connect_to_server()

This offers a basic, no-frills function that creates a TCP connection.

Example A–7 connect_to_server()

/*
 * Function: connect_to_server
 *
 * Purpose: Opens a TCP connection to the name host and port.
 *
 * Arguments:
 *
 *      host            (r) the target host name
 *      port            (r) the target port, in host byte order
 *
 * Returns: the established socket file desciptor, or -1 on failure
 *
 * Effects:
 *
 * The host name is resolved with gethostbyname(), and the socket is
 * opened and connected.  If an error occurs, an error message is
 * displayed and -1 is returned.
 */
int connect_to_server(host, port)
     char *host;
     u_short port;
{
     struct sockaddr_in saddr;
     struct hostent *hp;
     int s;
    
     if ((hp = gethostbyname(host)) == NULL) {
          fprintf(stderr, "Unknown host: %s\n", host);
          return -1;
     }

     saddr.sin_family = hp->h_addrtype;
     memcpy((char *)&saddr.sin_addr, hp->h_addr, sizeof(saddr.sin_addr));
     saddr.sin_port = htons(port);

     if ((s = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0)) < 0) {
          perror("creating socket");
          return -1;
     }
     if (connect(s, (struct sockaddr *)&saddr, sizeof(saddr)) < 0) {
          perror("connecting to server");
          (void) close(s);
          return -1;
     }

     return s;
}