Python: Binding Socket: “Address already in use”

Question

I have a question regarding client socket on TCP/IP network. Let's say I use

try:

    comSocket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    comSocket.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)

except socket.error, msg:

    sys.stderr.write("[ERROR] %s\n" % msg[1])
    sys.exit(1)

try:
    comSocket.bind(('', 5555))

    comSocket.connect()

except socket.error, msg:

    sys.stderr.write("[ERROR] %s\n" % msg[1])

    sys.exit(2)

The socket created will be bound to port 5555. The problem is that after ending the connection

comSocket.shutdown(1)
comSocket.close()

Using wireshark, I see the socket closed with FIN,ACK and ACK from both sides, I can't use the port again. I get the following error:

[ERROR] Address already in use

I wonder how can I clear the port right away so that next time I still can use that same port.

comSocket.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)

setsockopt doesn't seem to be able to resolve the problem Thank you!

Answer 1

socket.socket() should run before socket.bind() and use REUSEADDR as said

Answer 2

I think the best way is just to kill the process on that port, by typing in the terminal fuser -k [PORT NUMBER]/tcp, e.g. fuser -k 5001/tcp.

Answer 3

Try using the SO_REUSEADDR socket option before binding the socket.

comSocket.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)

Edit: I see you're still having trouble with this. There is a case where SO_REUSEADDR won't work. If you try to bind a socket and reconnect to the same destination (with SO_REUSEADDR enabled), then TIME_WAIT will still be in effect. It will however allow you to connect to a different host:port.

A couple of solutions come to mind. You can either continue retrying until you can gain a connection again. Or if the client initiates the closing of the socket (not the server), then it should magically work.

Answer 4

As Felipe Cruze mentioned, you must set the SO_REUSEADDR before binding. I found a solution on another site - solution on other site, reproduced below

The problem is that the SO_REUSEADDR socket option must be set before the address is bound to the socket. This can be done by subclassing ThreadingTCPServer and overriding the server_bind method as follows:

import SocketServer, socket

class MyThreadingTCPServer(SocketServer.ThreadingTCPServer):
    def server_bind(self):
        self.socket.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
        self.socket.bind(self.server_address)

Answer 5

Actually, SO_REUSEADDR flag can lead to much greater consequences: SO_REUSADDR permits you to use a port that is stuck in TIME_WAIT, but you still can not use that port to establish a connection to the last place it connected to. What? Suppose I pick local port 1010, and connect to foobar.com port 300, and then close locally, leaving that port in TIME_WAIT. I can reuse local port 1010 right away to connect to anywhere except for foobar.com port 300.

However you can completely avoid TIME_WAIT state by ensuring that the remote end initiates the closure (close event). So the server can avoid problems by letting the client close first. The application protocol must be designed so that the client knows when to close. The server can safely close in response to an EOF from the client, however it will also need to set a timeout when it is expecting an EOF in case the client has left the network ungracefully. In many cases simply waiting a few seconds before the server closes will be adequate.

I also advice you to learn more about networking and network programming. You should now at least how tcp protocol works. The protocol is quite trivial and small and hence, may save you a lot of time in future.

With netstat command you can easily see which programs ( (program_name,pid) tuple) are binded to which ports and what is the socket current state: TIME_WAIT, CLOSING, FIN_WAIT and so on.

A really good explanation of linux network configurations can be found https://serverfault.com/questions/212093/how-to-reduce-number-of-sockets-in-time-wait.

Answer 6

In case you face the problem using TCPServer or SimpleHTTPServer, override SocketServer.TCPServer.allow_reuse_address (python 2.7.x) or socketserver.TCPServer.allow_reuse_address (python 3.x) attribute

class MyServer(SocketServer.TCPServer):
    allow_reuse_address = True

server = MyServer((HOST, PORT), MyHandler)
server.serve_forever()