The MASM Forum Archive 2004 to 2012

The James Ladd Code Project has started the FASt Server development. This is a WIN32 Socket Framework and socket programming tutorial.
Its a work in progress and all comments and feedback are welcome.
Hopefully it will become the site / tool of choice for Assembler developers wanting to make the most of Socket communications.

    http://www.jamesladdcode.com/

Rgs, striker

OK, is there going to be tutorials and sample codes and all the good stuff?

Yes there will be sample code and a tutorial and "all that good stuff".
I expect to have the high level design section published today and that will include skeleton code.
I dont want to just post a finished framework as that would not be as helpful in my opinion.
The idea is to progress the full implementation bit by bit (pardon the pun) and detail the steps
along the way. It is my hope that this will also prove useful to others thinking of doing a project
and wondering about the steps and how to progress it.

I will make posts to this forum and this topic when updates are made, however, you can also
check the project diary page for details too.

expect some compiling code there today (wife permitting) ;)

rgs, striker

Great stuff James, I am glad this one made the light of day.

I will try and get the link  http://www.jamesladdcode.com/  set up somewhere so its easy to find.

Great! Is there going to be publish for PDF, HTML, and other?

Quote from: striker on January 15, 2005, 10:57:38 PM
.......bit by bit (pardon the pun) and detail the steps.......

Alright, I'll be most interested. Ummm.....hope it isn't exactly bit by bit.

hutch - thanks for helping. Couldnt have started without you.
There will be html stuff to download as well as MASM code.
Updates wont be "bit by bit" more like "part by part", this way I can take suggestions and questions into account along the way.
Thanks for reading the site.
rgs striker.

Watch here for an announcement as code and the design will be posted by Saturday 22nd Jan (Australian ESDS Time)

James,

Thats a truly ferocious beast you have wrapped up in a tea cosy in your avatar.  :P

hutch -
The beast is called gretel and she is a pug. She is 14 months old.
The "tea-cosy" is actually a top with a hood. Look quite funny.
Of course it was the wife who bought it and insists on gretel wearing it ;)

At some point Ill change the pic for another one of gretel.

Ok, ive added some more code to the site. http://www.jamesladdcode.com

All,
I got some interesting emails about this topic and I am hoping to reply very soon.
There should be some new code on the site today or very soon. Life permitting.
That dog wont walk herself :)
I look forward to posting some code soon.

All,
I have been very busy at work as a project has slipped its deadline. So I have to spend some
extra hours with the team coding furiously to bring it back on track.
I had hoped to finalize a working release to the web site but this is a little way off now.
Please be patient. Working code is coming very soon.
Rgs, striker

I'll be watching.  I downloaded this quite a while ago but haven't had a chance to do anything. 

The server is progressing nicely and I hope to have working code for download this weekend.
I also expect to revamp the web site to make it a lot simple to get the code.
Thanks for your patience.
Rgs, striker

There is a new site and some working code for all those who are interested.
www.jamesladdcode.com (http://www.jamesladdcode.com)
Your feedback is most welcome and I hope I get some.
The server will listen for requests on port 9080 at the moment but that can be changed
and will change in the near future. I just wanted to get up something that works.
A new version of the code will be available within the week and that version will handle
a lot more and basically act as an echo server where everything sent to it is echoed
back to the client. Then a later version will extend this to use plug-ins for working with
the data streams.
I hope you enjoy it.
Rgs, striker.

 :bg

Hey,

There is something wrong, I can find the code with one click on a link.  :clap:

hutch,
Well you made the suggestion and I followed through.  :bg
I hope you like the code as well.
More to come next weekend, then a break coz ill be in Japan.
Rgs, striker.

A very nice piece of code --- Congrats  :U

Awwwe, thanks Donkey. It means a lot coming from you.  :red

Ill make more progress this week and update the code.
For example, right now when you run the server you wont know its waiting for you to press ctrl-c to end it.
Guess I conentrated just a little too much on getting it to work rather than this sort of thing.

Im also happy to hear feedback on the coding style from anyone.
Questions are also welcomed.

Rgs, striker.

Nice, I've been looking for something like this.

dmh, I hope you find it useful.
I have updated the web site and new code will be posted tomorrow.
Its moving along slowly, but it is moving along.
rgs, striker.

Added more code to the site.
Enjoy.

rgs striker.

seems very interesting...
i also post here to see your uptades in "show replies to your posts" :toothy

I'm kind of new to all this, so forgive me if this seems like a stupid question, but is this supposed to be like an alternative to WinSock for programmers, or a full blown Web Server for general users?

striker, yes, quite useful. I never got around to writing something like this myself, and frankly, I don't have to now as I see nothing wrong with your code.

FASt Server will be updated in a couple of days. Sending and Receiving will be there.
The idea behind it is to provide the plumbing to a super fast, non-blocking,
highly scalable server where your plugins just have to handle dealing with packets.
Your plugin could be a http server, ftp server or whatever you want.
The WIN32 Socket and completion port IO is taken care of for you.

There will also be thread pool throttling and other bits

Of course, if you want to write all the winsock stuff, completion ports and thread
synchronisation then you probably wont use FASt Server.

I hope you like the next update in a few days.

Ok, I promised to have something running that sent and received data but I dont.
However, what i do have is a total re-write to make things easier to see/understand.
So the code you can download now has more readability and its 90% there.
Id have it sending an receiving but the computer is going to be busy this afternoon.
I hope you like the code. It took me 8 hrs to re-write it.

This time next weekend (here in Australia) Ill have it sending and receiving.
Its only an hour or so more work.

Comments welcomed.

Rgs, striker

Any comments on the latest code?

Hi striker, you have worked a lot on this rewrite,congrats.
I haven't used completion ports and it's difficult to me to understand all your code.
how/who you receives connect /close /recv notification messages using this method?
I am very impacient to see how can I implement a pluggin.
:thumbu :thumbu

mario,
keep watching this space, hopefully today will be the day that you see it all work.
Give me 2 or more days after this for plugins. I have other stuff I have to do.
I am eager to get the code finished and have people use it.
Thanks for the response.

Do you suggest that I d/l what is there now or just wait until later?

Maybe wait a bit as I am working on it right now.

ok, added some thread pooling stuff but havent done much else. Sorry.
Been busy.

 :U Good, I have not download it. Hope I can undestand it and help you out.

Farabi,
I hope you do understand it and that you can make use of it.
Soon there will be plug-in support so you wont have to understand it all, just write
code to handle packets of data and write replies etc.

Well im off to japan for two weeks :)
I promise that the next post I make here is a fully working FASt Server you can extend :)

  Have fun in Japan :)

Disconnect if you can... :U

Will this include use of AcceptEx(), socket pooling, and buffer pooling ?

Im back from Japan :)
It was awesome.

QuoteWill this include use of AcceptEx(), socket pooling, and buffer pooling ?

Yes - it will include these things. Im using IO Completion ports and overlapped IO for
enhanced performance whilst remaining lean on cpu usage.
The thread pool for handling IO will also be tunable.

:)

James,

Glad to see you back, hope you had some fun in Japan. Keep up the good work on this project, its turning into a giant killer.

All,
Thanks for the support. Ill try and make sure its worthy of your attention.
I think it will be.
Rgs, striker (or James as Hutch likes to call me)

All,

Sorry that I have not posted new code for you to download.
Work has been full on and I have not really had time to myself.
I am still working on this project and it will be delivered.
Thanks for sticking with me.

Rgs, striker

I think Hutch is under the assumption that your name must be James, ala the "James Ladd Code Project." :)

It's springtime... busy, busy, busy. Last week it was nearly 90°F here, and today it was 34°F and it snowed 5 inches... even the weather has not had a chance to rest! :green

hehehe, my name is James.
Its just funny that Hutch calls me that yet most people have an alias here :)

James,

Its a form of brain lock I have, I almost exclusively remember the first handle that connects and it sticks forever. My head tends to relate to people more than nicks so a name registers and stays where nicks often don't.

All,
Sorry there isnt another download yet. Been hard at work doing another framework/approach for our application
development. More code this week - promise.
Rgs, striker.

This is a framework, right? So users of my plugin will have to get the framework, run it, and install my plugin into it? Is it possible in any way to "statically link" the framework into my app so I only have distribute my app?

AeroASM,

Thanks for the good question.

The answer is yes you will be able to statically link FAStServer into your own applications.

FAStServer is a DLL and a LIB right now! The EXE just links to the DLL statically and calls it.

You will still need to write a plug-in as this is the only mechanism I have coded for calling your code back to do some
work. When you call the FAStServer API (DLL) you tell it the plug-in DLL to load and run. You can use this
mechanism to make it all fit together.

Eg:   your-exe --> FAStServer-Dll/Lib --> your-plug-in-DLL.

I hope this is clear and what you wanted.

Rgs, striker

So I need to distribute three things at once? I heard somewhere that you can make a program act as an EXE and a DLL at once.

Just got it - there is only an exe. I take it that you have not yet finished?

I am not finished yet, but the next version I post will be usable.
When done you wont have just an exe to distribute unless you use the exe pretending to be a DLL approach.
Typically you will distribute your EXE, FAStSvr.dll and whatever plug-ins you want to support.

The project sounds really cool Striker. I've been thinking about building two apps, a "server" and "client" where one person can update "the server" and any number of "clients" can log into that and retrieve data. The 'net has been doing this for decades of course... but not in bare-bones x86 assembler. :U

Mark,
Well your desire for this in bare bones assembler is coming along very very soon.
Im even taking tomorrow off work to tinker with it :)
There will be a client side of the API too so you can talk to FASt server as fast as possible with x86 assembler too !

All,
I have made an update on the web site.
There is a download of code which makes use of a plug-in.
Its not complete, as each time I get somewhere I have more to do :(
Assembler may be good, but boy, it takes a while to get stuff done.
ie: no libraries to use.

Comments on what I have done are welcome.

Rgs, striker.

Hi Striker, excellent work. :) I tried to open the license.txt file with notepad but the file is UNIX-formatted and the text all runs together. Attached is an ANSI-PC equivalent if this helps.

How do we test the current build? Telnet 127.0.0.1 9080 just gives blank spaces and underscores as echoes, but it does connect. XP Pro SP1.

One very minor request: fastsvr.asm sounds like it could be part of either fastsvr.dll or fastsvr.exe. Could fastsvr.exe be renamed to main.exe to keep the two destinguishable? Just an idea. :U

[attachment deleted by admin]

Mark,
Thanks for having a look.
I wanted to get something out so people knew I was doing something. So right now when you connect all you get is what you
have seen. Sorry if this wasted your time.
Ill check the license file but it should be ok. Maybe its the way I have uploaded it.
It comes out ok on the website when you click the link.

I have a main.asm that gets compiled and named fastsvr.exe as this is the main program you would run.
It in turn uses the fastsvr.dll (compiled from fastsvr.asm) so to me this is logical.
Wont you be running fastsvr.exe in the end ?

Ill post another file today if things do well.

rgs, striker.

ANOTHER FILE FOR DOWNLOAD

This one is the best yet !!!
I would really like it if some people could suggest how the code could be improved
as in how I can use assembler better. I find im running out of registers and re-loading
things and im sure there is a more elegant way.

It will accept connections but not do anything else right now.
Its a total re-write in one day so please dont whip me.

please let me have your comments.

rgs, striker

ALMOST COMPLETE

I have posted another update to the code. Its so close I can almost taste it.
Please have a look and let me know what you think of the code.
Questions welcome.

There is a bug in AcceptEx that I am working through. In the initialise_overlapped routine.
This wont be an issue as I have a working test but I have not worked out the issues with the posted version.
Connect via telnet 9080 but you wont see too much yet - because of AcceptEx

You will see this:


C:\dev\jlc\src>fastsvr
main_create
main_create_server
main_create_events
main_create_network
main_create_io_worker_threads
main_create_io_worker_thread
main_create_io_worker_thread
main_enter_io_worker
main_create_io_worker_thread
main_enter_io_worker
main_create_io_worker_thread
main_enter_io_worker
main_create_listener
main_enter_io_worker
main_create_acceptors
main_create_acceptor
main_initialise_overlapped
main_create_acceptor
main_initialise_overlapped
main_create_acceptor
main_initialise_overlapped
main_create_acceptor
main_initialise_overlapped
main_create_acceptor
main_initialise_overlapped
main_create_scavenger
main_enter_scavenger
main_run
main_run_scavenger
main_run_scavenger
main_run_scavenger
main_cleanup
main_cleanup_listener
main_cleanup_acceptors
main_cleanup_acceptor
main_cleanup_acceptor
main_cleanup_acceptor
main_cleanup_acceptor
main_cleanup_acceptor
main_cleanup_io_worker_threads
main_exit_io_worker
main_exit_io_worker
main_exit_io_worker
main_exit_io_worker
main_cleanup_scavenger
main_cleanup_network
main_cleanup_events
main_cleanup_server


Showing the scavenger and io worker threads going ok.
Plus shutdown is nicely done when you press ctrl-c or close the window.

There is one scavenger thread and there should be 2 io worker threads for each CPU in your system.
This is logical or physical CPU.

rgs, striker.

Dang !
No feedback. Anyone had a look at the latest and would like to make a comment ?
Rgs striker

sorry striker,
I have very impressed with the load speed improvements. I will try to take a look to your code...
what is your problem with AcceptEx?

Mario,
Its probably just a silly mistake on may part, trying to use register but incorrectly.
Ill go back to a working snippet of code I have for that part and work through it
slowly. I dont think it will take long to fix, I just need to find the time.

Any other comments ?
As you can see im keen to hear feedback.

rgs striker.

Lookin' good. I wish I were more versed in MASM32, then I could actually give useful feedback. :)

Echoing bytes sounds like an easy enough task... until you look into the code. There is a reason it is called code... :bdg

I'm an excellent beta reader though, need any tutorials proofed? That I can do. :lol

Mark,

Thanks for the comments. When its time to document what i have done to provide more help then
Ill be sure to get you to help proof it.

Ill be trying to fix the AcceptEx bug tonight and continue with development.

rgs, striker.

95% there !!!
Accepting connections and writing the first packet received.
Almost ready to fully read and write which isnt a big step.

Try the latest download.

More when I can, which will hopefully be today.

Great work, you're almost there! :U

When the time comes and you need a guinea pig IP address running the server, (so you can test it remotely (or vice-versa)), just PM me.

FastServer.exe is a whopping 5k - uncompressed! If they are not already, Apache should be shaking in their boots. :bdg

Yes I am almost there. I expect to have it running as an echo server tonight.
So everything you send to it is echoed back to you.
I then need to do some more pooling work and run the scavenger for sockets that are connected but not sending data.
This code is done, but I have to graft it in.

I will make the distributables smaller using the techniques posted here. Like the tiny DLL/EXE stuff.

Thanks for your offer, im sure I will take it up. It wont be long.
It will be nice to have it run remotely. :)

Rgs, striker.

Yet Another Update posted.
Its starting to echo. Just need to keep the loop going.

Hi striker, just one thing I have seen:
Why dont use directly inmediate values if can?:

        mov [edx].XOVERLAPPED.operation,OPERATION_READ

instead of:

        mov eax, OPERATION_READ
        mov [edx].XOVERLAPPED.operation,eax





sure you have a logical reason that I dont know...

Ill clean up the code at some point when all works. Little things like this are valuable comments.
Thanks for letting me know.  After all, this is my first real assembler program !!!

fastsvr-1.0.0 - THERE IS A WORKING VERSION POSTED

It echoes back the characters you enter.
telnet localhost 9080
starts the ball rolling.

After a while paste in some text from another program and watch how there isnt much of a performance spike.
You have to like non-blocking overlapped IO.

Now Ill add the plugin stuff and clean up the code.
I have to add a socket scavenger and more IO worker threads too.

YAY - Finally a post to say its working :)


Edit - DANG, no replys yet.

Edit - Ok, there seems to be an issue with running on Windows 2000 !  Work ok on XP. Most likely DLL or winsock version stuff.

Works fine here on XP. :)

Curious, what transport protocol(s) are you planning on supporting?

You will have to implement your own protocol when you write the plugin.

I will put together a simple echo plugin and maybe a Http plugin. Since both are very simple
and not very time consuming. I want to do improvements to the server and I am leaving the
protocol stuff to others.

Thanks for trying it out, im glad it works ok on XP for some. I havent tried Win 98 or Server 2003.
Ill try and work out what the issue is with Windows 2000 a.s.a.p

rgs striker.

Not getting any echo on XP sp1.
Consider this a formal expression of interest in your project - I've been working on an oop variant for OA32 for a couple of weeks, with little success... I expect to figure out what I was doing wrong based on your source, and I thank you.
Still, many asmcoders are purists, and/or don't see the benefits of oopasm yet.
It's going to take a while for those kinds of opinions to change - hey, I'm evidence !! :)
Keep up the good work  :clap: :U

Homer,

Thanks for the feedback.

You would not have a hard time convincing me of OOP-ASM. ie: oop done using asm.
I was going to go that way but it would have made FASt Server less usable to the novice.
The most I have done is include an informal vtable in the structure. This will at least remove the
need for the API's to be linked into third party code. Im sure you get my point.

Anyways, if I can help you with your app or help you get your stuff working with my app
then let me know.

Ill add the plug-in stuff very soon and other pooling and threading that is needed.

Comments welcome !!

rgs, striker.

Edit: Made new download, this one includes a plugin !!!!

This is a cool project.  Good Work, I found this while looking for a c++ implemenation of the exact same thing.  I was able to test this for use on Window 2003 Server,  No Echo.

Please tell me where to go (except go to hell, hehehe), what to download, what is it exactly, and what to do so I too can test this on my PC. I have been following this topic for quit awhile and it seems to be a very interesting project (based on all the postings).

Thanks for taking an interest.
I know there are some issues with Windows 2000. Most likely because I rely on the mswsock.dll which is probably not on Win2k.
Ill have to check. Right now it works a'ok on XP.

For those who have not tried goto www.jamesladdcode.com and download the zip. Extract the contents somewhere and
from the command line run "fastsvr" this will automaticall listen for connections on port 9080. Then from another command
prompt type "telnet localhost 9080". This will connect to the server and whatever you type will be echoed.

There will be more done to FAStSvr in the comming days. Please stay tuned.

rgs, striker.

OK, I use Windows 98. I did what you said. From the Command line prompt I launched Fastsvr. The application comes up and does this.....

1) main_create
2) plugin_create
3) main_cleanup
4) serious error
5) end

Then this:

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.

If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.

I just tried it on my Windows Server 2003 EE  SP1  box and it seems to echo the first characterer I send twice, the following data does only echo once.


// WinCC

Dang !

Im sorry that some people have had trouble with running FAStSvr.

I have only WinXP installed so I have not had the ability nor chance to debug it on anything else.
Im not likely so debug it on win98, but I will try win2k and later.

The source is included so maybe someone with these platforms could help ?

Robert, do you connect to the program with telnet or does it crash before you can do this ?

Im still working on this tool so you know I will take this feedback seriously.

rgs, striker

It crashes immediately when I open the run dialog box with c:\fast_server\fast\svr\fastsvr.exe so to answer your question it crashes before I connect. I never get a chance to connect. 

m.bat only outputs the dll. Is is not also supposed to output the fastsvr.exe

Also, when trying to re-assemble main.asm I get following:

error A2006: undefined symbol : S_un

"m.bat only outputs the dll. Is is not also supposed to output the fastsvr.exe"

It output "fastsvr.exe".

For test i used this version:


@echo off
cls
if exist *.obj del *.obj
\Masm32\bin\ml /c /coff /nologo *.asm
\Masm32\bin\Link /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /NOLOGO /OUT:fastsvr.exe main.obj
\Masm32\bin\Link /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS /DLL /DEF:echo.def /NOLOGO echo.obj
dir




To Striker:

IF your computer is rather powerful you can use Virtual PC of Microsoft, is free 45 days !  It makes it possible to emulate any OS if you have CD installation (Windows 98/ME great).  It was quite useful to me for a project, unfortunately the 45 days are past...  It is highly reliable.


Link for download:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=360cafd6-5098-4c64-9ca7-a30f225859f6&DisplayLang=en

Quote from: Faiseur on May 26, 2005, 12:08:00 AM
"m.bat only outputs the dll. Is is not also supposed to output the fastsvr.exe"

It output "fastsvr.exe".

For test i used this version:

Code Select Expand


@echo off
cls
if exist *.obj del *.obj
\Masm32\bin\ml /c /coff /nologo *.asm
\Masm32\bin\Link /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /NOLOGO /OUT:fastsvr.exe main.obj
\Masm32\bin\Link /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS /DLL /DEF:echo.def /NOLOGO echo.obj
dir



Well, that is exactly the same as I use and it only ouputs the dll file and not the exe file. And my copy of masm32 is exactly what I downloaded from this site.

Strange... Test this:


@echo off
If Exist *.exe del *.exe
If Exist *.asm \Masm32\BIN\ml.exe  /nologo /c /coff /Cp main.asm
If Exist *.obj \Masm32\BIN\Link.exe /nologo /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /LIBPATH:\masm32\lib *.obj
If Exist *.obj del *.obj
If Exist *.exe GoTo X
echo.
echo.
pause > nul
:X

cls
exit



If error, the script pause console and you read type of error...

OK, the reason is that there is an error in the assembly of main.asm--->undefined symbol S_un

Thanks for the feedback.
Faiseur Ill consider the VM approach for Win98 and others.

I have MASM installed on c:\masm32 so the m.bat file invokes the masm tools directly from this location because %masm_home% is set to "c:\masm32"
eg: in command prompt type "set masm_home=c:\masm32" without the quotes.

Is this where you have masm installed ?

In the latest download from www.jamesladdcode.com the m.bat in "fast/svr" is:

@echo off
cls
if exist *.obj del *.obj
%masm_home%\bin\ml /c /coff /nologo *.asm
%masm_home%\bin\Link /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /NOLOGO /OUT:fastsvr.exe main.obj
%masm_home%\bin\Link /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS /DLL /DEF:echo.def /NOLOGO echo.obj
dir


The fifth (5) line is making the fastsvr.exe

Have you go the latest zip ?

Quote from: striker on May 26, 2005, 04:21:47 AM
Thanks for the feedback.
Faiseur Ill consider the VM approach for Win98 and others.

I have MASM installed on c:\masm32 so the m.bat file invokes the masm tools directly from this location because %masm_home% is set to "c:\masm32"
eg: in command prompt type "set masm_home=c:\masm32" without the quotes.

Is this where you have masm installed ?

In the latest download from www.jamesladdcode.com the m.bat in "fast/svr" is:

Code Select Expand


@echo off
cls
if exist *.obj del *.obj
%masm_home%\bin\ml /c /coff /nologo *.asm
%masm_home%\bin\Link /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /NOLOGO /OUT:fastsvr.exe main.obj
%masm_home%\bin\Link /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS /DLL /DEF:echo.def /NOLOGO echo.obj
dir


The fifth (5) line is making the fastsvr.exe

Have you go the latest zip ?

I have exactly what you show above and my masm32 directory in on the C drive. But the %masm_home% didnt work so I changed it to read c:\masm32 in the bat file. I have the latest download because I downloaded it today. But still the program doesn't work (as described in a previous post) and also during assembling it still has the undefined symbol error (S_un is undefined).

Note from Microsoft web site:

QuoteThe AcceptEx function is not supported on Windows Me/98/95.

Since FAStServer uses this function it wont work on these versions of windows. Sorry.

I have made a new zip download that adds more information to the batch file if its not right and
also to the code so that I can see where it executes upto.

If you have a bug, please cut and paste all the output for me to see.
eg: in the command window       press alt-space, e, s, enter
and then paste it here.

rgs, striker.

Quote from: striker on May 26, 2005, 07:32:30 AM
Note from Microsoft web site:

QuoteThe AcceptEx function is not supported on Windows Me/98/95.

Since FAStServer uses this function it wont work on these versions of windows. Sorry.

It isn't supported on Windows 98 because the DLL which contains that function does not come with Windows 98. But, if you are a serious person about your project then you might think about including all the DLLs that are needed or at least have a link on your Web Site that points to a download section where one could d/l what he needs. I'm not saying you have to do this but it is what I do when I distribute my applications. 

Robert,
Ill certainly look into finding the required dll's and providing links on the site for where to get them.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Right now you would still have compilation problems yes ?
Can you send me a cut-n-paste of the command prompt output so I can see what happens and when.

Rgs, striker

EDIT:  A new version is available. This fixes the problem with Windows 2000.

striker,
This is really turning into a pretty cool project!  Missing DLLs such as ws2_32.dll are going to be problematic because that particular DLL for example requires the XP version of NTDLL.DLL, so be guided accordingly.  I am not going to say more because it will cause a flame war.

I really like the work you are doing.

Paul

Quote from: pbrennick on May 27, 2005, 03:46:16 PM
.... DLLs such as ws2_32.dll are going to be problematic because that particular DLL for example requires the XP version of NTDLL.DLL....

I have ws2_32.dll and ntdll.dll on my Windows 98 system and have use them in certain projects of my own but his project still doesn't work (maybe I have the incorrect versions) so maybe there are some other missing files. One alternative to this could be to include a list of the known external files and their version numbers that are required instead of including those files in the project. That way a person could go and find those files himself on the web. Anything is better than nothing.

If I took his fastsrv.exe program (which crashes right from the start) and run it through a PE Dump program wouldn't that tell me what all the DLLs are that his program uses? Maybe not if certain DLLs require other DLLs. I don't know.

Robert,
That is a good idea.  If I remember correctly when I tested it on ME it gave me the name of a missing procedure in the current version of NTDLL.DLL, if you want, I can run that test again.

All these DLLs sure complicate things!

Paul

Robert,
This is what ME reports:

Quote
ws2_32.dll is linked to missing export NTDLL.DLL:Rtlpv4StringTpAddressW

Hope that helps,
Paul

ws2_32.dll was never included with anything below Windows 2000 SP1:

http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp/?dlltype=file&l=55&alpha=ws2_32.dll&S=1

Quote from: MichaelW on May 27, 2005, 06:46:21 PM
ws2_32.dll was never included with anything below Windows 2000 SP1:

http://support.microsoft.com/dllhelp/?dlltype=file&l=55&alpha=ws2_32.dll&S=1

That's correct but that doesn't mean you can't have them on Windows 98. I think the two that I have came with a project that I downloaded somewhere and I just registered them into my system directory. I know they function correctly because the project that they came with works.

BTW: Was Windows 2000 out in 1998? I checked the versions of those DLLS.

WS2_32.DLL Version 4.10.1998
NTDLL.DLL Version 4.10.1998

Maybe this is just the version/date of the DLLs but were only distributed with 2000 on up.

Actually, both of you are not correct.  ws2_32.dll was included in the Windows '98 inistallation.  I am looking at the CAB files right now and it is located in NET7.CAB

Paul

Quote from: pbrennick on May 27, 2005, 07:31:03 PM
....Actually, both of you are not correct.....

What do you mean both of you, Paul? I only said that to avoid disagreeing about that, hehehe. Actually, I had no idea one way or another.

Robert,
You know what?  I had a feeling about that one!  Anyway, if it is in the CABS, well that makes it a no brainer!

You are funny.
Paul

Quote from: striker on May 25, 2005, 08:54:07 AM
Mark,

QuoteI think your code is so complex, few can understand it... that is why you are getting so few comments

Do you really think it is complex ?  I'm happy to make it "easier". Maybe you can suggest how ? Rgs, striker.

EDIT: There is a new version of the utils available.

Thanks. Oh the FastSvr and Utils are one now, ok.

By complex I mean that FastSvr uses APIs and procedures which many of us have never seen or used before. The util(s) are straightforward but FastSvr itself is rather complex with its overlapped winsock functions and extensive parameter passing. I thought about trying to make an addition to the echo plugin to allow "press X to exit", but can't see where any parsing of actual data takes place in echo.asm - character I/O seems to be happening exclusively in main.asm. But admittedly, I'm confused. :)

I've looked through the code some and it appears that the fastsvr console goes into an endless loop of "waiting, read complete" once the initial telnet console is closed. I found this by uncommenting the stdout calls in main.asm. Because of the loop, it will not accept another connection. fastsvr.exe CPU usage also goes up to about 75% with the United Devices agent running (grid.org (http://grid.org/projects/)). :toothy

Is the server going to remain a console app? The cleanup routine is not executing because no specific console control handler has been defined. I slopped one together below... unsure if it's even remotely correct, but it returns "main cleanup, serious error" during main_cleanup and then yields an access violation reading 009A009E:


; -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
; SetConsoleCtrlHandler routine by Mark Jones
;
ctrl_handler proc
nop   ; for debugging
    invoke main_cleanup, server, error
    mov eax, input(13,10," Press ENTER to exit...") 
; or whatever, so user can read display (needs macros.asm)
   
    mov eax,1   ; control handler must return a 1 to signal successful handling
    invoke ExitProcess, eax  ; unsure if exiting to a 1 is a good idea...
ctrl_handler endp

; -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
; Executable program starting/entry point.
;
;    mov svr.FASTSVR.thing, 2
;    mov eax, svr.FASTSVR.thing
start:
; set title of console window
    szText szTitle, "FAStSvr for Win32 v1.0.0 beta RCxx"
    invoke SetConsoleTitle,addr szTitle

; setup control handler
    invoke SetConsoleCtrlHandler,offset ctrl_handler,TRUE
   
    invoke main_create, error
    cmp eax, 0
    je main_exit

    invoke main_run, server, error

    main_exit:   ; currently never executed
        invoke main_cleanup, server, error
        invoke ExitProcess, eax
end start


Oh and I made a simple .ico, .rc, and some .wap WinAsm project files, they are attached if interested. :)


[attachment deleted by admin]

All,

Thankyou for your interest in FAStServer and FAStUtils.
I will be working on them today and hope to address most of the issues raised.

I have a plan for what Im doing so that all can know what will be happening.

1. Continue with some FAStUtil stuff as its needed by the Echo plugin.
2. Update FASt Server so that the Echo pluging receives the read data and then posts the echo back. It needs a FASt Util for this to be done properly.
3. Update Echo to send a greeting message.
4. Enable the console handler so Ctrl-C shuts down the server gracefully. Currently this wasnt as important as getting the server to run.
5. Modify FAStServer to accept multiple connection and to scavenger and remove hanging connections.
    Again, FASt Util is needed for this.
6. Add pooling of IO worker threads. Currently there is only one for the purposes of getting the code running.
7. Re-package the code. There is to be a FAStSvr.exe and a FAStSvr.dll so you can run the server or use the DLL in your own projects.
8. Put together some configuration changes so the plugin can influence the FAStServer startup. Not just the listen port but things like
    buffer sizes and counts. There is a lot that can be done to tune FAStSvr for incredible IO.
9. Make a FAStClient that enables the client side of what FAStServer provides.
10. Fix bugs and other issues raised along the way. This will be ongoing during the duration of the project.

The main idea is to get a plugin working a.s.a.p so that people can write them. If the core FAStServer changes then this should
not effect the plugin. So potentially the FAStServer could be entirely re-written and the Plugin wouldnt know.
Over time there will be improvements to FAStServer and I dont want these to effect the plugin developer.

I would like to fix the DLL issues immediately but I dont have the facilities. If you are able to help in this area then I will make
sure the site is updates with the information and your details so people know you helped.

I hope the above is ok for all ?
This plan is also outlined on www.jamesladdcode.com

BTW - Mark - What are the files you have supplied and what do they do ?

Rgs, striker.

Just something i noticed while going trough the code:
       zero:
            cmp overlapped, 0
            jmp main_io_worker_loop_seriously_wrong ; <- should be 'je' ?

            ; todo: close the socket.
            jmp main_io_worker_loop

You know you could also replace all 'cmp eax, 0' with 'test eax, eax'..  :wink

Petroizki ,
Thanks for the pointers. I have made the change and the next version uploaded will contain the fix.
Also, does 'test eax, eax' have any advantages over 'cmp eax, 0' as I like to be consistent and if I
need to test for something other than '0', I can just write that value. Eg:   'cmp eax, 32'
rgs, striker

It's one byte smaller, and probably not so important, but i just like to mess with the little things, sorry.. :red

Petroizki ,

I appreciate the information. You never know when I want the code 1 byte smaller :)
Any other suggestions are welcomed too.

New update to FAStUtils and tomorrow or later tonight Ill integrate some of it into FAStServer

Rgs, striker

 James, the .wap files are WinASM project files - see www.winasm.net (http://www.winasm.net/index.php?ind=downloads).
For a WinASM screenshot with my funky dark color scheme (and the code library add-in running), Click Here (http://heliosstudios.net/temp/winasm.png).

Edit: attached is a client .ico file. Feel free to use (or not use) these files. :)

[attachment deleted by admin]

Quote from: striker on May 28, 2005, 05:09:52 AM
....does 'test eax, eax' have any advantages over 'cmp eax, 0'....

Not knowing for sure but based on my knowledge of another assembly language, the cmp eax,0 is a register to immediate value (meaning it occupies storage) instruction while test eax,eax is register only instruction therefore probably faster.

Hi, good work with your project. I don't know much about assembly - still learning - but let me give my opinion about threads in this project. Since web servers and whatnot are mostly IO bound and not processor bound wouldn't it be better to use green/user threads instead of operating system threads? I found i get much better performance using user threads.

Keep up the good work.

James,

Here is the reference from the Intel optimisation manual with preference for TEST over CMP.

Quote
Compares
Use test when comparing a value in a register with zero. Test essentially ands the
operands together without writing to a destination register. Test is preferred over and
because and produces an extra result register. Test is better than cmp ..., 0 because
the instruction size is smaller.
Use test when comparing the result of a logical and with an immediate constant for
equality or inequality if the register is eax for cases such as:
if (avar & 8) { }
The test instruction can also be used to detect rollover of modulo a power of 2. For
example, the C code:
if ( (avar % 16) == 0 ) { }
can be implemented using:
test eax, 0x0F
jnz AfterIf
Assembly/Compiler Coding Rule 50. (ML impact, M generality) Use the test instruction
instead of and or cmp if possible.

JohnJohn,
Winsock 2 under the covers will use OS threads for managing IO completion ports. However, the threads used in
FAStServer could be green threads. I will look into this when the server is working properly and other things
dont need doing. Thanks for the suggestions.

Hutch,
Guess who will change things to use "test" ;)

Stand by for an update with all the goodies in it coming very soon !

Anyone excited ?    .... anyone ?

Sure, let's see it!  :)

its coming, I just wanted to make sure someone was excited to see it when it gets here.
Not long now - promise.

I've posted an oop-based variant of your source (yesterday, on the other board).
Today I will diverge.

Homer,
Thanks.
I think the currenty source is rather crappy really. Im going to post another soon.
This version will be more feature packed, complete and better coded.
Im sure there are 100s here who can make better assembler. Im interested in
their/your feedback on the code.
Rgs, striker.

Would anyone mind terribly if I didnt continue with this ?
It seems there ARE some alternatives out there like the one from EvilHomer.
So maybe a simple main/echo example would be ok with everyone ?

I am tight for time at the mo and im not sure who, if anyone would use
the finished tool so I thought maybe EvilHomer could just publish his version and
I could retire mine.

Comments ?

Rgs, striker.

I would be interested in your non-OOP version.

me too!, non oop IOCP at least for me,Please. :green

I think a non OOP version is much more interesting, maybe someone else could bring the development forward ?

I can't find anything else like this, it's a unique opportunity. :U

Wow, im bolstered by your interest. Ill finish it !!
This was not a ploy to get people to say they wanted/liked the project.
I have been hard at work at work, and fixing other developers bugs, so
I was a little over it when I got home and thought "Why was I doing this?"
Now Im reved again. Thanks for your support.

New version will be here before the weekend !

Thanks guys.

A new version is available. It works. A few more tweaks will be coming along.
Download and make comment if you want. I really like to hear what you have to say.

Rgs, James.

I'm reading the rfc on http 1.1  :toothy Will help you with it once I am done

Great work James! It's really coming along now. :bg

Edit: perhaps FTP is not too far away... http://war.jgaa.com/ftp/?cmd=src

Edit2: interesting, found some cool apps at http://www.madwizard.org/view.php?page=downloads
Fun to play with, some have source code.

Hello,

I just downloaded and test. It works when I telnet to 127.0.0.1 9080

Anyway, I was thinking of maybe you make it possible to select which plugin to load when FASt starts.

I see that your FASt utility is gone. Would you be updating it anytime soon?

Hello Striker,

Thanks for your work.

Note: In your bath file, it is necessary to add "pause" command so that the user sees the warning message.


:no_masm
...
echo ****************************************************************
echo You need to set the environment variable "masm_home" to the base
echo directory where MASM32 is installed.
echo eg:  set masm_home=c:\masm32
echo ****************************************************************
pause
:end


Faiseur,
Thanks for the suggestion. Since I run a command prompt and dont double-click on the batch file
I didnt need a pause. But Ill add one. Thanks again.

Did the server run ok for you ?

Ill make a few tweaks of the server tonight, like waiting for a cr (13D) before echoing back the input
and making sure that you cant overrun the buffers, which you can right now.

Rgs, striker.

All, some tweaks are a coming.
Ill make the server keep accepting characters to echo and only echo when the buffer is full or there
is a linefeed. Ill also read up on maximizing through-put with MTU and packet sizing. Then Ill implement
a buffer that helps with this plus notes in the code about getting the most throughput form
buffer sizing.

Anyone tried the latest version ?

Rgs, striker.

Its coming along nicely James. Were you going to poll the TCP/IP parameters to see if there are already customized MTU/RWIN/etc? The values are stored in the registry at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

This link has lots of good info: http://www.speedguide.net/read_articles.php?id=157
The TCP Optimizer from http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php is handy for improving performance. :)

I can write a ftpd using fastserv as the backbone if you like James. Since you're strapped with time.

Cool. :)
Here's a TCP/IP registry key testbed app.


; Mark Jones/Helios Studios 2005
; build as "console assemble and link"
include masm32rt.inc    ; "runtime" libs
include advapi32.inc    ; registry functions
includelib advapi32.lib

.data
    szKey       DB  "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\",0
    szValue     DB  "GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize",0

.data?
    buff        DD  ?
    buffsize    DD  ?
    hKey        DD  ?
    keyType     DD  ?

.code
start:
    print chr$("GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize: ")
   
    invoke RegOpenKeyEx,HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,addr szKey,0,KEY_QUERY_VALUE,addr hKey
    test eax,eax                ; does the key exist?
    jnz nokey
    mov buffsize,4
    invoke RegQueryValueEx,hKey,addr szValue,0,addr keyType,addr buff,addr buffsize
    test eax,eax                ; is there a GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize value?
    jz valfound
    print chr$("value not present.")
    jmp endit
nokey:
    print chr$("key not present!")
    jmp endit
valfound:
    print ustr$(buff)
endit:
    Invoke RegCloseKey,hKey     ; close key
    mov eax, input(13,10,13,10,"Press enter to exit:")
    invoke ExitProcess, 0       ; exit gracefully
end start


Mark,
Thanks for that snippet of code. Ill include it if its ok ? ie: When you startup FASt Server Ill dump the values.
Ill also look at the link you have posted. The only downside with proper optimisation of tcp ip is that the
best results are gained from knowing the clients settings, yet no hand-shake protocol seems to allow for this.

WebRing,
If you would like to write an ftp server then please do.
Proper use of FASt Server is the only way it will improve. Thanks for your offer.

All,
Thanks for your support. Im working full time, but every spare mo, ill put into FASt Server.
Im half-thinking a windows only bittorrent clone would be kewl ?

Rgs, striker

Quote from: striker on June 21, 2005, 09:03:42 PM
Mark, thanks for that snippet of code. Ill include it if its ok?

Sure, it's just a testbed app, tinker with it. :)

QuoteThe only downside with proper optimisation of tcp/ip is that the
best results are gained from knowing the clients settings, yet no handshake protocol seems to allow for this.

Well, when you're coding your own server, any data transmissions are possible. ;)

Only problem is, most of the TCP/IP parameters are initialized at boot-time; changing them per-session would have little effect. (FastSvr could however say "Yo, your TCP/IP parameters suck... update and reboot?" :bg

QuoteI'm half-thinking a windows only bit-torrent clone would be kewl?

Yikes, that would be a truly massive undertaking even for a team of coders. I thought you didn't have much free time? :green2

I think coding a bittorrent client is waste of effort. I rather support Homer and his p2p. Did you take a look at my comments?

Mark,
I mean that the servers best through put is when its buffer sizes are in tune with the clients.
There is no point in the server setting a buffer of 512 bytes when the client can only receive 256 at a time.
So ideally the client should tell the server what its sizing is.

Victor,
I was not suggesting a bittorrent client, but a windows server and client for doing very fast file
transferes.   Also, did you meant the comments here or on the other board/forum ?
I will be folding FAStUtil into FAStServer but I may pull it out again if demand is high enough.
Ill also make the plug-in an argument on the command line. :)

I dont have a great deal of time, that is true, but I also didnt say how long it would take.
:)

You guys are very talented and ideally Id like to leave plug-in support to you.

Rgs, striker.

Quote from: striker on June 22, 2005, 03:17:17 AM

You guys are very talented and ideally Id like to leave plug-in support to you.

Rgs, striker.

Yes, because then we get at least some of the credit!

Quote from: striker on June 22, 2005, 03:17:17 AM
Mark, I mean that the servers best throughput is when its buffer sizes are in tune with the clients.
There is no point in the server setting a buffer of 512 bytes when the client can only receive 256 at a time.
So ideally the client should tell the server what its sizing is.

Curious, will the server be able to create multiple threads, each with different window sizes?

Okay, sounds simple enough. If I understand correctly, "window size" for the client is RWIN, "Receive Buffer Window Size", or at XP likes to call it, GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize. If we coded our own client it would be simple to poll the registry and send that value during handshaking. But how to determine a client's RWIN when they use IE or FTP? It shouldn't be too hard actually, simply echo ICMP packets while increasing their size. Once a packet is "fragmented", back off the RWIN value a notch and that should be the max.

Later: Oh, and maybe save the client's IP address in a lookup table on the server. That way, if they reconnect, the server pulls up their RWIN without having to calculate it.

Mark,
Were kind of on the same track.
The server will not know the clients RWIN without the client sending it to the server. So existing
protocols and tools like IE just wont do this. At least not yet.
I was just pointing out that the best throughput can be gained be knowing the clients settings.

AeroASM, Do you feel that there is some credit that you have not been given ?

Ill be doing a lot more on FAStServer tonight !
Watch for a new posting/version.

Rgs, Striker

No, its just that if you code plugins as well, then:

1. The actual FAStServer will be worse, because you have less time to spend on it
2. If you do not code the plugin, then I can, so I get the credit, instead of you! (not to be taken seriously)

AeroASM,
If there is anything I can do to assist the plugin you are/may develop then please let me know.
Rgs, striker.

All.

I did some significant development last night.
However, I didnt finish my experiment with various socket and WSARecv/Send buffer sizes
so I have not yet posted the update. It wont be long before I do.

Rgs, striker

All,
There is a new version of FASt on the site.
Still doesnt have proper plugin support but it will very very soon.

When I send a large chunk of data in one go, the server faults and I have to look into this.
Im blindly assuming the data read is the same size of the buffer so this is probably the issue.
Ill have another look later.

Comments are welcomed as are downloads :)

Rgs, striker.

Are you sure you uploaded the new version? :)

I think you should give it verison a different file name, so we know we are getting a more updated file. Sometimes I have no idea whether it is the new verison or not, or I am just opening the version found in cache.  :'(

I can always tell when James has posted a new version, because his page www.jamesladdcode.com shows the link as light blue, versus purple (visited.) Perhaps it's the same with IE and the other browsers?

Edited: misspelled Ladd, sorry James! :)

Weird, mine always shows purple. I'm using firefox btw.

I gave the latest version a new name. I was getting slack and not renaming it so as not to have to upload the html as well.

Comments welcomed. Ill try and do some more today.

Anyone tried fast3.zip ?

rgs, striker

Looking at it now Striker. :) Have you tried connecting two telnet sessions yet? :wink

Oh James, you could put all the website files in a folder, then give us a link to the folder, and it should show all the files in it. (Provided you don't have an index.html in there and any specialized server settings.)

Mark,
Yes I have tested multiple telnet sessions to the server. It worked a'ok.
When the telnet session ends I get a EOF in the server as expected.

Im not sure what you are asking for in the web site. Can you re-word?

Try connecting two concurrent telnet sessions... :)

1. Make a folder on your site like www.jamesladdcode.com/files
2. Put any number of files in it (no index.html file)
3. Try going to www.jamesladdcode.com/files (http://www.jamesladdcode.com/files)

Mark,
And what files would you like me to put on the server for file browsing ?
Also, Yes I have tried concurrent telnet sessions. All is ok.
Do you get an error ?

Rgs, striker.

Interesting, no when I tried to connect two telnet windows to the server, the server terminated immediately. And one of the telnet windows reported "connection to host lost" or something like that.

Even more interesting - I just tried it again and it worked flawlessly. Hmm...

About the site: If you want, keep all the versions of FastSvr there. Then when you make an update, you don't have to edit your index.html, just tell us to go to www.jamesladdcode.com/files. :)

Mark,

Ill probably do the file browsing thing next release.
Thanks for the suggestion.

Im glad that the multiple telnet sessions worked. Maybe you ran them against against an old version
and thats why you had a problem.

Do you think there are enough comments in the code, if no, where should I add more ?
Do you find the comments useful ?

Thanks for trying out the latest release and providing feedbacl. Ill do more code when I get a chance.
Next post will have a plug-in dll being called.

rgs, striker.

All,

Ive been very busy at work so I have not had time to modify FASt Server.
Hopefully this weekend some time, even though Im in at work tomorrow (Saturday).

Anyone got comments or suggestions on the code and level of detail in the
comments?

UPDATE: I have changed FASTServer to use overlapped structures more and therefore its possible to
have more read and writes going on at the same time. This increases throughput and responsiveness of
the server. Now Ill start working on the plugin. Wont be long before im finished.
The latest code isnt up yet, but Ill post when it is. Im not at home you see.


Rgs, striker.

Sounds good. :)

Be sure to save some of your timeslices for the ladyfriend. (She is HIGH_PRIORITY_CLASS, no?) :bg

Mark,
Good point about the lady thread. She was blocked on a "sale" so I had cycles to spare :)
Rgs, striker.

Ill try and post the updated code to my site tonight.

UPDATE: The latest code is posted. This uses overlapped structures to improve throughput and
parallellism (i probably spelt that wrong).  THe plugin stuff is next and that wont take too long :)

Dang: No comments yet. - where ru Mark Jones ?

Oh sorry, I got blocked at the karaoke bar last night. Came home, unformatted my bed and crashed. This morning I didn't want to bootstrap. My logic is especially fuzzy today... :lol

Edit: I just opened one console, connected, typed a few things, opened another console and tried to connect, and received "Instruction at 0x7C93426D referenced memory at 0x00000000. Memory could not be read." I tried to debug it there, but it just closed.

Then I opened it again and connected two clients without transmitting any data and once opened, they both could be used successfully.

I tried a second time to duplicate the first results, and exactly the same error. This is with the #4 zip file.

One last thing, is ALIGN 4 needed before each proc? ML/link automatically aligns all code entry points on 4-byte boundaries, doesn't it? (I've never tested this.)

Quote from: Mark Jones on July 11, 2005, 02:53:16 AMOne last thing, is ALIGN 4 needed before each proc? ML/link automatically aligns all code entry points on 4-byte boundaries, doesn't it? (I've never tested this.)

Only when making an "lib" file (with .486 and above processor directive you actually get ALIGN 16 automatically). On executables there is no automatic alignment on procedures.

Mark,
Thanks for trying it out.
I can not reproduce the errors your getting.
I run the server, telnet to it, type, open another console, telnet, type ....
All seems ok.
Rgs, striker.

I just tried it again, same result. Strange. I'm using an AMD XP 2500+ on XP SP2, freshly installed just a few weeks ago. I'll try and track down the issue.

This causes an error:   

1: start fastsvr.exe
2: start a console type telnet 127.0.0.1 9080
3: type something in that console eg. yyyy
4: start another console, type telnet 127.0.0.1 9080 -- boom fastsvr dies with  The instruction at 0x7c812009 referenced memory at 0x00000000. The memory could not be read

Regards WinCC

OS = Windows 2003 Enterprise Server  + SP1

Hmmmmn, just tried again and I dont get what you get. Dang.
Im running Win2k Pro where I am at present. Ill try at home on XP.

Mark - Any help tracking down the issue would be greatly appreciated.

Have you compiled with the service pack 2 for masm ?

Yes James I just recompiled main.asm using all the MASM latest files. It compiles and runs fine, until that second connection happens. I tried stepping through the code in Olly, but it keeps locking up on the 'listen' winsock proc. I'm trying an INT3 next.

During testing with MemProof, it showed some general anomalies like memory pooling and an issue with HeapFree and Overlapped I/O per byte transferred. Give it a try: http://www.automatedqa.com/downloads/memproof/

Mark,

What a great application memproof is.
Now if only I could interpret the results :)

If you ignore the GetStdHandle issues which come from using "invoke StdOut, addr message" then there isnt a great deal
its warning about. At least that is how I read it.

Thanks for looking into this. Still not sure why it crashes on you though.

UPDATE: Anyone els ehaving issue running FAStServer ?

Rgs, striker.

Not me. It runs fine on my machine.

 Do you get results like these James? Maybe we're not seeing the same things.

(http://heliosstudios.net/temp/memproof1.png)

(http://heliosstudios.net/temp/memproof2.png)

Mark,
I do get similar results but I dont think I am running things as long as you.
My memory current/peak is not like yours.
I can see your running under XP but when I did a memproof is was not under XP.
Ill run it under XP and see.
Rgs, James.

Sorry to bust in into this conversation about something completly diffrent ... but about your dog :D
My dogs best friend is just such a dog :) Lovely small drewlmakers that breed... and where "bully" when they play.
And No ... i don't think it was your wife dressing the dog upp either ;) I know mine didnt! :D

Now about your server app. and no i didn't read the license file :red can i use some of it for my own program without any dull rules and regulations?

ctt,

My dog is a "pug" and she is called gretel which suits her.
Your dog looks great too and im sure he/she is a lot of fun.
I do have to own up to my wife dressing her up. She thinks she could be cold
at times. hehehe.

As for FASt Server. Please use any and all of it as you will.
If you make an improvement, please let me know about it so I can put it back into my version.

Rgs, James.

Pug, hmm wonder if thats the english name or something or maybe it's a diffrent breed, i think we call that breed "Mops", at least here in sweden.
My girl is a bullterrier and yeah a lot of fun it is ... but sometimes not as fun also :wink
If i just could keep track of all shoes she eaten during her first year  :naughty:

I dont think i will make any improvements to your code, the opposit is possible though ;) I let you know if i do something that i think you can have use of. Thanks!

ctt,
Dont froget to let me know how you use FAStServer. How people use it is of interest and it will also
influence modifications and enhancements etc.
Rgs, James.

I am jealous of all of these good looking dogs. James has his in a teapot cosy for apparently fashion reasons.  :bg ctt, I like Bull terriers, a friend had one across the road called Baxter and when I used to play with him, he used to try and chew my arm off while being friendly. He was that strong he cracked one of my ribs playing with him.

Quote from: hutch-- on July 16, 2005, 11:13:26 PM
I am jealous of all of these good looking dogs. James has his in a teapot cosy for apparently fashion reasons.  :bg ctt, I like Bull terriers, a friend had one across the road called Baxter and when I used to play with him, he used to try and chew my arm off while being friendly. He was that strong he cracked one of my ribs playing with him.

I can see why you like bullterriers ;) They are very friendly dogs and loves everything including eating for the cats toilet, chewing on my nose when im sleeping, getting really nuts and running around the appartment in 50km/h and knocking everything down, and the part you said, chewing on the ppls they like to play with the most, lovely loving chews :)
No broken ribs here yet, just a minor skullfracture ;) when she knocked me down jumping and hit me in the head with hers.  :dazzled:

BACK TO TOPIC!

@James: I'll let you know!! :)

ctt thanks.
hutch - its not a tea-cosy, its a hoodie. No I did not buy it. Wife did.

Rgs - James.

All,

Sorry for not having an update to FASt Server yet. I have been really busy with work.
Its still an active project for me, so please continue to be patient.

Comments, suggestions or other on FASt is welcome.

Rgs, James (striker)

I bet you've already seen this Striker, but thought I'd share anyways, just in case it could somehow be helpful. :)

http://spiff.tripnet.se/~iczelion/asmsockguide.html

Mark,

Thanks for the link. I have not read all the pages there but they are good.
The only downside is that it deals with a simple approach and it doesnt cover
Overlapped IO.

Ill still keep the link in my bookmarks.

I have two projects at work going into User Acceptance Test phase so Im still really busy and
havent had a chance to work on FASt. Hopefully int he coming weeks this will change.

Rgs, James.

Still really busy so nothing has happened yet. Sorry.

Quote from: striker on August 06, 2005, 01:05:51 AM
Still really busy so nothing has happened yet. Sorry.

It's summertime for most of the world... winter is a good time to code. Enjoy summer while it's here. :wink

Some big changes are a foot - stand by.

Ok, Im still really busy so there is no code yet but I have created a home for the project.

Its:  www.myfastserver.org

I hope you will bookmark this and check back there from time to time.

When the proper site is there it will have a forum and RSS etc etc.

Rgs, James.

This really deserves a sticky in my mind. I've been reading 13 pages full of promises.
Still looking for a server and a tutorial though.

Im still going to deliver, but with full time work, full time wife and dog I find it hard to get time.
www.myfastserver.org is not the official homepage for this thread now.
There will be code and more content very very soon.
rgs - striker.

Quote from: striker on November 11, 2005, 07:51:08 PM
....full time wife and dog I find it hard to get time.....

Well, I needed to get some very important work finished so I sent my wife on a 1-month vacation to see her mother and I put the dog in the kennel.

All,
It's been a  while and I havent progressed anything other than the fact I still want to
do a super fast server using assembler.
Im hoping a current project will finish soon and I can get back to assembler.
Thanks for all your support and patience.
Rgs, James/Striker

Well Im back onto this project to get ready people !
There is code coming soon I promise.
If I keep having trouble with LD then im going to just
do a Win32 version.

Rgs, James

Just to keep you all informed, this project is live again and Im getting the web site together and
some code. yes - some code you read that right.
This code will be for Win32 and Linux. No point trying to make the fastest server in the world if
there is only one platform to do it on.

Please note: Im currently using an internet cafe for this update while I wait for my connection to be
returned. Changing house is such a pain.

Update: I have moved house and the net connection is meant to be restored today. So I can post the
new web site containing this project and the other that it combines. Hopefully this will include starting code so
people can use and move along with this project with their own work. I'll also be trying to move all the
people who  kindly signed up on my other web sites to this new site as well. I'll also need to wait a few hours for
the new domain name to ripple through. Thanks all for being so patient.

Ok, the new web site is done but not yet posted.
The start of the code is also done and compiling on Windows and Linux.
When I finalize the forum setup I'll post and we can kick start this project.
into hyperdrive !

Just to let you know that things are still moving along. I will be posting the new site and related forum soon.

ok, new domain is registered, site is ready, waiting for DNS propogation and then it's packaging and posting time
for the new site and project. Stay tuned.

All,

I'm pleased to announce that the hyperserve is finally here.
http://www.hyperserve.org

This site combines the two projects I have, myFastServer and myLISP into one site and forum!
hyperserver is a server framework like apache coded in x86 assembler for Linux and Windows.
hyperlisp is an implementation of the LISP language in x86 assembler for Linux and Windows.

Please stop by and I hope you find it worth while.

It's still easly days but I have finally got something there to support the coming work.

Keep well,

Rgs, James.

All,

Sometimes I get this big feeling that I could do the hyperserve project quicker if I did it in 'C'.
I havent gone so far with it in GAS that I would be throwing a lot away if I did change to 'C'.

My goal is to write the fastest server in the world, for Win32 and Linux (compatible) platforms.
I figured using assembler would ensure it was quick, but seriously only parts would need
assembler, if at all.

You all have been really supportive and so have others in this forum, so I thought I would run
this idea of switching to 'C' past you all for comment.

Do you think I can reach my goals using 'C'  better than GAS
Do you think I could reach more people / platforms with 'C' ?
Do you think I could reach more people / platforms with GAS AT&T syntax ?

I know that a 'lot' of people here have been eager for me to do something in assembler but im feeling this
would be at a hobbyist level only and may not be a large endevour.

I want to write a server that is distributed as part of a linux distro and used in preference to Apache.

Maybe later today this 'rant' and 'feeling' will pass but Im still interested in your thoughts.

Rgs, James.

Sometimes when working on a project I feel the same way.  "This would have been easier in C," as I pull my hair out.  But then, when I code in C and realize I can't get the code to do what I want I rant "This would have been easy in asm!"  It holds me back from starting on some things when the choice is up to me.  I fret too much over which to use. 

You would get more people to work on your project, in the open source community, if it was in C. 

drhowardfine,

Thanks for the response.

I want to get stuff done and quickly as there are many things that take up my time, like home and work
life. So getting the most done in the shortest possible time is important to me.

I dont often think I need assembler to get the job done, but I do know I will need it to make certain things
really fast and in some cases like non-blocking data structures, its the only choice I have.

But when you look at the productivity gains in using C then I find it a little hard to justify using assembler
for what is a part time project. Especially as I am not as productive in Assembler as C - yet.

Aaargh the decisions and choices.

I have an idea to build my own web site on my own computer where web surfers can view my web pages and download files.  I think all i need is DSL or cable and the know-how.

Is this where i should be to start learning how-to in assembler or is this just for Networking like in a business office or something like that.

Thanks in advance for any information about this.  Hope im asking in the right place...

ic2,

If you aren't familiar with hosting a website, then I suggest getting commercial hosting. But if you are determined to do it yourself, get a high speed connection (DSL or cable minimum) and a minimal setup computer, by this I mean a PC or Server that doesn't have a lot of extra software running, because your web server is going to need a lot of processes if you end up getting a lot of traffic. Next thing you will need is some decent web server software. You can design your own using FASt Server Library (to keep with this thread) or you can download a free one like Apache or Krillian. Install the web server software and READ THE MANUAL. That is something most people don't do and it would save you a lot of heartache if you would just do it from the git-go. Once that is done just throw your web files in the appropriate documents folder and start sharing content. That's about it for your basic web server. Keeping it up-to-date, secure, and running smoothly is a different story, that takes a lot of time and patience; and honestly it's just easier to pay someone else to do it.

Oh! Also, if you don't care about how fast the site runs, or how good of a server it is.. not saying that the software is a total piece of crap, but.. well.. AnalogX has a free web server that runs in the taskbar, requires no setup except selecting which directory your site is in, and it supports CGI. It's probably the easiest to use, but I wouldn't really recommend it for anything other than sharing a small page for one or two friends as it's not multi-threaded and doesn't really work well under pressure.

QuoteHope im asking in the right place...

This could have probably warranted a new thread... Unless I completely missed your point all together, in which case I'm sorry.

Regards,
Bryant Keller

Thanks Synfire

That's what i needed to know.  Since i am in no rush and I want to follow James Ladd work because of ASM and to understand things better.   It's great to know that this can be a starting point for what I want to do someday.  I know it's not going to be easy for me by being a total noob on the subject but I'm sure I'll pick up some great pointers and learn a heck of a lot from his project.  I like coding so it makes things much more interesting to me.

QuoteThis could have probably warranted a new thread... Unless I completely missed your point all together, in which case I'm sorry.

I thought about that while i was skinny though this thread and figured what better place to ask if this Project is Web Usable and not just for office style networking.  Now that i know for sure I'll be reading it more thoroughly, than latter to get involve.

Thanks again Synfire for all of those great points ...  I'll be weighing each and every one of them as i go.  All i want is it to be small and simple with real knowledge of how everything work.   Be back soon...

Quoteand READ THE MANUAL.

I understand your point.   and I will read deeply on all that i try ...

...It's too bad nothing ever became of this. :boohoo:

Quote from: Mark Jones on May 20, 2008, 04:38:44 PM
...It's too bad nothing ever became of this. :boohoo:

it will, the author pm'd me as we were gonna work together to get it going with someone else but I got so incredibly caughtup at my job and with life I never got back with him :\ hopefully they been working on it, or atleast not filed it away. As this is a outstanding project that needs to be continued.