Linux to WinXP over UDP lag

Question

I'm having a problem with a UDPSocket wrapper I've written. I have a high bandwidth low latency local network over which I'm sending UDP packets back and forth. I don't have a concern too much for reliability of packet arrival, but it is incredibly important that the packets that do arrive do so quickly. Here's the relevant code for setting up a socket:

bool UDPSocket::create() {
    int on = 1;
#ifdef WIN32
    if(WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(1,1), &SocketInfo) != 0) {
        MessageBox(NULL, "Cannot initialize WinSock", "WSAStartup", MB_OK);
    }
#endif
    m_sock = socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
#ifdef WIN32
    if(setsockopt(m_sock, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, (const char*)&on, sizeof(on)) == SOCKET_ERROR)
        return false;
#else
    if(setsockopt(m_sock, SOL_SOCKET, SO_REUSEADDR, (const char*)&on, sizeof(on)) == -1)
        return false;
#endif
    addrLen = sizeof(struct sockaddr);
    return true;
}

bool UDPSocket::bind(const int port) {
    if(!is_valid())
        return false;
    m_addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
    m_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_ANY);
    m_addr.sin_port = htons(port);

    if(::bind(m_sock, (struct sockaddr*)&m_addr, sizeof(m_addr))<0) {
        std::cout << "UDPSocket: error on bind" << std::endl;
        return false;
    }
    return true;
}
bool UDPSocket::send(const std::string s) const {
    const char* buf = s.c_str();

    ::sendto(m_sock, buf, strlen(buf), 0, (const sockaddr*)&clientAddr, addrLen);
    return true;
}

bool UDPSocket::setDestination(const std::string ip, const int port) {
    memset(&clientAddr, 0, sizeof(clientAddr));

    clientAddr.sin_family = AF_INET;
    clientAddr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr(ip.c_str());
    clientAddr.sin_port = htons(port);

    return true;
}

int UDPSocket::recv(std::string& s) const {
    char buffer[MAXRECV + 1];
    struct timeval tv;
    fd_set fdset;
    int rc, nread;

    memset(&buffer, 0, sizeof(buffer));

    FD_ZERO(&fdset);
    FD_SET(m_sock, &fdset);

    tv.tv_sec = 0;
    tv.tv_usec = m_timeout;

    rc = select(m_sock + 1, &fdset, (fd_set *) 0, (fd_set *) 0, &tv);

    if(FD_ISSET(m_sock, &fdset)) {
#ifdef WIN32
        nread = ::recvfrom(m_sock, buffer, MAXRECV, 0, (sockaddr*)&clientAddr, const_cast< int * __w64 >(&addrLen));
#else
        nread = ::recvfrom(m_sock, buffer, MAXRECV, 0, (sockaddr*)&clientAddr, (socklen_t*)&addrLen);
#endif
        if(nread < 0) {
            return -1;
        } else if(nread == 0) {
            return 0;
        }
        s = std::string(buffer);
        return nread;
    } else {
        return 0;
    }
}
void UDPSocket::set_non_blocking(const bool b) {
    mNonBlocking = b;
#ifdef WIN32
    u_long argp = b ? 1 : 0;
    ioctlsocket(m_sock, FIONBIO, &argp);
#else
    int opts = fcntl(m_sock, F_GETFL);
    if(opts < 0) return;
    if(b)
        opts |= O_NONBLOCK;
    else
        opts &= ~O_NONBLOCK;

    fcntl(m_sock, F_SETFL, opts);
#endif
}

My user code, on both ends, create a "sending" and "receiving" UDPSocket and bind them to their respective ports, then use send() to send data and recv() to receive. On one hand, the linux side seems to receive practically immediately, but the Windows side has a delay up to 1 second before receiving data. However, ::recv() never returns 0 in this time. Am I missing something obvious?

A gentleman by the name of Mike Simpson who can't yet post comments on SO is running into the same issue. If you're still interested in figuring this one out, can you drop him a line at [email protected]? Please and thank you. If not, no harm. — Adam Lear

Javier Javier · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-02T03:08:41

have you tried all four combinations (linux->linux, win->linux, linux->win, win->win)? which have delays and which not?

also, use a packet sniffer (like tcpdump or wireshark) to see if the delay is before or after hitting the wire.

Linux to WinXP over UDP lag

3 Answers