Explicitly assigning port number to client in Socket

Prerequisite: Socket programming in C/C++.

In socket programming, when server and client are connected then client is provided any random port number by operating system to run and generally, we don’t care about it, But in some cases, there may be a firewall on the client side that only allows outgoing connections on certain port numbers. So, it is highly probable that the port number provided to client by operating system may have been blocked by client firewall. In that case, we need to explicitly or forcefully assign any port number to the client on which it can operate.

Some protocol like NFS protocol requires client program to run on only certain port number and so in this case, client need to forcefully assigned that port number only as it runs on port number either on 111 or on 2049. This can be done using bind() system call with specifying particular port number in client side socket.

Below is the implementation Server and Client program where client will be forcefully get assigned a port number.

Recommended: Please try your approach on {IDE} first, before moving on to the solution.

Server Side Program

// C program to demonstrate  
// socket programming in finding ip address  
// and port number of connected client 
// on Server Side 
#include<stdio.h> 
#include<sys/types.h> 
#include<sys/socket.h> 
#include<sys/un.h> 
#include<string.h> 
#include<netdb.h> 
#include<netinet/in.h> 
#include<arpa/inet.h> 
#include<string.h> 
  
int main() 
{ 
    // Two buffers for message communication 
    char buffer1[256], buffer2[256]; 
    int server = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0); 
    if (server < 0) 
        printf("Error in server creating\n"); 
    else
        printf("Server Created\n"); 
          
    struct sockaddr_in my_addr, peer_addr; 
    my_addr.sin_family = AF_INET; 
    my_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY; 
      
    // This ip address will change according to the machine 
    my_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("10.32.40.213"); 
      
    my_addr.sin_port = htons(12000); 
  
    if (bind(server, (struct sockaddr*) &my_addr, sizeof(my_addr)) == 0) 
        printf("Binded Correctly\n"); 
    else
        printf("Unable to bind\n"); 
          
    if (listen(server, 3) == 0) 
        printf("Listening ...\n"); 
    else
        printf("Unable to listen\n"); 
      
    socklen_t addr_size; 
    addr_size = sizeof(struct sockaddr_in); 
      
    // Ip character array will store the ip address of client 
    char *ip; 
      
    // while loop is iterated infinitely to  
    // accept infinite connection one by one 
    while (1) 
    { 
        int acc = accept(server, (struct sockaddr*) &peer_addr, &addr_size); 
        printf("Connection Established\n"); 
        char ip[INET_ADDRSTRLEN]; 
        inet_ntop(AF_INET, &(peer_addr.sin_addr), ip, INET_ADDRSTRLEN); 
      
        // "ntohs(peer_addr.sin_port)" function is  
        // for finding port number of client 
        printf("connection established with IP : %s and PORT : %d\n",  
                                            ip, ntohs(peer_addr.sin_port)); 
  
        recv(acc, buffer2, 256, 0); 
        printf("Client : %s\n", buffer2); 
        strcpy(buffer1, "Hello"); 
        send(acc, buffer1, 256, 0); 
    }  
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

Server Created
Binded Correctly
Listening ...
Connection Established
connection established with IP : 10.32.40.213 and PORT : 12010
Client : Hello

Client Side Program

// C program to demonstrate socket programming 
// as well as explicitly assigning a port number 
// on Client Side 
#include<stdio.h> 
#include<sys/types.h> 
#include<sys/socket.h> 
#include<sys/un.h> 
#include<string.h> 
#include<netdb.h> 
#include<netinet/in.h> 
#include<arpa/inet.h> 
#include<stdlib.h> 
  
int main() 
{ 
    // Two buffer are for message communication 
    char buffer1[256], buffer2[256]; 
    struct sockaddr_in my_addr, my_addr1; 
    int client = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0); 
    if (client < 0) 
    printf("Error in client creating\n"); 
    else
        printf("Client Created\n"); 
          
    my_addr.sin_family = AF_INET; 
    my_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY; 
    my_addr.sin_port = htons(12000); 
      
    // This ip address will change according to the machine 
    my_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("10.32.40.213"); 
  
    // Explicitly assigning port number 12010 by  
    // binding client with that port  
    my_addr1.sin_family = AF_INET; 
    my_addr1.sin_addr.s_addr = INADDR_ANY; 
    my_addr1.sin_port = htons(12010); 
      
    // This ip address will change according to the machine 
    my_addr1.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr("10.32.40.213"); 
    if (bind(client, (struct sockaddr*) &my_addr1, sizeof(struct sockaddr_in)) == 0) 
        printf("Binded Correctly\n"); 
    else
        printf("Unable to bind\n"); 
      
    socklen_t addr_size = sizeof my_addr; 
    int con = connect(client, (struct sockaddr*) &my_addr, sizeof my_addr); 
    if (con == 0) 
        printf("Client Connected\n"); 
    else
        printf("Error in Connection\n"); 
  
    strcpy(buffer2, "Hello"); 
    send(client, buffer2, 256, 0);  
    recv(client, buffer1, 256, 0); 
    printf("Server : %s\n", buffer1); 
    return 0; 
} 

Output:

Client Created
Binded Correctly
Client Connected
Server : Hello

Reference : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4118241/what-client-side-situations-need-bind

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