Networking

This document describes the networking component of JITServer that enables client and server to exchange messages.

The implementation resides within the runtime/compiler/net directory. There is a listener thread TR_Listener and a base class CommunicationStream, which is specialized for both the client and server in ClientStream and ServerStream.

Encryption via TLS (OpenSSL) is optionally supported. See "Getting started with JITServer" for encryption setup instructions.

If a network error occurs, JITServer::StreamFailure is thrown.

TR_Listener

Implementation of a server's "listener" thread that waits for network connection requests. Server creates this thread and then invokes TR_Listener::serveRemoteCompilationRequests, which will open a TCP socket and poll it for new connection requests. Once such request is detected, a new ServerStream is initialized, establishing a communication stream between client's and server's compilation threads. The stream is then assigned to a compilation request entry that gets added to the compilation queue.

If encryption is required, the listener thread will also setup the necessary context for the server side.

CommunicationStream

The base stream class that implements functionality for reading/writing JITServer messages to/from an open file descriptor. It also configures common stream parameters and cleans up. CommunicationStream uses Message and MessageBuffer classes to read/write messages. To learn more about those, read "JITServer Messaging Protocol".

ClientStream

Extends CommunicationStream to implement an interface for clients to communicate with a server. One instance per active client compilation thread.

Typically, this is only interacted with through the function handleServerMessage in JITClientCompilationThread.cpp. An instance is created for a new compilation inside remoteCompile, and the buildCompileRequest method is then called on it to begin the compilation.

If encryption is required, client stream will initialize necessary context and open an SSL connection, instead of a regular one.

ServerStream

Extends CommunicationStream to implement an interface for server to communicate with a client. There is usually one instance of this object per active server compilation thread, however streams are not permanently attached to any particular thread. Instead, they are assigned to compilation entries that can be retrieved from the compilation queue by any thread.

Accessible on a compilation thread via TR::CompilationInfo::getStream(), but beware that a thread local read is performed, so try to avoid calling it in particularly hot code.

Also stores the client ID, accessible via ServerStream::getClientId().