TCP Client-Server Application

This project implements a simple TCP client-server application using Linux sockets in C++.
The server listens on a specified port and logs messages from connected clients.
Each client connects to the server at specified intervals and sends a message containing its name and a timestamp.

Features

• Multi-threaded server capable of handling multiple client connections simultaneously.
• Clients periodically send messages to the server with timestamps and client names.
• Server logs messages to log.txt with thread safety.

Requirements

• Linux environment
• C++11 or later
• CMake 3.10 or later (optional if building with g++ directly)

Setup

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/st43r/TCPLogger.git
cd TCPLogger

2. Build the Project

Below are example commands for different build systems:

Using cmake:

• Ensure that you have CMake installed.

• Create a build directory and navigate to it:

  mkdir build
  cd build

• Run cmake and make:

  cmake ..
  make

Using g++ directly:

You can compile the project using g++ without CMake. This involves compiling the server and client separately.

Compile the Server

g++ -o Server server/server.cpp server/tcpserver.cpp -pthread

Compile the Client

g++ -o Client client/client.cpp client/tcpclient.cpp -pthread

Usage

Start the Server

Run the server with the port number on which it should listen.

./Server <port>

Example:

./Server 3000

Start the Clients

Run the client with the following parameters:

1. Name: The name of the client.
2. Port: The port number of the server to connect to.
3. Interval: The interval in seconds between sending messages.

./Client <name> <port> <interval>

Example:

./Client Name1 3000 1
./Client Name2 3000 2
./Client Name3 3000 3

Log Output

The server logs each client's messages to log.txt in the following format:

[yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss.ms] "client_name"

Example:

[2024-08-10 13:50:01.000] Name1
[2024-08-10 13:50:02.000] Name1
[2024-08-10 13:50:02.010] Name2
[2024-08-10 13:50:03.000] Name1
[2024-08-10 13:50:03.010] Name3

Implementation Details

• Server: The server listens on a specified port and accepts incoming connections. Each client connection is handled in a separate thread, and messages are logged using a mutex for thread safety.

• Client: The client connects to the server and sends messages at a specified interval. Each message includes the client's name and a timestamp.