zmq_getsockopt(3)

SYNOPSIS

int zmq_getsockopt (void *socket, int option_name, void *option_value, size_t *option_len);

DESCRIPTION

The zmq_getsockopt() function shall retrieve the value for the option specified by the option_name argument for the ØMQ socket pointed to by the socket argument, and store it in the buffer pointed to by the option_value argument. The option_len argument is the size in bytes of the buffer pointed to by option_value; upon successful completion zmq_getsockopt() shall modify the option_len argument to indicate the actual size of the option value stored in the buffer.

The following options can be retrieved with the zmq_getsockopt() function:

ZMQ_AFFINITY: Retrieve I/O thread affinity

The ZMQ_AFFINITY option shall retrieve the I/O thread affinity for newly created connections on the specified socket.

Affinity determines which threads from the ØMQ I/O thread pool associated with the socket’s context shall handle newly created connections. A value of zero specifies no affinity, meaning that work shall be distributed fairly among all ØMQ I/O threads in the thread pool. For non-zero values, the lowest bit corresponds to thread 1, second lowest bit to thread 2 and so on. For example, a value of 3 specifies that subsequent connections on socket shall be handled exclusively by I/O threads 1 and 2.

See also zmq_init(3) for details on allocating the number of I/O threads for a specific context.

Option value type	uint64_t
Option value unit	N/A (bitmap)
Default value	0
Applicable socket types	N/A

ZMQ_BACKLOG: Retrieve maximum length of the queue of outstanding connections

The ZMQ_BACKLOG option shall retrieve the maximum length of the queue of outstanding peer connections for the specified socket; this only applies to connection-oriented transports. For details refer to your operating system documentation for the listen function.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	connections
Default value	100
Applicable socket types	all, only for connection-oriented transports

ZMQ_CURVE_PUBLICKEY: Retrieve current CURVE public key

Retrieves the current long term public key for the socket. You can provide either a 32 byte buffer, to retrieve the binary key value, or a 41 byte buffer, to retrieve the key in a printable Z85 format. NOTE: to fetch a printable key, the buffer must be 41 bytes large to hold the 40-char key value and one null byte.

Option value type	binary data or Z85 text string
Option value size	32 or 41
Default value	null
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transport

ZMQ_CURVE_SECRETKEY: Retrieve current CURVE secret key

Retrieves the current long term secret key for the socket. You can provide either a 32 byte buffer, to retrieve the binary key value, or a 41 byte buffer, to retrieve the key in a printable Z85 format. NOTE: to fetch a printable key, the buffer must be 41 bytes large to hold the 40-char key value and one null byte.

Option value type	binary data or Z85 text string
Option value size	32 or 41
Default value	null
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transport

ZMQ_CURVE_SERVERKEY: Retrieve current CURVE server key

Retrieves the current server key for the client socket. You can provide either a 32 byte buffer, to retrieve the binary key value, or a 41-byte buffer, to retrieve the key in a printable Z85 format. NOTE: to fetch a printable key, the buffer must be 41 bytes large to hold the 40-char key value and one null byte.

Option value type	binary data or Z85 text string
Option value size	32 or 41
Default value	null
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transport

ZMQ_EVENTS: Retrieve socket event state

The ZMQ_EVENTS option shall retrieve the event state for the specified socket. The returned value is a bit mask constructed by OR’ing a combination of the following event flags:

ZMQ_POLLIN: Indicates that at least one message may be received from the specified socket without blocking.
ZMQ_POLLOUT: Indicates that at least one message may be sent to the specified socket without blocking.

The combination of a file descriptor returned by the ZMQ_FD option being ready for reading but no actual events returned by a subsequent retrieval of the ZMQ_EVENTS option is valid; applications should simply ignore this case and restart their polling operation/event loop.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	N/A (flags)
Default value	N/A
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_FD: Retrieve file descriptor associated with the socket

The ZMQ_FD option shall retrieve the file descriptor associated with the specified socket. The returned file descriptor can be used to integrate the socket into an existing event loop; the ØMQ library shall signal any pending events on the socket in an edge-triggered fashion by making the file descriptor become ready for reading.

Note	The ability to read from the returned file descriptor does not necessarily indicate that messages are available to be read from, or can be written to, the underlying socket; applications must retrieve the actual event state with a subsequent retrieval of the ZMQ_EVENTS option.

Note

The returned file descriptor is also used internally by the zmq_send and zmq_recv functions. As the descriptor is edge triggered, applications must update the state of ZMQ_EVENTS after each invocation of zmq_send or zmq_recv.To be more explicit: after calling zmq_send the socket may become readable (and vice versa) without triggering a read event on the file descriptor.

Caution

The returned file descriptor is intended for use with a poll or similar system call only. Applications must never attempt to read or write data to it directly, neither should they try to close it.

Option value type	int on POSIX systems, SOCKET on Windows
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	N/A
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_GSSAPI_PLAINTEXT: Retrieve GSSAPI plaintext or encrypted status

Returns the ZMQ_GSSAPI_PLAINTEXT option, if any, previously set on the socket. A value of 1 means that communications will be plaintext. A value of 0 means communications will be encrypted.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	0, 1
Default value	0 (false)
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_GSSAPI_PRINCIPAL: Retrieve the name of the GSSAPI principal

The ZMQ_GSSAPI_PRINCIPAL option shall retrieve the principal name set for the GSSAPI security mechanism. The returned value shall be a NULL-terminated string and MAY be empty. The returned size SHALL include the terminating null byte.

Option value type	NULL-terminated character string
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	null string
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_GSSAPI_SERVER: Retrieve current GSSAPI server role

Returns the ZMQ_GSSAPI_SERVER option, if any, previously set on the socket.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	0, 1
Default value	0 (false)
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_GSSAPI_SERVICE_PRINCIPAL: Retrieve the name of the GSSAPI service principal

The ZMQ_GSSAPI_SERVICE_PRINCIPAL option shall retrieve the principal name of the GSSAPI server to which a GSSAPI client socket intends to connect. The returned value shall be a NULL-terminated string and MAY be empty. The returned size SHALL include the terminating null byte.

Option value type	NULL-terminated character string
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	null string
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_HANDSHAKE_IVL: Retrieve maximum handshake interval

The ZMQ_HANDSHAKE_IVL option shall retrieve the maximum handshake interval for the specified socket. Handshaking is the exchange of socket configuration information (socket type, identity, security) that occurs when a connection is first opened, only for connection-oriented transports. If handshaking does not complete within the configured time, the connection shall be closed. The value 0 means no handshake time limit.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	milliseconds
Default value	30000
Applicable socket types	all but ZMQ_STREAM, only for connection-oriented transports

ZMQ_IDENTITY: Retrieve socket identity

The ZMQ_IDENTITY option shall retrieve the identity of the specified socket. Socket identity is used only by request/reply pattern. Namely, it can be used in tandem with ROUTER socket to route messages to the peer with specific identity.

Identity should be at least one byte and at most 255 bytes long. Identities starting with binary zero are reserved for use by ØMQ infrastructure.

Option value type	binary data
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	NULL
Applicable socket types	ZMQ_REP, ZMQ_REQ, ZMQ_ROUTER, ZMQ_DEALER.

ZMQ_IMMEDIATE: Retrieve attach-on-connect value

Retrieve the state of the attach on connect value. If set to 1, will delay the attachment of a pipe on connect until the underlying connection has completed. This will cause the socket to block if there are no other connections, but will prevent queues from filling on pipes awaiting connection.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	boolean
Default value	0 (false)
Applicable socket types	all, primarily when using TCP/IPC transports.

ZMQ_IPV4ONLY: Retrieve IPv4-only socket override status

Retrieve the IPv4-only option for the socket. This option is deprecated. Please use the ZMQ_IPV6 option.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	boolean
Default value	1 (true)
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transports.

ZMQ_IPV6: Retrieve IPv6 socket status

Retrieve the IPv6 option for the socket. A value of 1 means IPv6 is enabled on the socket, while 0 means the socket will use only IPv4. When IPv6 is enabled the socket will connect to, or accept connections from, both IPv4 and IPv6 hosts.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	boolean
Default value	0 (false)
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transports.

ZMQ_LAST_ENDPOINT: Retrieve the last endpoint set

The ZMQ_LAST_ENDPOINT option shall retrieve the last endpoint bound for TCP and IPC transports. The returned value will be a string in the form of a ZMQ DSN. Note that if the TCP host is INADDR_ANY, indicated by a *, then the returned address will be 0.0.0.0 (for IPv4).

Option value type	NULL-terminated character string
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	NULL
Applicable socket types	all, when binding TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_LINGER: Retrieve linger period for socket shutdown

The ZMQ_LINGER option shall retrieve the linger period for the specified socket. The linger period determines how long pending messages which have yet to be sent to a peer shall linger in memory after a socket is closed with zmq_close(3), and further affects the termination of the socket’s context with zmq_term(3). The following outlines the different behaviours:

The default value of -1 specifies an infinite linger period. Pending messages shall not be discarded after a call to zmq_close(); attempting to terminate the socket’s context with zmq_term() shall block until all pending messages have been sent to a peer.
The value of 0 specifies no linger period. Pending messages shall be discarded immediately when the socket is closed with zmq_close().
Positive values specify an upper bound for the linger period in milliseconds. Pending messages shall not be discarded after a call to zmq_close(); attempting to terminate the socket’s context with zmq_term() shall block until either all pending messages have been sent to a peer, or the linger period expires, after which any pending messages shall be discarded.

Option value type

int

Option value unit

milliseconds

Default value

-1 (infinite)

Applicable socket types

all

ZMQ_MAXMSGSIZE: Maximum acceptable inbound message size

The option shall retrieve limit for the inbound messages. If a peer sends a message larger than ZMQ_MAXMSGSIZE it is disconnected. Value of -1 means no limit.

Option value type	int64_t
Option value unit	bytes
Default value	-1
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_MECHANISM: Retrieve current security mechanism

The ZMQ_MECHANISM option shall retrieve the current security mechanism for the socket.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	ZMQ_NULL, ZMQ_PLAIN, ZMQ_CURVE, or ZMQ_GSSAPI
Default value	ZMQ_NULL
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_MULTICAST_HOPS: Maximum network hops for multicast packets

The option shall retrieve time-to-live used for outbound multicast packets. The default of 1 means that the multicast packets don’t leave the local network.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	network hops
Default value	1
Applicable socket types	all, when using multicast transports

ZMQ_PLAIN_PASSWORD: Retrieve current password

The ZMQ_PLAIN_PASSWORD option shall retrieve the last password set for the PLAIN security mechanism. The returned value shall be a NULL-terminated string and MAY be empty. The returned size SHALL include the terminating null byte.

Option value type	NULL-terminated character string
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	null string
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_PLAIN_SERVER: Retrieve current PLAIN server role

Returns the ZMQ_PLAIN_SERVER option, if any, previously set on the socket.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	0, 1
Default value	int
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_PLAIN_USERNAME: Retrieve current PLAIN username

The ZMQ_PLAIN_USERNAME option shall retrieve the last username set for the PLAIN security mechanism. The returned value shall be a NULL-terminated string and MAY be empty. The returned size SHALL include the terminating null byte.

Option value type	NULL-terminated character string
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	null string
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP or IPC transports

ZMQ_RATE: Retrieve multicast data rate

The ZMQ_RATE option shall retrieve the maximum send or receive data rate for multicast transports using the specified socket.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	kilobits per second
Default value	100
Applicable socket types	all, when using multicast transports

ZMQ_RCVBUF: Retrieve kernel receive buffer size

The ZMQ_RCVBUF option shall retrieve the underlying kernel receive buffer size for the specified socket. A value of zero means that the OS default is in effect. For details refer to your operating system documentation for the SO_RCVBUF socket option.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	bytes
Default value	0
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_RCVHWM: Retrieve high water mark for inbound messages

The ZMQ_RCVHWM option shall return the high water mark for inbound messages on the specified socket. The high water mark is a hard limit on the maximum number of outstanding messages ØMQ shall queue in memory for any single peer that the specified socket is communicating with. A value of zero means no limit.

If this limit has been reached the socket shall enter an exceptional state and depending on the socket type, ØMQ shall take appropriate action such as blocking or dropping sent messages. Refer to the individual socket descriptions in zmq_socket(3) for details on the exact action taken for each socket type.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	messages
Default value	1000
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_RCVMORE: More message data parts to follow

The ZMQ_RCVMORE option shall return True (1) if the message part last received from the socket was a data part with more parts to follow. If there are no data parts to follow, this option shall return False (0).

Refer to zmq_send(3) and zmq_recv(3) for a detailed description of multi-part messages.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	boolean
Default value	N/A
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_RCVTIMEO: Maximum time before a socket operation returns with EAGAIN

Retrieve the timeout for recv operation on the socket. If the value is 0, zmq_recv(3) will return immediately, with a EAGAIN error if there is no message to receive. If the value is -1, it will block until a message is available. For all other values, it will wait for a message for that amount of time before returning with an EAGAIN error.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	milliseconds
Default value	-1 (infinite)
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL: Retrieve reconnection interval

The ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL option shall retrieve the initial reconnection interval for the specified socket. The reconnection interval is the period ØMQ shall wait between attempts to reconnect disconnected peers when using connection-oriented transports. The value -1 means no reconnection.

Note	The reconnection interval may be randomized by ØMQ to prevent reconnection storms in topologies with a large number of peers per socket.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	milliseconds
Default value	100
Applicable socket types	all, only for connection-oriented transports

ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL_MAX: Retrieve maximum reconnection interval

The ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL_MAX option shall retrieve the maximum reconnection interval for the specified socket. This is the maximum period ØMQ shall wait between attempts to reconnect. On each reconnect attempt, the previous interval shall be doubled untill ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL_MAX is reached. This allows for exponential backoff strategy. Default value means no exponential backoff is performed and reconnect interval calculations are only based on ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL.

Note	Values less than ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL will be ignored.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	milliseconds
Default value	0 (only use ZMQ_RECONNECT_IVL)
Applicable socket types	all, only for connection-oriented transport

ZMQ_RECOVERY_IVL: Get multicast recovery interval

The ZMQ_RECOVERY_IVL option shall retrieve the recovery interval for multicast transports using the specified socket. The recovery interval determines the maximum time in milliseconds that a receiver can be absent from a multicast group before unrecoverable data loss will occur.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	milliseconds
Default value	10000
Applicable socket types	all, when using multicast transports

ZMQ_SNDBUF: Retrieve kernel transmit buffer size

The ZMQ_SNDBUF option shall retrieve the underlying kernel transmit buffer size for the specified socket. A value of zero means that the OS default is in effect. For details refer to your operating system documentation for the SO_SNDBUF socket option.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	bytes
Default value	0
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_SNDHWM: Retrieves high water mark for outbound messages

The ZMQ_SNDHWM option shall return the high water mark for outbound messages on the specified socket. The high water mark is a hard limit on the maximum number of outstanding messages ØMQ shall queue in memory for any single peer that the specified socket is communicating with. A value of zero means no limit.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	messages
Default value	1000
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_SNDTIMEO: Maximum time before a socket operation returns with EAGAIN

Retrieve the timeout for send operation on the socket. If the value is 0, zmq_send(3) will return immediately, with a EAGAIN error if the message cannot be sent. If the value is -1, it will block until the message is sent. For all other values, it will try to send the message for that amount of time before returning with an EAGAIN error.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	milliseconds
Default value	-1 (infinite)
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_TCP_KEEPALIVE: Override SO_KEEPALIVE socket option

Override SO_KEEPALIVE socket option(where supported by OS). The default value of -1 means to skip any overrides and leave it to OS default.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	-1,0,1
Default value	-1 (leave to OS default)
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transports.

ZMQ_TCP_KEEPALIVE_CNT: Override TCP_KEEPCNT socket option

Override TCP_KEEPCNT socket option(where supported by OS). The default value of -1 means to skip any overrides and leave it to OS default.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	-1,>0
Default value	-1 (leave to OS default)
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transports.

ZMQ_TCP_KEEPALIVE_IDLE: Override TCP_KEEPCNT(or TCP_KEEPALIVE on some OS)

Override TCP_KEEPCNT(or TCP_KEEPALIVE on some OS) socket option (where supported by OS). The default value of -1 means to skip any overrides and leave it to OS default.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	-1,>0
Default value	-1 (leave to OS default)
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transports.

ZMQ_TCP_KEEPALIVE_INTVL: Override TCP_KEEPINTVL socket option

Override TCP_KEEPINTVL socket option(where supported by OS). The default value of -1 means to skip any overrides and leave it to OS default.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	-1,>0
Default value	-1 (leave to OS default)
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transports.

ZMQ_TOS: Retrieve the Type-of-Service socket override status

Retrieve the IP_TOS option for the socket.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	>0
Default value	0
Applicable socket types	all, only for connection-oriented transports

ZMQ_TYPE: Retrieve socket type

The ZMQ_TYPE option shall retrieve the socket type for the specified socket. The socket type is specified at socket creation time and cannot be modified afterwards.

Option value type	int
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	N/A
Applicable socket types	all

ZMQ_ZAP_DOMAIN: Retrieve RFC 27 authentication domain

The ZMQ_ZAP_DOMAIN option shall retrieve the last ZAP domain set for the socket. The returned value shall be a NULL-terminated string and MAY be empty. The returned size SHALL include the terminating null byte.

Option value type	character string
Option value unit	N/A
Default value	not set
Applicable socket types	all, when using TCP transport

RETURN VALUE

The zmq_getsockopt() function shall return zero if successful. Otherwise it shall return -1 and set errno to one of the values defined below.

ERRORS

EINVAL: The requested option option_name is unknown, or the requested option_len or option_value is invalid, or the size of the buffer pointed to by option_value, as specified by option_len, is insufficient for storing the option value.
ETERM: The ØMQ context associated with the specified socket was terminated.
ENOTSOCK: The provided socket was invalid.
EINTR: The operation was interrupted by delivery of a signal.

EXAMPLE

Retrieving the high water mark for outgoing messages

/* Retrieve high water mark into sndhwm */
int sndhwm;
size_t sndhwm_size = sizeof (sndhwm);
rc = zmq_getsockopt (socket, ZMQ_SNDHWM, &sndhwm, &sndhwm_size);
assert (rc == 0);

AUTHORS

This page was written by the ØMQ community. To make a change please read the ØMQ Contribution Policy at http://www.zeromq.org/docs:contributing.

zmq_getsockopt(3) Manual Page

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