        if(flags & MSG_NOTIFICATION)
        printf("Notification received from %s:%u\n",  inet_ntoa(addr.sin_addr), ntohs(addr.sin_port));

        printf("%d bytes received from %s:%u\n", ret, inet_ntoa(addr.sin_addr), ntohs(addr.sin_port));      
    }

    if(close(sock) < 0)
        perror("close");
}   

void handle_signal(int signum)
{
    switch(signum)
    {
        case SIGINT:
            if(close(sock) != 0)
                perror("close");
            exit(0);
            break;  
        default: exit(0);
            break;
    }
}

Client:

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <netinet/sctp.h>
#include <arpa/inet.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>

#define PORT 11000
#define MSG_SIZE 1000
#define NUMBER_OF_MESSAGES 1000

int sock;
struct sockaddr_in *paddrs[5];
struct sockaddr_in *laddrs[5];

void handle_signal(int signum);

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    int i;
    int counter = 0;
    int asconf = 1;
    int ret;
    int addr_count;
    char address[16];
    char buffer[MSG_SIZE];
    sctp_assoc_t id;
    struct sockaddr_in addr;
    struct sctp_status status;
    struct sctp_initmsg initmsg;
    struct sctp_event_subscribe events;
    struct sigaction sig_handler;
    struct sctp_paddrparams heartbeat;
    struct sctp_rtoinfo rtoinfo;

    memset(&buffer,     'j', MSG_SIZE);
    memset(&initmsg,    0,   sizeof(struct sctp_initmsg));
    memset(&addr,       0,   sizeof(struct sockaddr_in));
    memset(&events,     1,   sizeof(struct sctp_event_subscribe));
    memset(&status,     0,   sizeof(struct sctp_status));
    memset(&heartbeat,  0,   sizeof(struct sctp_paddrparams));
    memset(&rtoinfo,    0, sizeof(struct sctp_rtoinfo))

    if(argc != 2 || (inet_addr(argv[1]) == -1))
    {
        puts("Usage: client [IP ADDRESS in form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] ");        
        return 0;
    }

    strncpy(address, argv[1], 15);
    address[15] = 0;

    addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
    inet_aton(address, &(addr.sin_addr));
    addr.sin_port = htons(PORT);

    initmsg.sinit_num_ostreams = 2;
    initmsg.sinit_max_instreams = 2;
    initmsg.sinit_max_attempts = 1;

    heartbeat.spp_flags = SPP_HB_ENABLE;
    heartbeat.spp_hbinterval = 5000;
    heartbeat.spp_pathmaxrxt = 1;

    rtoinfo.srto_max = 2000;

    sig_handler.sa_handler = handle_signal;
    sig_handler.sa_flags = 0;

    /*Handle SIGINT in handle_signal Function*/
    if(sigaction(SIGINT, &sig_handler, NULL) == -1)
        perror("sigaction");

    /*Create the Socket*/
    if((ret = (sock = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_SCTP))) < 0)
        perror("socket");

    /*Configure Heartbeats*/
    if((ret = setsockopt(sock, SOL_SCTP, SCTP_PEER_ADDR_PARAMS , &heartbeat, sizeof(heartbeat))) != 0)
        perror("setsockopt");

    /*Set rto_max*/
    if((ret = setsockopt(sock, SOL_SCTP, SCTP_RTOINFO , &rtoinfo, sizeof(rtoinfo))) != 0)
        perror("setsockopt");

    /*Set SCTP Init Message*/
    if((ret = setsockopt(sock, SOL_SCTP, SCTP_INITMSG, &initmsg, sizeof(initmsg))) != 0)
        perror("setsockopt");

    /*Enable SCTP Events*/
    if((ret = setsockopt(sock, SOL_SCTP, SCTP_EVENTS, (void *)&events, sizeof(events))) != 0)
        perror("setsockopt");

    /*Get And Print Heartbeat Interval*/
    i = (sizeof heartbeat);
    getsockopt(sock, SOL_SCTP, SCTP_PEER_ADDR_PARAMS, &heartbeat, (socklen_t*)&i);

    printf("Heartbeat interval %d\n", heartbeat.spp_hbinterval);

    /*Connect to Host*/
    if(((ret = connect(sock, (struct sockaddr*)&addr, sizeof(struct sockaddr)))) < 0)
    {
        perror("connect");
        close(sock);
        exit(0);
    }

    /*Get Peer Addresses*/
    addr_count = sctp_getpaddrs(sock, 0, (struct sockaddr**)paddrs);
    printf("\nPeer addresses: %d\n", addr_count);

    /*Print Out Addresses*/
    for(i = 0; i < addr_count; i++)
        printf("Address %d: %s:%d\n", i +1, inet_ntoa((*paddrs)[i].sin_addr), (*paddrs)[i].sin_port);

    sctp_freepaddrs((struct sockaddr*)*paddrs);

    /*Start to Send Data*/
    for(i = 0; i < NUMBER_OF_MESSAGES; i++)
    {
        counter++;
        printf("Sending data chunk #%d...", counter);

        if((ret = send(sock, buffer, MSG_SIZE, 0)) == -1)
            perror("write");

        printf("Sent %d bytes to peer\n",ret);

        sleep(1);
    }

    if(close(sock) != 0)
        perror("close");
}


void handle_signal(int signum)
{
    switch(signum)
    {
        case SIGINT:
            if(close(sock) != 0)
                perror("close");
            exit(0);
            break;  
        default: exit(0);
            break;
    }
}

Answer 3

You client opens an assosiation by using sendto() call. It is OK. But after that you should not use sendto() anymore. Because sendto() will propably force SCTP to use interface of the given IP. So, use write() or send() instead of sendto():

counter++;
printf("Sending data chunk #%d...", counter);

if((ret = write(sock, buffer, MSG_SIZE) == -1)
    perror("write");