Creating a TCP server

You can create a TCP server using the socketserver library. Here’s a simple echo server.

Server side

from sockerserver import BaseRequestHandler, TCPServer

class EchoHandler(BaseRequestHandler):
    def handle(self):
        print('connection from:', self.client_address)
        while True:
            msg = self.request.recv(8192)
            if not msg:
                break
            self.request.send(msg)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    server = TCPServer(('', 5000), EchoHandler)
    server.serve_forever()

Client side

from socket import socket, AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM
sock = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM)
sock.connect(('localhost', 5000))
sock.send(b'Monty Python')
sock.recv(8192)  # returns b'Monty Python'

socketserver makes it relatively easy to create simple TCP servers. However, you should be aware that, by default, the servers are single threaded and can only serve one client at a time. If you want to handle multiple clients, either instantiate a ThreadingTCPServer instead.

from socketserver import ThreadingTCPServer
...
if __name__ == '__main__':
    server = ThreadingTCPServer(('', 5000), EchoHandler)
    server.serve_forever()

Found a mistake? Have a question or improvement idea? Let me know.

Table Of Contents