Programming Interfaces Guide

Socket Types

Socket types define the communication properties that are visible to a user. The Internet family sockets provide access to the TCP/IP transport protocols. The Internet family is identified by the value AF_INET6, for sockets that can communicate over both IPv6 and IPv4. The value AF_INET is also supported for source compatibility with old applications and for raw access to IPv4.

The SunOS environment supports four types of sockets:

See Selecting Specific Protocols for further information.