Socket peering

A method, comprising:

• performing, by one or more computing devices of a provider network that implements a socket service for a plurality of clients:
• receive, by a socket manager, a plurality of configuration requests from different clients to establish different client-defined function mappings, wherein the plurality of configuration requests from different clients specify different endpoints for different functions to be associated with different sockets;
• receiving, by the socket manager from a particular client, a configuration request to establish a particular client-defined function mapping, wherein the configuration request specifies an endpoint for a function to be associated with one or more sockets to be opened by the socket service at a subsequent time, and wherein the socket manager is usable to establish client-defined function mappings for sockets hosted by the socket service for communicating with respective client devices;
• based on the configuration request received from the particular client, storing a client-defined function mapping associating an endpoint identifier with the endpoint;
• in response to receiving a request from a client device of the particular client to open a socket, opening a socket on a socket host, wherein the request from the client device of the particular client to open the socket is distinct from the configuration request from the particular client and the plurality of configuration requests and is received subsequent to the configuration request from the particular client;
• and
• receiving, at the socket hosted by the socket host, data from a client device and forwarding the data to another socket for transmission to another client device or receiving, at the other socket, other data from another client device and forwarding the other data to the socket for transmission to the client device, wherein the client-defined function mapping is associated with the socket.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions that, when executed by a socket host for a socket service of a provider network, cause the socket host to implement:

• in response to a request from a client device of a particular client to open a socket, opening, on the socket host, the socket associated with the client device;
• identifying a particular one of a plurality of client-defined function mappings according to an identifier received from the client device that matches an endpoint identifier of the particular client-defined function mapping, wherein the plurality of client-defined function mappings are for sockets hosted by the socket service for communicating with respective client devices, wherein the particular client-defined function mapping identifies a particular endpoint,
• wherein the particular client-defined function mapping is established based on a configuration request previously received from the particular client, wherein the request from the client device of the particular client to open the socket is distinct from the configuration request from the particular client and a plurality of configuration requests and is received subsequent to the configuration request from the particular client, and
• wherein the socket service receives the plurality of configuration requests from different clients to establish different mappings of the plurality of client-defined function mappings, wherein the plurality of configuration requests from different clients specify different endpoints for different functions to be associated with different sockets;
• associating the client-defined function mapping with the socket on the socket host;
• sending an identifier associated with the client device to the particular endpoint identified in the client-defined function mapping associated with the socket;
• receiving an indication that the socket is to be linked with another socket associated with another client device;
• and
• in response to receiving the indication that the socket is to be linked with another socket, causing the socket to enter a waiting state, wherein the socket remains open for at least a threshold amount of time.