HP TCPIP Services for OpenVMS Sockets API and System Services Programming

This document, "HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS: Sockets API and System Services Programming," published in January 2005 (Order Number: BA548–90002), is a manual describing how to develop network applications on OpenVMS systems using either the Berkeley Sockets API or OpenVMS system services.

It caters to experienced programmers familiar with C, TCP/IP protocols, and networking. The manual covers fundamental aspects of network application development, including:

• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs): Detailed explanations of both BSD Sockets (C language only, with portability and 64-bit addressing benefits) and OpenVMS system services (supporting multiple languages like C, C++, MACRO-32, etc., with improved performance and finer control).
• Core Network Application Tasks: Step-by-step guidance on creating, binding, listening for, initiating, and accepting sockets using both APIs for TCP and UDP protocols.
• Socket Management: How to get and set socket options, read/write data (including out-of-band data and peeking at queued messages), and close/delete/shut down sockets.
• Name Resolution: Using Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) service for host name and address lookups.
• IPv6 Porting Guide: A dedicated appendix detailing necessary changes to application code for operation in an IPv6 networking environment, covering name and structure changes, and sample client/server programs.
• Reference Information: Comprehensive sections on Sockets API functions, OpenVMS system services, data types, IOCTL requests, socket options, and error codes with their OpenVMS equivalents.

The document supersedes "Compaq TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS System Services and C Socket Programming, Version 5.1" and applies to HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Version 5.5, running on OpenVMS I64 Version 8.2 and OpenVMS Alpha Version 8.2.