How can I interrupt a ServerSocket accept() method? - java

In my main thread I have a while(listening) loop which calls accept() on my ServerSocket object, then starts a new client thread and adds it to a Collection when a new client is accepted.
I also have an Admin thread which I want to use to issue commands, like 'exit', which will cause all the client threads to be shut down, shut itself down, and shut down the main thread, by turning listening to false.
However, the accept() call in the while(listening) loop blocks, and there doesn't seem to be any way to interrupt it, so the while condition cannot be checked again and the program cannot exit!
Is there a better way to do this? Or some way to interrupt the blocking method?

You can call close() from another thread, and the accept() call will throw a SocketException.

Set timeout on accept(), then the call will timeout the blocking after specified time:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/net/SocketOptions.html#SO_TIMEOUT
Set a timeout on blocking Socket operations:
ServerSocket.accept();
SocketInputStream.read();
DatagramSocket.receive();
The option must be set prior to entering a blocking operation to take effect. If the timeout expires and the operation would continue to block, java.io.InterruptedIOException is raised. The Socket is not closed in this case.

Is calling close() on the ServerSocket an option?
http://java.sun.com/j2se/6/docs/api/java/net/ServerSocket.html#close%28%29
Closes this socket. Any thread currently blocked in accept() will throw a SocketException.

You can just create "void" socket for break serversocket.accept()
Server side
private static final byte END_WAITING = 66;
private static final byte CONNECT_REQUEST = 1;
while (true) {
Socket clientSock = serverSocket.accept();
int code = clientSock.getInputStream().read();
if (code == END_WAITING
/*&& clientSock.getInetAddress().getHostAddress().equals(myIp)*/) {
// End waiting clients code detected
break;
} else if (code == CONNECT_REQUEST) { // other action
// ...
}
}
Method for break server cycle
void acceptClients() {
try {
Socket s = new Socket(myIp, PORT);
s.getOutputStream().write(END_WAITING);
s.getOutputStream().flush();
s.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
}
}

The reason ServerSocket.close() throws an exception
is because you have an outputstream or an inputstream
attached to that socket.
You can avoid this exception safely by first closing the input and output streams.
Then try closing the ServerSocket.
Here is an example:
void closeServer() throws IOException {
try {
if (outputstream != null)
outputstream.close();
if (inputstream != null)
inputstream.close();
} catch (IOException e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
if (!serversock.isClosed())
serversock.close();
}
}
You can call this method to close any socket from anywhere without getting an exception.

Use serverSocket.setSoTimeout(timeoutInMillis).

OK, I got this working in a way that addresses the OP's question more directly.
Keep reading past the short answer for a Thread example of how I use this.
Short answer:
ServerSocket myServer;
Socket clientSocket;
try {
myServer = new ServerSocket(port)
myServer.setSoTimeout(2000);
//YOU MUST DO THIS ANYTIME TO ASSIGN new ServerSocket() to myServer‼!
clientSocket = myServer.accept();
//In this case, after 2 seconds the below interruption will be thrown
}
catch (java.io.InterruptedIOException e) {
/* This is where you handle the timeout. THIS WILL NOT stop
the running of your code unless you issue a break; so you
can do whatever you need to do here to handle whatever you
want to happen when the timeout occurs.
*/
}
Real world example:
In this example, I have a ServerSocket waiting for a connection inside a Thread. When I close the app, I want to shut down the thread (more specifically, the socket) in a clean manner before I let the app close, so I use the .setSoTimeout() on the ServerSocket then I use the interrupt that is thrown after the timeout to check and see if the parent is trying to shut down the thread. If so, then I set close the socket, then set a flag indicating that the thread is done, then I break out of the Threads loop which returns a null.
package MyServer;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.SocketException;
import javafx.concurrent.Task;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.SocketException;
public class Server {
public Server (int port) {this.port = port;}
private boolean threadDone = false;
private boolean threadInterrupted = false;
private boolean threadRunning = false;
private ServerSocket myServer = null;
private Socket clientSocket = null;
private Thread serverThread = null;;
private int port;
private static final int SO_TIMEOUT = 5000; //5 seconds
public void startServer() {
if (!threadRunning) {
serverThread = new Thread(thisServerTask);
serverThread.setDaemon(true);
serverThread.start();
}
}
public void stopServer() {
if (threadRunning) {
threadInterrupted = true;
while (!threadDone) {
//We are just waiting for the timeout to exception happen
}
if (threadDone) {threadRunning = false;}
}
}
public boolean isRunning() {return threadRunning;}
private Task<Void> thisServerTask = new Task <Void>() {
#Override public Void call() throws InterruptedException {
threadRunning = true;
try {
myServer = new ServerSocket(port);
myServer.setSoTimeout(SO_TIMEOUT);
clientSocket = new Socket();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
while(true) {
try {
clientSocket = myServer.accept();
}
catch (java.io.InterruptedIOException e) {
if (threadInterrupted) {
try { clientSocket.close(); } //This is the clean exit I'm after.
catch (IOException e1) { e1.printStackTrace(); }
threadDone = true;
break;
}
} catch (SocketException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
return null;
}
};
}
Then, in my Controller class ... (I will only show relevant code, massage it into your own code as needed)
public class Controller {
Server server = null;
private static final int port = 10000;
private void stopTheServer() {
server.stopServer();
while (server.isRunning() {
//We just wait for the server service to stop.
}
}
#FXML private void initialize() {
Platform.runLater(()-> {
server = new Server(port);
server.startServer();
Stage stage = (Stage) serverStatusLabel.getScene().getWindow();
stage.setOnCloseRequest(event->stopTheServer());
});
}
}
I hope this helps someone down the road.

Another thing you can try which is cleaner, is to check a flag in the accept loop, and then when your admin thread wants to kill the thread blocking on the accept, set the flag (make it thread safe) and then make a client socket connection to the listening socket.
The accept will stop blocking and return the new socket.
You can work out some simple protocol thing telling the listening thread to exit the thread cleanly.
And then close the socket on the client side.
No exceptions, much cleaner.

You can simply pass the timeout limit (milli seconds) as a parameter while calling accept function.
eg serverSocket.accept(1000);
automatically close the request after 1 sec

Related

Terminating the older instance of a program if a newer instance is started

Scenario: A program starts a server and listens for another program to connect to said server; if another program connects, kill the server on the old program and start the same server on the new program, and repeat the cycle.
After running the program for the first time, I get:
thread started
attempting connection
server started
Then, after running the program again, the first instance reads:
thread started
attempting connection
server started
Another instance was started, this instance has been shut down
Exception in thread "Thread-0" java.lang.NullPointerException
at me.aj.phoenix.util.JustOneServer.startServer(JustOneServer.java:37)
at me.aj.phoenix.util.JustOneServer.run(JustOneServer.java:28)
and the second instance reads:
attempting connection
Another instance was running and has been closed.
server started
java.net.BindException: Address already in use: NET_Bind
at java.base/java.net.PlainSocketImpl.bind0(Native Method)
at java.base/java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketBind(PlainSocketImpl.java:132)
at java.base/java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.bind(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:436)
at java.base/java.net.ServerSocket.bind(ServerSocket.java:381)
at java.base/java.net.ServerSocket.<init>(ServerSocket.java:243)
at java.base/java.net.ServerSocket.<init>(ServerSocket.java:187)
at me.aj.phoenix.util.JustOneServer.startServer(JustOneServer.java:34)
at me.aj.phoenix.util.JustOneServer.run(JustOneServer.java:26)
Essentially what im trying to do is whenever a new version of the program is started, close the older program and start the listener on the newer program
Here is the code:
public class TestProgram extends Thread {
public final int port = 9665;
ServerSocket serverSocket = null;
Socket clientSocket = null;
#Override
public void run() {
System.out.println("thread started");
try {
this.check();
this.startServer();
} catch (IOException ioe) {
this.startServer();
}
}
public void startServer() {
try {
System.out.println("server started");
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(port, 1);
clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
Logger.print("Another instance was started, this instance has been shut down");
System.exit(0);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void check() throws UnknownHostException, IOException {
System.out.println("attempting connection");
Socket socket = new Socket("localhost", port);
if(socket.isConnected()) {
Logger.print("Another instance was running and has been closed.");
}
}
}
The second program is not waiting for the first programs listening server to unbind from the port, and I'm not quite sure how to fix it.
The main problem is that the logic in startServer method should run in an infinite loop to account for the weak nature of sockets that may be disconnected at any time, and more importantly for the scenario in which is trying to connect to a port that is bound by a previous instance that is in the process of shutting down.
while (true)
runServer(port);
Other problems include closing resources when problems arise and nesting away the exceptions that arise from a client Socket from those that come from a ServerSocket; so that whenever an exception is thrown for a ServerSocket is not interpreted as an exception that would end the execution of startServer method.
void runServer(int port) {
try (ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(port, 1)) {
logger.debug("Server started!");
try (Socket clientSocket = serverSocket.accept()) {
logger.debug("Signal to shutdown received. Shutting down.");
System.exit(0);
}
} catch (IOException e) {
logger.debug("The other application is still shutting down...");
}
}
The following is a complete working example of this:
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
public class ServerReplacer {
private static Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ServerReplacer.class);
public static void runReplacerService(int port) {
searchOlderInstances(port);
logger.debug("Server starting...");
while (true)
runServer(port);
}
private static void searchOlderInstances(int port) {
logger.debug("Attempting to find older instance...");
try (Socket socket = new Socket("127.0.0.1", port)) {
logOtherInstanceFound(socket.isConnected());
} catch (Exception e) {
logOtherInstanceFound(false);
}
}
private static void logOtherInstanceFound(boolean otherInstanceFound) {
logger.debug(otherInstanceFound ?
"FOUND ANOTHER INSTANCE RUNNING! It has been signaled to shut down." :
"No older instance found.");
}
private static void runServer(int port) {
try (ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(port, 1)) {
logger.debug("Server started!");
try (Socket clientSocket = serverSocket.accept()) {
logger.debug("Signal to shutdown received. Shutting down.");
System.exit(0);
}
} catch (IOException e) {
logger.debug("The other application is still shutting down...");
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
runReplacerService(9665);
}
}
Complete code on GitHub
Hope this helps.

Breaking out of a loop from different class

So, this is what I have. This is a server program that connects to multiple clients by using threads. As of now, that main loop is pretty much infinite.
Say a client sent a shutdown command to a ServerThread. Would that ServerThread be able to access the main class, break out of the loop, and reach the end of the program?
I tried turning putting isRunning = false in the ServerThread, but that doesn't seem to work.
public class Server
{
public static boolean isRunning = true;
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// init stuff
try {
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(27647);
} catch (IOException e) {
println("Could not listen on port 27647");
}
while(isRunning)
{
Socket clientSocket = null;
try{
clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
} catch(IOException e) {
println("Could not connect to client");
}
ServerThread serv = new ServerThread(clientSocket);
serv.start();
}
try {
serverSocket.close();
} catch (IOException e1) { }
}
}
You need to make isRunning volatile and you have to close the serverSocket to unblock the accepting thread. I suggest you have a method like
public void close() throws IOException {
isRunning = false;
serverSocket.close();
}
If you call this from any thread, the thread will stop almost immediately.

stop thread with udp server

I've got an UDP server class which implements Runnable interface. I start it in the thread.
The problem is that I can't stop it. Even in Debug it stops on pt.join() method.
Here is my server class
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.DatagramPacket;
import java.net.DatagramSocket;
import java.net.SocketException;
public class Network implements Runnable {
final int port = 6789;
DatagramSocket socket;
byte[] input = new byte[1024];
byte[] output = new byte[1024];
public Network() throws SocketException{
socket = new DatagramSocket(6789);
}
#Override
public void run() {
while(true){
DatagramPacket pack = new DatagramPacket(input,input.length);
try {
socket.receive(pack);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
input = pack.getData();
System.out.println(new String(input));
output = "Server answer".getBytes();
DatagramPacket sendpack = new DatagramPacket(output,output.length,pack.getAddress(),pack.getPort());
try {
socket.send(sendpack);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
This is the main class
public class Main {
static Network network = null;
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
network = new Network();
System.out.println("Try to start server");
Thread pt = new Thread(network);
pt.start();
pt.interrupt();
try {
pt.join();
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
System.out.println("Stop server");
}
}
How to stop server?
java.net reads are non-interruptible. You would have to either close the DatagramSocket or have it read with a timeout (setSoTimeout()), and when you get the resulting SocketTimeoutException check the interrupt status: if set, exit the thread.
Calling interrupt doesn't actually stop the thread, it just sets a flag.
Inside your loop, check for isInterrupted(). e.g., a quick and dirty way would be change
while(true)
to
while (!Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted())
But you should consult some more documentation if you get more serious about this project.
As mentioned by #EJP, if you are hanging in the Socket IO, you'll need to close the Socket or have a timeout.
In addition to what EJP said, you probably should have a local boolean called running (or whatever), and set it to true before you enter your while loop. Have your while loop be conditioned on this local boolean. And provide methods (stopServer() and isRunning()) to set and check the status of the boolean. You also might want to remove the try-catch from inside the while loop and put the entire while loop within a try-catch-finally and in the finally statement perform clean-up (set running=false; close the connection, etc)

Interrupting thread which is blocked waiting on IO from socket?

I have an app that listens to incoming connections on a specified hostname and port. The listening is invoked with the method listen() (see below), which waits constantly for an incoming connection using ServerSocket.accept(), creating a new Thread to handle the input stream.
private ServerSocket serverSocket;
private Thread listenerThread;
public void listen() throws IOException {
this.listenerThread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
while (true) {
try {
Socket socket = TheServerClass.this.serverSocket.accept();
// Create new thread to handle the incoming connection
}
catch (IOException exc) { }
}
}
});
this.listenerThread.start();
}
Now I want to stop the running of listenerThread. But when I call this.listenerThread.interrupt(), this doesn't work.
I thought you can stop a thread by interrupting it, so why isn't that working?
(Notice: A possible solution is to close the ServerSocket using this.serverSocket.close(), but can it be accomplished with interrupt() or something?)
Call serverSocket.close(),
I guess since you are not doing IO yet - you can not interrupt it, and since the accept() doesn't throw InterruptedException you won't be able to interrupt it. The thread is interrupted, but that flag you have to check for yourself Thread.isInterrupted().
See How can I interrupt a ServerSocket accept() method?.
The answer is in the question. You need to close the socket. It's done using serverSocket.close(). Thread.interrupt() doesn't care about sockets.
Use this:
public class MyThread extends Thread {
private boolean stop;
private ServerSocket serverSocket;
public MyThread(ServerSocket ss) {
this.serverSocket = ss;
this.stop = false;
}
public void setStop() {
this.stop = true;
if (this.ss != null) {
this.ss.close();
}
}
public void run() {
while (!stop) {
try {
Socket socket = serverSocket.accept();
// Create new thread to handle the incoming connection
}
catch (IOException exc) { }
}
}
}
and from the listen() method just call setStop() method of the thread.

Java Stop Server Thread

the following code is server code in my app:
private int serverPort;
private Thread serverThread = null;
public void networkListen(int port){
serverPort = port;
if (serverThread == null){
Runnable serverRunnable = new ServerRunnable();
serverThread = new Thread(serverRunnable);
serverThread.start();
} else {
}
}
public class ServerRunnable implements Runnable {
public void run(){
try {
//networkConnected = false;
//netMessage = "Listening for Connection";
//networkMessage = new NetworkMessage(networkConnected, netMessage);
//setChanged();
//notifyObservers(networkMessage);
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(serverPort, backlog);
commSocket = serverSocket.accept();
serverSocket.close();
serverSocket = null;
//networkConnected = true;
//netMessage = "Connected: " + commSocket.getInetAddress().getHostAddress() + ":" +
//commSocket.getPort();
//networkMessage = new NetworkMessage(networkConnected, netMessage);
//setChanged();
//notifyObservers(networkMessage);
} catch (IOException e){
//networkConnected = false;
//netMessage = "ServerRunnable Network Unavailable";
//System.out.println(e.getMessage());
//networkMessage = new NetworkMessage(networkConnected, netMessage);
//setChanged();
//notifyObservers(networkMessage);
}
}
}
The code sort of works i.e. if im attempting a straight connection both ends communicate and update.
The issue is while im listening for a connection if i want to quit listening then the server thread continues running and causes problems.
i know i should not use .stop() on a thread so i was wondering what the solution would look like with this in mind?
EDIT: commented out unneeded code.
Close the server socket from an external thread. As per the documentation on Serversocket.close() the blocking accept will throw a SocketException and you can shutdown your thread.
After initializing your ServerSocket, use setSoTimeout. Put the accept in a loop, catching the timeouts. Break from the loop and return from run based on whether you want to continue or not.

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