Java: Complete code examples of thread-per-connection blocking IO versus NIO?

Question

Ok, I\'m going crazy here. I have been rewriting the NIO code for my server, and running into some real headaches. The bottom line is that getting NIO \"right\" is very ha

Answer 1

If you are working with NIO, I would also suggest to use a Framework. I have been working with Apache Mina and I would recommend it.

As to the blocking IO, essentially you will need a Listener Thread that accepts incoming connections and spawns additional threads that will handle each connection. Here is an example of such a Listener code, as originally contributed to the Apache Felix Project. If you look for the complete but modified version, you can browse the source here.

e.g.

    /*
    * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
    * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
    * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
    * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
    * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
    * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
    *
    *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
    *
        * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
    * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
    * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
    * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
    * limitations under the License.
    */
    package org.apache.felix.shell.remote;
    
    
    import java.io.IOException;
    import java.io.PrintStream;
    import java.net.ServerSocket;
    import java.net.Socket;
    import java.net.SocketException;
    
    
    /**
     * Implements a simple listener that will accept a single connection.
     * <p/>
     *
     * @author Dieter Wimberger (wimpi)
     */
    class Listener
    {
    
        private int m_Port;
        private Thread m_ListenerThread;
        private boolean m_Stop = false;
        private ServerSocket m_ServerSocket;
        private AtomicInteger m_UseCounter;
        private int m_MaxConnections;
    
    
        /**
         * Activates this listener on a listener thread (telnetconsole.Listener).
         */
        public void activate()
        {
            //configure from system property
            try
            {
                m_Port = Integer.parseInt( System.getProperty( "osgi.shell.telnet.port", "6666" ) );
            }
            catch ( NumberFormatException ex )
            {
                Activator.getServices().error( "Listener::activate()", ex );
            }
            try
            {
                m_MaxConnections = Integer.parseInt( System.getProperty( "osgi.shell.telnet.maxconn", "2" ) );
            }
            catch ( NumberFormatException ex )
            {
                Activator.getServices().error( "Listener::activate()", ex );
            }
            m_UseCounter = new AtomicInteger( 0 );
            m_ListenerThread = new Thread( new Acceptor(), "telnetconsole.Listener" );
            m_ListenerThread.start();
        }//activate
    
    
        /**
         * Deactivates this listener.
         * <p/>
         * The listener's socket will be closed, which should cause an interrupt in the
         * listener thread and allow for it to return. The calling thread joins the listener
         * thread until it returns (to ensure a clean stop).
         */
        public void deactivate()
        {
            try
            {
                m_Stop = true;
                //wait for the listener thread
                m_ServerSocket.close();
                m_ListenerThread.join();
            }
            catch ( Exception ex )
            {
                Activator.getServices().error( "Listener::deactivate()", ex );
            }
        }//deactivate
    
        /**
         * Class that implements the listener's accept logic as a <tt>Runnable</tt>.
         */
        private class Acceptor implements Runnable
        {
    
            /**
             * Listens constantly to a server socket and handles incoming connections.
             * One connection will be accepted and routed into the shell, all others will
             * be notified and closed.
             * <p/>
             * The mechanism that should allow the thread to unblock from the ServerSocket.accept() call
             * is currently closing the ServerSocket from another thread. When the stop flag is set,
             * this should cause the thread to return and stop.
             */
            public void run()
            {
                try
                {
                    /*
                        A server socket is opened with a connectivity queue of a size specified
                        in int floodProtection.  Concurrent login handling under normal circumstances
                        should be handled properly, but denial of service attacks via massive parallel
                        program logins should be prevented with this.
                    */
                    m_ServerSocket = new ServerSocket( m_Port, 1 );
                    do
                    {
                        try
                        {
                            Socket s = m_ServerSocket.accept();
                            if ( m_UseCounter.get() >= m_MaxConnections )
                            {
                                //reject with message
                                PrintStream out = new PrintStream( s.getOutputStream() );
                                out.print( INUSE_MESSAGE );
                                out.flush();
                                //close
                                out.close();
                                s.close();
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                m_UseCounter.increment();
                                //run on the connection thread
                                Thread connectionThread = new Thread( new Shell( s, m_UseCounter ) );
                                connectionThread.start();
                            }
                        }
                        catch ( SocketException ex )
                        {
                        }
                    }
                    while ( !m_Stop );
    
                }
                catch ( IOException e )
                {
                    Activator.getServices().error( "Listener.Acceptor::activate()", e );
                }
            }//run
    
        }//inner class Acceptor
    
        private static final String INUSE_MESSAGE = "Connection refused.\r\n"
            + "All possible connections are currently being used.\r\n";
    
    }//class Listener

You can find other examples here and here.

Note that the advantage of NIO over the blocking model comes into play when you have more load. From a certain point on, the amount of extra work for Thread creation, management and context switching will limit your system performance.

Answer 2

You may also want to consider using a higher level framework such as Grizzly instead of using NIO directly. The framework should allow you to concentrate on your use case rather than the subtleties of NIO.

Answer 3

I suggest you look in the sample/nio directory in your JDK. This has a number of simple examples including the two you mention.