Data socket VS TCP/IP

[Bill Choy]

Hi all

I have a question about Data socket and TCP/IP. I know that Data socket is a technology based on TCP/IP. Why Data socket need a server to handle communication? That is very trouble when I want to write a two way communication program because I need to open data socket server at each machine and need to config it's setting. Why TCP/IP no need to use a server to handle communication? Are there any advantages of Data socket over TCP/IP?

Bill

[mikeporter]

The biggest advantage is that because of the way DS is integrated into LV it's very easy to use--often taking no programming to implement. However, it doesn't sound like you need DS. You aren't building a client/sever type application, you're building a peer/peer application so utilizing a client/server protocol would be, at best, a force-fit. Using the lower-level VIs to create TCP connections between the two machines is easy and would be much more efficient. Mike...

[Bill Choy]

Thanks, mike. About datasocket, if I have two writers send data to the reader at the same time. Does the datasocket process one data and put the other in buffer or lose one of them? How can I handle it?. Also, how to ensure the reader is received the writer data. Do I need to send back an acknowledgement to the reader?

[mikeporter]

Ok, there's another difference. The DS server doesn't "send" data anywhere. It simply makes it available to whoever wants to read it. Without some additional protocol-related code there is no way receiver can be sure its gotten all the data.

Mike...