Server/Client Example

Overview

This page demonstrates secure communication between two entities using Auth-distributed session keys. Choose a technology to see the matching setup, run commands, and client/server implementation.

The examples share the same flow:

1. The client requests session keys from Auth.
2. The client connects to the server and completes the SST handshake.
3. Both entities exchange encrypted messages over the secure channel.
4. Session keys are cached and reused when the implementation supports it.

Prerequisites

• Clone the iotauth/iotauth repository.
• Run ./generateAll.sh from examples/ to generate the shared credentials and the entity configs supported by the generator.
• Start Auth 101 before starting either entity:

cd auth/auth-server
mvn clean install
java -jar target/auth-server-jar-with-dependencies.jar \
  -p ../properties/exampleAuth101.properties

Technology example

Choose one of the following technologies:

C

C example

The C example uses the native SST API and demonstrates the protocol lifecycle directly.

Source: examples/server_client_example/ in iotauth/sst-c-api.

Build the C example

cd entity/c/examples/server_client_example
mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake ../
make

For verbose debug output:

cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=DEBUG ../
make

This produces entity_server and entity_client in build/.

Run the C server

cd entity/c/examples/server_client_example/build
./entity_server ../c_server.config

The server binds to its configured port and waits for the client.

Run the C client

cd entity/c/examples/server_client_example/build
./entity_client ../c_client.config

The client requests session keys from Auth, completes the handshake, and sends encrypted messages.

C client implementation

SST_ctx_t* ctx = init_SST(config_path);
session_key_list_t* keys = get_session_key(ctx, NULL);

SST_session_ctx_t* session =
    secure_connect_to_server(&keys->s_key[0], ctx);

pthread_t receive_thread;
pthread_create(
    &receive_thread,
    NULL,
    receive_thread_read_one_each,
    (void*)session
);

send_secure_message(
    "Hello server",
    strlen("Hello server"),
    session
);

pthread_cancel(receive_thread);
pthread_join(receive_thread, NULL);
free_session_ctx(session);
free_session_key_list_t(keys);
free_SST_ctx_t(ctx);

C server implementation

SST_ctx_t* ctx = init_SST(config_path);
session_key_list_t* keys = init_empty_session_key_list();

int client_socket = accept(server_socket, NULL, NULL);
SST_session_ctx_t* session =
    server_secure_comm_setup(ctx, client_socket, keys);

pthread_t receive_thread;
pthread_create(
    &receive_thread,
    NULL,
    receive_thread_read_one_each,
    (void*)session
);

send_secure_message(
    "Hello client",
    strlen("Hello client"),
    session
);

The server keeps keys available for later accepted connections so cached session keys can be reused without another Auth round trip.

C configuration

File	Purpose
c_client.config	Auth coordinates, server address, session key purpose, and client credentials.
c_server.config	Auth coordinates, listening port, and server credentials.

Node.js

Node.js example

The Node.js example uses SecureCommClient and SecureCommServer, which expose secure communication through input handlers and output callbacks.

Source: entity/node/example_entities/ in iotauth/iotauth.

Prepare the Node.js example

The repository generation step installs the required Node.js packages and creates the JSON configuration files under entity/node/example_entities/configs/. To install the entity dependencies manually:

cd entity/node
npm install

Run the Node.js server

cd entity/node/example_entities
node server.js configs/net1/server.config

Run the Node.js client

cd entity/node/example_entities
node client.js configs/net1/client.config

At the client prompt, connect and send a message:

initComm net1.server
send hello from node client
finComm

At the server prompt, send to every client or to one socket:

send hello from node server
sendTo <socketID> hello from node server

Node.js client implementation

const SecureCommClient = require('../accessors/SecureCommClient');

const client = new SecureCommClient('configs/net1/client.config');
client.initialize();

client.setOutputHandler('connected', (connected) => {
  if (connected) {
    client.provideInput('toSend', Buffer.from('Hello server'));
  }
});

client.setOutputHandler('received', (data) => {
  console.log(data.toString());
});

client.setOutputHandler('error', (message) => {
  console.error(message);
});

client.provideInput(
  'serverHostPort',
  {host: 'localhost', port: 21100},
  'Servers'
);

Node.js server implementation

const SecureCommServer = require('../accessors/SecureCommServer');

const server = new SecureCommServer('configs/net1/server.config');
server.initialize();

server.setOutputHandler('listening', (port) => {
  console.log(`Listening securely on ${port}`);
});

server.setOutputHandler('received', ({id, data}) => {
  console.log(data.toString());
  server.provideInput('toSend', {
    id,
    data: Buffer.from('Hello client'),
  });
});

server.setOutputHandler('error', (message) => {
  console.error(message);
});

Node.js configuration

File	Purpose
configs/net1/client.config	Client identity, Auth details, credentials, and target server list.
configs/net1/server.config	Server identity, Auth details, credentials, and listening address.

Python

Python example

The Python example uses IoTAuthContext, SecureClient, SecureServer, and SecureChannel to provide a synchronous, context-managed API.

Source: entity/python/examples/ in iotauth/iotauth.

Prepare the Python environment

cd entity/python
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python3 -m pip install -e .

Keep the virtual environment active in the terminals used for the server and client.

Create or select the Python configuration

generateAll.sh generates the shared example credentials and the Node-style JSON entity configs, but it does not generate or update dedicated Python config files.

The repository already contains these example Python configuration files:

entity/python/examples/configs/py_client.config
entity/python/examples/configs/py_server.config

For a new Python entity or a replacement config, create the file manually from scratch or copy and adapt one of these supported formats:

• A C-style properties config, such as entity/c/examples/server_client_example/c_client.config or c_server.config.
• A generated Node-style JSON config, such as entity/node/example_entities/configs/net1/client.config or server.config.

Relative credential and key paths are resolved differently in the two formats. See the Python Guide configuration formats table before copying paths: C-style paths are relative to the config file, while JSON paths are relative to the process working directory.

Run Auth, the Python server, and the Python client

Auth, the server, and the client must run concurrently. Use three separate terminals or three tmux panes and run one process in each.

In terminal or pane 1, start Auth and leave it running:

cd auth/auth-server
java -jar target/auth-server-jar-with-dependencies.jar \
  -p ../properties/exampleAuth101.properties

In terminal or pane 2, activate the virtual environment and start the Python server:

cd entity/python
source .venv/bin/activate
cd examples
python3 py_server.py configs/py_server.config

In terminal or pane 3, activate the virtual environment and start the Python client:

cd entity/python
source .venv/bin/activate
cd examples
python3 py_client.py configs/py_client.config

Expected Python exchange and shutdown

On a successful run, the client requests a session key, completes the secure handshake, and sends exactly three messages in this order:

1. Hello server
2. Hello server - second message
3. Hello server - third message

The server decrypts each message and replies in the same order with:

1. Hello client
2. Hello client 2
3. Hello client 3

After receiving the third reply, the client finishes its loop, closes the secure channel through its context manager, and exits. The server detects the client disconnect, closes its channel and listening socket through its context manager, and exits after serving that one connection. Auth does not stop automatically. After both entity processes exit, manually stop Auth with Ctrl+C in its terminal or tmux pane.

Python client implementation

from iotauth import IoTAuthContext, SecureClient

ctx = IoTAuthContext.from_config("configs/py_client.config")

with SecureClient(ctx, timeout=5.0) as client:
    channel = client.connect()
    channel.send(b"Hello server")
    reply = channel.recv(timeout=1.0)
    print(reply.decode("utf-8"))

Python server implementation

from iotauth import IoTAuthContext, SecureServer

ctx = IoTAuthContext.from_config("configs/py_server.config")

with SecureServer(ctx, handshake_timeout=5.0) as server:
    channel = server.serve_once()
    data = channel.recv()
    print(data.decode("utf-8"))
    channel.send(b"Hello client")

The context managers close sockets and release runtime resources when the operation completes or raises an exception.

What should happen

You should see:

1. Auth logs showing session key requests from the entities.
2. The server logging a successful handshake and the decrypted client message.
3. The client logging the decrypted server response.

All three implementations use the same SST message framing, authenticated encryption, and sequence-number validation.

Next steps

• See C API Reference for the native API.
• See Node.js API Reference for the accessor-based API.
• See Python API Reference for the Python runtime API.
• See File Block Encryption for per-block encryption without sockets.
• See IPFS File Sharing for Auth-managed file encryption and distribution.