class GServer

GServer implements a generic server, featuring thread pool management, simple logging, and multi-server management. See HttpServer in xmlrpc/httpserver.rb in the Ruby standard library for an example of GServer in action.

Any kind of application-level server can be implemented using this class. It accepts multiple simultaneous connections from clients, up to an optional maximum number. Several services (i.e. one service per TCP port) can be run simultaneously, and stopped at any time through the class method GServer.stop(port). All the threading issues are handled, saving you the effort. All events are optionally logged, but you can provide your own event handlers if you wish.

Example¶ ↑

Using GServer is simple. Below we implement a simple time server, run it, query it, and shut it down. Try this code in irb:

require 'gserver'

#
# A server that returns the time in seconds since 1970.
#
class TimeServer < GServer
  def initialize(port=10001, *args)
    super(port, *args)
  end
  def serve(io)
    io.puts(Time.now.to_i)
  end
end

# Run the server with logging enabled (it's a separate thread).
server = TimeServer.new
server.audit = true                  # Turn logging on.
server.start

# *** Now point your browser to http://localhost:10001 to see it working ***

# See if it's still running.
GServer.in_service?(10001)           # -> true
server.stopped?                      # -> false

# Shut the server down gracefully.
server.shutdown

# Alternatively, stop it immediately.
GServer.stop(10001)
# or, of course, "server.stop".

All the business of accepting connections and exception handling is taken care of. All we have to do is implement the method that actually serves the client.

Advanced¶ ↑

As the example above shows, the way to use GServer is to subclass it to create a specific server, overriding the serve method. You can override other methods as well if you wish, perhaps to collect statistics, or emit more detailed logging.

The above methods are only called if auditing is enabled, via audit=.

You can also override log and error if, for example, you wish to use a more sophisticated logging system.

Constants

DEFAULT_HOST

Attributes

audit[RW]

Set to true to cause the callbacks connecting, disconnecting, starting, and stopping to be called during the server's lifecycle

debug[RW]

Set to true to show more detailed logging

host[R]

Host on which to bind, as a String

maxConnections[R]

Maximum number of connections to accept at a time, as a Fixnum

port[R]

Port on which to listen, as a Fixnum

stdlog[RW]

IO Device on which log messages should be written

Public Class Methods

in_service?(port, host = DEFAULT_HOST) click to toggle source

Check if a server is running on the given port and host

port: port, as a Fixnum, of the server to check
host: host on which to find the server to check

Returns true if a server is running on that port and host.

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 109
def GServer.in_service?(port, host = DEFAULT_HOST)
  @@services.has_key?(host) and
    @@services[host].has_key?(port)
end

new(port, host = DEFAULT_HOST, maxConnections = 4, stdlog = $stderr, audit = false, debug = false) click to toggle source

Create a new server

port: the port, as a Fixnum, on which to listen
host: the host to bind to
maxConnections: the maximum number of simultaneous connections to accept
stdlog: IO device on which to log messages
audit: if true, lifecycle callbacks will be called. See audit
debug: if true, error messages are logged. See debug

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 222
def initialize(port, host = DEFAULT_HOST, maxConnections = 4,
  stdlog = $stderr, audit = false, debug = false)
  @tcpServerThread = nil
  @port = port
  @host = host
  @maxConnections = maxConnections
  @connections = []
  @connectionsMutex = Mutex.new
  @connectionsCV = ConditionVariable.new
  @stdlog = stdlog
  @audit = audit
  @debug = debug
end

stop(port, host = DEFAULT_HOST) click to toggle source

Stop the server running on the given port, bound to the given host

port: port, as a Fixnum, of the server to stop
host: host on which to find the server to stop

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 97
def GServer.stop(port, host = DEFAULT_HOST)
  @@servicesMutex.synchronize {
    @@services[host][port].stop
  }
end

Public Instance Methods

connections() click to toggle source

Return the current number of connected clients

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 134
def connections
  @connections.size
end

join() click to toggle source

Join with the server thread

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 139
def join
  @tcpServerThread.join if @tcpServerThread
end

serve(io) click to toggle source

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 87
def serve(io)
end

shutdown() click to toggle source

Schedule a shutdown for the server

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 129
def shutdown
  @shutdown = true
end

start(maxConnections = -1) click to toggle source

Start the server if it isn't already running

maxConnections: override maxConnections given to the constructor. A negative value indicates that the value from the constructor should be used.

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 241
def start(maxConnections = -1)
  raise "server is already running" if !stopped?
  @shutdown = false
  @maxConnections = maxConnections if maxConnections > 0
  @@servicesMutex.synchronize  {
    if GServer.in_service?(@port,@host)
      raise "Port already in use: #{host}:#{@port}!"
    end
    @tcpServer = TCPServer.new(@host,@port)
    @port = @tcpServer.addr[1]
    @@services[@host] = {} unless @@services.has_key?(@host)
    @@services[@host][@port] = self;
  }
  @tcpServerThread = Thread.new {
    begin
      starting if @audit
      while !@shutdown
        @connectionsMutex.synchronize  {
           while @connections.size >= @maxConnections
             @connectionsCV.wait(@connectionsMutex)
           end
        }
        client = @tcpServer.accept
        Thread.new(client)  { |myClient|
          @connections << Thread.current
          begin
            myPort = myClient.peeraddr[1]
            serve(myClient) if !@audit or connecting(myClient)
          rescue => detail
            error(detail) if @debug
          ensure
            begin
              myClient.close
            rescue
            end
            @connectionsMutex.synchronize {
              @connections.delete(Thread.current)
              @connectionsCV.signal
            }
            disconnecting(myPort) if @audit
          end
        }
      end
    rescue => detail
      error(detail) if @debug
    ensure
      begin
        @tcpServer.close
      rescue
      end
      if @shutdown
        @connectionsMutex.synchronize  {
           while @connections.size > 0
             @connectionsCV.wait(@connectionsMutex)
           end
        }
      else
        @connections.each { |c| c.raise "stop" }
      end
      @tcpServerThread = nil
      @@servicesMutex.synchronize  {
        @@services[@host].delete(@port)
      }
      stopping if @audit
    end
  }
  self
end

stop() click to toggle source

Stop the server

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 115
def stop
  @connectionsMutex.synchronize  {
    if @tcpServerThread
      @tcpServerThread.raise "stop"
    end
  }
end

stopped?() click to toggle source

Returns true if the server has stopped.

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 124
def stopped?
  @tcpServerThread == nil
end

Protected Instance Methods

connecting(client) click to toggle source

Called when a client connects, if auditing is enabled.

client: a TCPSocket instance representing the client that connected

Return true to allow this client to connect, false to prevent it.

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 162
def connecting(client)
  addr = client.peeraddr
  log("#{self.class.to_s} #{@host}:#{@port} client:#{addr[1]} " +
      "#{addr[2]}<#{addr[3]}> connect")
  true
end

disconnecting(clientPort) click to toggle source

Called when a client disconnects, if audition is enabled.

clientPort: the port of the client that is connecting

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 173
def disconnecting(clientPort)
  log("#{self.class.to_s} #{@host}:#{@port} " +
    "client:#{clientPort} disconnect")
end

error(detail) click to toggle source

Called if debug is true whenever an unhandled exception is raised. This implementation simply logs the backtrace.

detail: the Exception that was caught

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 196
def error(detail)
  log(detail.backtrace.join("\n"))
end

log(msg) click to toggle source

Log a message to stdlog, if it's defined. This implementation outputs the timestamp and message to the log.

msg: the message to log

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 204
def log(msg)
  if @stdlog
    @stdlog.puts("[#{Time.new.ctime}] %s" % msg)
    @stdlog.flush
  end
end

starting() click to toggle source

Called when the server is starting up, if auditing is enabled.

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 181
def starting()
  log("#{self.class.to_s} #{@host}:#{@port} start")
end

stopping() click to toggle source

Called when the server is shutting down, if auditing is enabled.

# File lib/gserver.rb, line 186
def stopping()
  log("#{self.class.to_s} #{@host}:#{@port} stop")
end