Which port to connect to on client side, & playit-cli config file behaviour

question
,
1

Slightly more technical question.
I have a little python service that I’m trying to open to the world, I’m using the latest playit-cli from from github (v1.0.0-rc2) and its launch command to use a configuration file.

This is the configuration file:

agent_name = "web3MC"
secret_path = "./../secrets/secrets.txt"
command = "python3"
command_args = ["./../python/python_server.py"] # 9e0a3886-8b6d-403a-9755-1d67987eb440=192.168.1.20:25565

[[tunnels]]
name = "YesheyTunnel"
proto = "both"
port_count = 2
local = 45637

special_lan = true

When I run it with playit-cli launch ./config.toml this it creates this tunnel and runs the pythonic server:

image
image1880×1432 177 KB

As you can see, the Local Port for the tunnel got auto assigned, in
this case to 62026. I expected it to be 45637 as defined in the local parameter in the config file, but maybe that option is something else?

My python server listens on port 45637.
When I try to connect a client to the tunnel address mean-street.at.ply.gg in port 45637 it doesn’t work, I need to specify in the client the auto-generated port 62026 or change that port in the site for it to connect.

What puzzles me is that if I do the same but launch a minecraft server instead of my python server (and set the tunnel local port to 25565 in the config file), I’m able to join the minecraft server with a client without specifying the auto generated port, in this case, in the minecraft client, I’d be able to join with mean-street.at.ply.gg or with mean-street.at.ply.gg:62026.
What I want is to also be able to connect to my python server with a python client without having to specify the port (or have a predefined port that the server can set through the config file instead of being auto assigned and connect to that one)

So the questions are:

  • Can I set the tunnel Local Port programmatically through the config file or without having to go to the site?
  • If not, what does the local for tunnels in the configuration file do, and can I use it to set a constant port so the client always knows which port it needs to connect to?
  • How does the Minecraft client know which port it should connect to when it is given just the tunnel address?

This is my test python_server.py:

import socket
import threading

def server_program():
    # get the hostname
    host = "127.0.0.1"
    port = 45637  # initiate port no above 1024

    print(port)

    server_socket = socket.socket()  # get instance
    # look closely. The bind() function takes tuple as argument
    server_socket.bind((host, port))  # bind host address and port together

    # configure how many client the server can listen simultaneously
    server_socket.listen(2)
    conn, address = server_socket.accept()  # accept new connection
    print("Connection from: " + str(address))
    while True:
        # receive data stream. it won't accept data packet greater than 1024 bytes
        data = conn.recv(1024).decode()
        if not data:
            # if data is not received break
            break
        print("from connected user: " + str(data))
        data = input(' -> ')
        conn.send(data.encode())  # send data to the client

    conn.close()  # close the connection


if __name__ == '__main__':
    server_program()

this is my test python_client.py:

import socket

def client_program():
    host = "listed-washing.at.ply.gg"  # as both code is running on same pc
    port = 45637  # socket server port number
    
    client_socket = socket.socket()  # instantiate
    client_socket.connect((host, port))  # connect to the server

    message = input(" -> ")  # take input

    while message.lower().strip() != 'bye':
        client_socket.send(message.encode())  # send message
        data = client_socket.recv(1024).decode()  # receive response

        print('Received from server: ' + data)  # show in terminal

        message = input(" -> ")  # again take input

    client_socket.close()  # close the connection


if __name__ == '__main__':

    client_program()

For a little more context, this is for this project

thanks in advance :slight_smile: