# US 2014/0156857 A1 · Binding multiple addresses to a socket in a network system

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 2014/0156857 A1
- Document ID: US20140156857A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/780,819
- Filed: 2013-02-28
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2012-12-03
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Brabson Roy F.; Alfred B. Christensen; Constantinos Kassimis
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140156857A1

## CPC

- H04L 65/1069: Session establishment or de-establishment
- H04L 69/162: {involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms (secure socket layer H04L63/168)}
- H04L 61/35: {involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function}
- H04L 69/161: {Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields}
- H04L 2101/686: using dual-stack hosts, e.g. in Internet protocol version 4 [IPv4]/Internet protocol version 6 [IPv6] networks
- H04W 76/10: Connection setup
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

A TCP/IP socket extension may bind a single socket to more than one IP address. The socket API extension may allow a user to bind a socket to a list of IP addresses instead of a single IP address. Additional socket APIs may allow applications to bind an existing socket to one or more additional IP addresses. Bind-specific support may enhance a user's capability to specify one or more IPv4 addresses and/or IPv6 addresses or other addresses to bind to a generic server information handling system (IHS). The method may convert a generic server IHS into a bind-specific server IHS that accepts new connections over both the IPv4 and IPv6 network transports and/or other network transports without requiring changes to the server IHS. A modified TCP/IP stack may provide support for multiple sockets. The method may map multiple address/port/protocol tuples to the same socket.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method, comprising
creating, by an information handling system (IHS), a socket in the IHS;
mapping, by the IHS, multiple IP addresses to the socket;
listening, by the socket, for connection requests on the multiple IP addresses; and
receiving, by the socket, connection requests for the multiple addresses via a multiple protocol network.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple IP addresses include IP addresses exhibiting different network protocols.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
retrieving, by a TCP/IP stack in the IHS, a list of IP addresses from a network application in the IHS;
wherein the mapping of the multiple IP addresses to the socket includes mapping the IP addresses in the list of IP addresses to the socket.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3, further comprising:
adding, by the TCP/IP stack, the IP addresses of the list of IP addresses to a hash table in the IHS such that the hash table provides IP address to socket mappings.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
binding, by a network application of the IHS, the socket at a TCP/IP layer of the IHS to multiple IP address/port tuples to form a connection with another application over the multiple protocol network.

### Claim 6

A method, comprising:
creating, by an information handling system (IHS), a plurality of sockets in the IHS; (535)
mapping, by the IHS, a respective IP address to each of the sockets of the plurality of sockets; (535)
binding, by the IHS, each socket of the plurality of sockets to a respective IP address; (540)
listening, by each of the sockets, for connection requests on the multiple IP addresses; and
receiving, by each of the sockets, connection requests for each of the sockets respective IP address via a multiple protocol network.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein creating a plurality of sockets in the IHS further comprises creating the plurality of sockets in a socket library of the IHS.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein creating a plurality of sockets in the IHS further comprises creating the plurality of sockets in a server network application of the IHS.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising:
accepting, by the socket library, a connection request over an available socket in the socket library.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, further comprising:
accepting, by the server network application, a connection request over an available socket in the server network application.