RE: Sockets problem (what is)

Ron wrote:

>>1) Is this a standard TCP/IP service like
>>   Telnet, FTP, SMTP or a custom-written server?
>We're not sure how to answer this. We connect to port
>5550, but are not sure if its standard or custom.

Sounds like a custom service supplied by the vendor.

>>2) If custom-written, is there documentation on
>>   the protocol to use the server?  Stuff like
>>   how to sign on, log off and so on.
>
>There doesnt appear to be any signon process.
>We just run the connect API.

Is there no documentation for the service that describes a typical
transaction?  Often there'll be a simple dialogue where the client says
hello, the server replies, that sort of thing.  This is where I'd expect to
see some words about authentication.  The point I'm slowly working toward is
this: if the server expects you to supply a user ID/password and you don't
it may cut you off.

>We wrote the socket client in-house (using Scott's
>book and another sockets program to work from).
>Because we're not very skilled in this area, I
>always suspect our code first. But we are checking
>the return code and are not getting an error back.

That sounds good so far!  Try Telnet and see if it behaves differently than
your client does.  That might help you isolate what's going on.  If you're
on Windows, Start, Run, Telnet.  Connect to remote system (your IP addr),
Port 5550.

It really sounds like the server is disconnecting because it doesn't
recognise what you're sending.  Speaking of which, is the server running on
iSeries or another platform?  The reason I ask is translation.  You will
need to translate from EBCDIC (iSeries) to ASCII (Windows/Unix) when sending
and vice versa when reading.
  --buck