path: root/doc/src/guide/listeners.asciidoc

== Listeners

A listener is a set of processes whose role is to listen on a port
for new connections. It manages a pool of acceptor processes, each
of them indefinitely accepting connections. When it does, it starts
a new process executing the protocol handler code. All the socket
programming is abstracted through the use of transport handlers.

The listener takes care of supervising all the acceptor and connection
processes, allowing developers to focus on building their application.

=== Starting a listener

Ranch does nothing by default. It is up to the application developer
to request that Ranch listens for connections.

A listener can be started and stopped at will.

When starting a listener, a number of different settings are required:

* A name to identify it locally and be able to interact with it.
* The number of acceptors in the pool.
* A transport handler and its associated options.
* A protocol handler and its associated options.

Ranch includes both TCP and SSL transport handlers, respectively
`ranch_tcp` and `ranch_ssl`.

A listener can be started by calling the `ranch:start_listener/5`
function. Before doing so however, you must ensure that the `ranch`
application is started.

.Starting the Ranch application

[source,erlang]
ok = application:start(ranch).

You are then ready to start a listener. Let's call it `tcp_echo`. It will
have a pool of 100 acceptors, use a TCP transport and forward connections
to the `echo_protocol` handler.

.Starting a listener for TCP connections on port 5555

[source,erlang]
{ok, _} = ranch:start_listener(tcp_echo,
	ranch_tcp, [{port, 5555}],
	echo_protocol, []
).

You can try this out by compiling and running the `tcp_echo` example in the
examples directory. To do so, open a shell in the 'examples/tcp_echo/'
directory and run the following command:

.Building and starting a Ranch example

[source,bash]
$ make run

You can then connect to it using telnet and see the echo server reply
everything you send to it. Then when you're done testing, you can use
the `Ctrl+]` key to escape to the telnet command line and type
`quit` to exit.

.Connecting to the example listener with telnet

[source,bash]
----
$ telnet localhost 5555
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
Hello!
Hello!
It works!
It works!
^]

telnet> quit
Connection closed.
----

=== Stopping a listener

All you need to stop a Ranch listener is to call the
`ranch:stop_listener/1` function with the listener's name
as argument. In the previous section we started the listener
named `tcp_echo`. We can now stop it.

.Stopping a listener

[source,erlang]
ranch:stop_listener(tcp_echo).

=== Suspending and resuming a listener

Listeners can be suspended and resumed by calling
`ranch:suspend_listener/1` and `ranch:resume_listener/1`,
respectively, with the name of the listener as argument.

Suspending a listener will cause it to stop listening and not accept
new connections, but existing connection processes will not be stopped.

.Suspending a listener

[source,erlang]
ranch:suspend_listener(tcp_echo).

Resuming a listener will cause it to start listening and accept new
connections again.
It is worth mentioning, however, that if the listener is configured
to listen on a random port, it will listen on a different port than
before it was suspended.

.Resuming a listener

[source,erlang]
ranch:resume_listener(tcp_echo).

Whether a listener is currently running or suspended can be queried
by calling `ranch:get_status/1` with the listener name as argument.

=== Default transport options

By default the socket will be set to return `binary` data, with the
options `{active, false}`, `{packet, raw}`, `{reuseaddr, true}` set.
These values can't be overriden when starting the listener, but
they can be overriden using `Transport:setopts/2` in the protocol.

It will also set `{backlog, 1024}` and `{nodelay, true}`, which
can be overriden at listener startup.

=== Listening on a random port

You do not have to specify a specific port to listen on. If you give
the port number 0, or if you omit the port number entirely, Ranch will
start listening on a random port.

You can retrieve this port number by calling `ranch:get_port/1`. The
argument is the name of the listener you gave in `ranch:start_listener/5`.

.Starting a listener for TCP connections on a random port

[source,erlang]
{ok, _} = ranch:start_listener(tcp_echo,
	ranch_tcp, [{port, 0}],
	echo_protocol, []
).
Port = ranch:get_port(tcp_echo).

=== Listening on privileged ports

Some systems limit access to ports below 1024 for security reasons.
This can easily be identified by an `{error, eacces}` error when trying
to open a listening socket on such a port.

The methods for listening on privileged ports vary between systems,
please refer to your system's documentation for more information.

We recommend the use of port rewriting for systems with a single server,
and load balancing for systems with multiple servers. Documenting these
solutions is however out of the scope of this guide.

=== Listening on a UNIX Domain socket

On UNIX systems, it is also possible to use Ranch to listen on a UNIX
domain socket by specifying `{local, SocketFile}` for the `ip` socket
option. In this case, the port must be set to 0 or omitted. The given
file must not exist: Ranch must be able to create it.

.Starting a listener for TCP connections on a UNIX Domain socket

[source,erlang]
{ok, _} = ranch:start_listener(tcp_echo,
    ranch_tcp, #{socket_opts => [
        {ip, {local, "/tmp/ranch_echo.sock"}},
        {port, 0}
    ]}, echo_protocol, []
).

=== Accepting connections on an existing socket

If you want to accept connections on an existing socket, you can write
a custom `ranch_transport` implementation that fetches or otherwise
acquires a listening socket in the `listen/1` callback and returns it
in the form of `{ok, ListenSocket}`.

The custom `listen/1` function must ensure that the listener process
(usually the process calling it) is also made the controlling process
of the socket it returns. Failing to do so will result in stop/start
and suspend/resume not working properly for that listener.

=== Limiting the number of concurrent connections

The `max_connections` transport option allows you to limit the number
of concurrent connections per connection supervisor (see below).
It defaults to 1024. Its purpose is to prevent your system from being
overloaded and ensuring all the connections are handled optimally.

.Customizing the maximum number of concurrent connections

[source,erlang]
{ok, _} = ranch:start_listener(tcp_echo,
	ranch_tcp, [{port, 5555}, {max_connections, 100}],
	echo_protocol, []
).

You can disable this limit by setting its value to the atom `infinity`.

.Disabling the limit for the number of connections

[source,erlang]
{ok, _} = ranch:start_listener(tcp_echo,
	ranch_tcp, [{port, 5555}, {max_connections, infinity}],
	echo_protocol, []
).

The maximum number of connections is a soft limit. In practice, it
can reach `max_connections` + the number of acceptors.

When the maximum number of connections is reached, Ranch will stop
accepting connections. This will not result in further connections
being rejected, as the kernel option allows queueing incoming
connections. The size of this queue is determined by the `backlog`
option and defaults to 1024. Ranch does not know about the number
of connections that are in the backlog.

You may not always want connections to be counted when checking for
`max_connections`. For example you might have a protocol where both
short-lived and long-lived connections are possible. If the long-lived
connections are mostly waiting for messages, then they don't consume
much resources and can safely be removed from the count.

To remove the connection from the count, you must call the
`ranch:remove_connection/1` from within the connection process,
with the name of the listener as the only argument.

.Removing a connection from the count of connections

[source,erlang]
ranch:remove_connection(Ref).

As seen in the chapter covering protocols, this reference is received
as the first argument of the protocol's `start_link/3` callback.

You can modify the `max_connections` value on a running listener by
using the `ranch:set_max_connections/2` function, with the name of the
listener as first argument and the new value as the second.

.Upgrading the maximum number of connections

[source,erlang]
ranch:set_max_connections(tcp_echo, MaxConns).

The change will occur immediately.

=== Customizing the number of acceptor processes

By default Ranch will use 10 acceptor processes. Their role is
to accept connections and spawn a connection process for every
new connection.

This number can be tweaked to improve performance. A good
number is typically between 10 or 100 acceptors. You must
measure to find the best value for your application.

.Specifying a custom number of acceptor processes

[source,erlang]
{ok, _} = ranch:start_listener(tcp_echo,
	ranch_tcp, [{port, 5555}, {num_acceptors, 42}],
	echo_protocol, []
).

=== Customizing the number of connection supervisors

By default Ranch will use one connection supervisor for each
acceptor process (but not vice versa). Their task is to
supervise the connection processes started by an acceptor.
The number of connection supervisors can be tweaked.

Note that the association between the individual acceptors and
connection supervisors is fixed, meaning that acceptors will
always use the same connection supervisor to start connection
processes.

.Specifying a custom number of connection supervisors

[source,erlang]
{ok, _} = ranch:start_listener(tcp_echo,
	ranch_tcp, #{socket_opts => [{port, 5555}], num_conns_sups => 42}],
	echo_protocol, []
).

=== When running out of file descriptors

Operating systems have limits on the number of sockets
which can be opened by applications. When this maximum is
reached the listener can no longer accept new connections. The
accept rate of the listener will be automatically reduced, and a
warning message will be logged.

----
=ERROR REPORT==== 13-Jan-2016::12:24:38 ===
Ranch acceptor reducing accept rate: out of file descriptors
----

If you notice messages like this you should increase the number
of file-descriptors which can be opened by your application. How
this should be done is operating-system dependent. Please consult
the documentation of your operating system.

=== Using a supervisor for connection processes

Ranch allows you to define the type of process that will be used
for the connection processes. By default it expects a `worker`.
When the `connection_type` configuration value is set to `supervisor`,
Ranch will consider that the connection process it manages is a
supervisor and will reflect that in its supervision tree.

Connection processes of type `supervisor` can either handle the
socket directly or through one of their children. In the latter
case the start function for the connection process must return
two pids: the pid of the supervisor you created (that will be
supervised) and the pid of the protocol handling process (that
will receive the socket).

Instead of returning `{ok, ConnPid}`, simply return
`{ok, SupPid, ConnPid}`.

It is very important that the connection process be created
under the supervisor process so that everything works as intended.
If not, you will most likely experience issues when the supervised
process is stopped.

=== Upgrading

Ranch allows you to upgrade the protocol options. This takes effect
immediately and for all subsequent connections.

To upgrade the protocol options, call `ranch:set_protocol_options/2`
with the name of the listener as first argument and the new options
as the second.

.Upgrading the protocol options

[source,erlang]
ranch:set_protocol_options(tcp_echo, NewOpts).

All future connections will use the new options.

You can also retrieve the current options similarly by
calling `ranch:get_protocol_options/1`.

.Retrieving the current protocol options

[source,erlang]
Opts = ranch:get_protocol_options(tcp_echo).

=== Changing transport options

Ranch allows you to change the transport options of a listener with
the `ranch:set_transport_options/2` function, for example to change the
number of acceptors or to make it listen on a different port.

.Changing the transport options

[source,erlang]
ranch:set_transport_options(tcp_echo, NewOpts).

You can retrieve the current transport options by calling
`ranch:get_transport_options/1`.

.Retrieving the current transport options

[source,erlang]
Opts = ranch:get_transport_options(tcp_echo).

=== Obtaining information about listeners

Ranch provides two functions for retrieving information about the
listeners, for reporting and diagnostic purposes.

The `ranch:info/0` function will return detailed information
about all listeners.

.Retrieving detailed information
[source,erlang]
ranch:info().

The `ranch:procs/2` function will return all acceptor or listener
processes for a given listener.

.Get all acceptor processes
[source,erlang]
ranch:procs(tcp_echo, acceptors).

.Get all connection processes
[source,erlang]
ranch:procs(tcp_echo, connections).