NetPipes offers essential tools that enable the connection of input/output utilities to network sockets.
The applications of these utilities are extensive and include network backups, file transfers, HTTP inquiries, remote procedure calls, and TCP daemon testing. For enhanced security, NetPipes also features an SSL encryption filter, primarily useful for communicating with secure HTTPDs. This filter can help create an SSL IMAPD from a non-SSL version by leveraging the capabilities of the SSLeay library.
Among the many utilties offered by NetPipes, aucet serves as the server end of a TCP/IP stream. It listens to a specific port on the local machine, waiting for connections. Whenever it receives a connection, it forks a process to perform a designated service for the client. On the other hand, hose operates as the client end of a TCP/IP stream. It actively seeks connections with remote ports and requests services via executed processes.
NetPipes also offers a Session Control Protocol implementation called encapsulate. This utility allows users to multiplex multiple streams across one TCP session, making it incredibly efficient. Furthermore, it can transmit remote exit status, making it easier to manage multiple streams at once.
To ensure secure communication with encrypted daemons like HTTPS or SSL IMAP, developers can use NetPipes' ssl-auth encryption filter. This utility encapsulates stdin/stdout from a subprocess or its own stdin/stdout in the SSL protocol as implemented by the SSLeay library. It can also be used to create secure versions of unsecured services.
Another utility offered by NetPipes is sockdown; it is designed to shut down part or all of the socket connection. This utility is primarily useful when the processes connected to the socket perform both input and output. Additionally, NetPipes includes two programs called getpeername and getsockname, both designed to print out the addresses of the ends of a socket. getpeername prints the address of the remote end, whereas getsockname prints the address of the local end.
Finally, netpipes' timelimit utility provides much-needed control over the amount of wallclock time a process consumes. After the specified limit, the process either gets killed or exits, leaving it to run in the background. Overall, NetPipes is a useful software package that provides various utilities and functionalities that can simplify the development and operations of network applications.
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