Professional Node.js: Building Javascript Based Scalable Software

Chapter 14

Using Datagrams (UDP)

WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• When and why to use UDP
• Receiving UDP messages
• Sending UDP messages
• Multicasting UDP messages
• Understanding UDP limitations

TCP is connection-oriented protocol that provides a reliable, ordered stream of bytes from one network node to another. User Datagram Protocol (UDP), however, is a connection-less protocol that does not provide the delivery characteristics of TCP. When sending UDP packets, you are not guaranteed of the order they arrive in or even whether they arrive at all.

Despite these limitations, UDP can be quite useful; for instance, when you need to broadcast messages, you don’t need hard delivery guarantees or message ordering, or when you don’t know the addresses of your peers.

UNDERSTANDING UDP

UDP is a transport layer, much like TCP, that sits on top of IP. It allows you to send messages (in this case referred to as datagrams) to other hosts without requiring prior communications to set up the required transmission channels or data paths. Unlike TCP, UDP is not connection-oriented and does not provide any semantics for reliability, message ordering, or even data integrity. UDP provides an unreliable service, and datagrams can arrive out of order, appear duplicated, or even go missing without notice. UDP assumes that error checking either is not necessary or is performed at the application layer.

UNDERSTANDING THE USES OF UDP

Time-sensitive applications often use UDP because dropping packets is preferable ...