Server Connections

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Overview

ParaView3 introduces new capabilities for making-and-breaking client/server connections. In particular, it improves the user experience by making it possible to provide a graphical user interface for server connections, versus the command-line interface of previous ParaView versions. See Server Connection Dialog for a graphical user interface design. This document covers the requirements and implementation details for making connections.

Connection Types

ParaView must support several different types of connection between client and server:

  • Builtin - the client process "connects" to its own "builtin" PV server.
  • Remote/Forward/No Startup - the client connects to an already-running PV server.
  • Remote/Forward/With Startup - the client starts a PV server, then connects to it.
  • Remote/Reverse/No Startup - the client waits for a PV server to connect to it.
  • Remote/Reverse/With Startup - the client starts a PV server, then waits for the server to connect to it.

Networking Protocols

Connections between client and server are normally made using unencrypted TCP/IP networking, but provisions should be made for other possibilities - in particular, Secure Connections via SSL.

Startup Mechanisms

When the client "starts" a server for either forward or reverse connections, it must be able to handle a wide variety of situations:

  • Starting the server directly on the local host.
  • Starting the server via a user-configurable script on the local host.
  • Starting the server directly on a remote host via ssh.
  • Starting the server via a user-configurable script on a remote host, via ssh.