Client Server Socket Programming in C

This project consists of implementing a client-server socket program in C with various designs and features. The aim is to explore different server designs and observe their performance metrics. Below is an overview of the project's features:

Instructions to run

1. Each part of the project has corresponding folder (eg. fork for fork- based server, non_block folder has 3 nested folders)
2. Navigate to each folder to run the code, using following steps
   • make to compile server and client files
   • make run_server to run the server code
   • make run_client to run the client code (do it in separate terminal)
   • make clean to remove binaries and text output

Server Program

1. Sequential Server: Opens a new file upon the first client connection. For each client request, it computes the factorial of the received number, stores the result along with the client's ID in the file, and sends the result back to the client. The file is closed when all client connections are closed.

2. Concurrent Server with Multiple Processes: Utilizes the fork system call to create multiple processes for concurrent handling of client requests.

3. Concurrent Server with Multiple Threads: Uses the pthreads library to create multiple threads for concurrent handling of client requests.

4. Non-blocking Server: Capable of managing a maximum of 10 clients using different system calls:

   • Using select(): Implements non-blocking I/O operations using the select() system call.
   • Using poll(): Implements non-blocking I/O operations using the poll() system call.
   • Using epoll API: Utilizes the epoll API for efficient event-driven I/O operations.

Metrics and Observations

1. For each server design (except 2a), the server concurrently processes 10 client requests. This allows running 10 concurrent client programs.

2. The following metrics are observed:

   • Sequential server programs

   • Concurrent server programs with multiple processes

   • Concurrent server program with multiple threads

   • Non-blocking server that can manage total 10 clients using select() system call

   • Non-blocking server that can manage total 10 clients using poll() system call

   • Non-blocking server that can manage total 10 clients using epoll() system call