Learn how to do UDP communication between server & client computers using Node JS

The User Datagram Protocol, or UDP, is a communication protocol used across the Internet for especially time-sensitive transmissions such as video playback or DNS lookups. It speeds up communications by not formally establishing a connection before data is transferred. This allows data to be transferred very quickly, but it can also cause packets to become lost in transit — and create opportunities for exploitation in the form of DDoS attacks.

How does UDP work? Like all networking protocols, UDP is a standardized method for transferring data between two computers in a network. Compared to other protocols, UDP accomplishes this process in a simple fashion: it sends packets (units of data transmission) directly to a target computer, without establishing a connection first, indicating the order of said packets, or checking whether they arrived as intended. (UDP packets are referred to as ‘datagrams’.)

UDP is faster but less reliable than TCP, another common transport protocol. In a TCP communication, the two computers begin by establishing a connection via an automated process called a ‘handshake.’ Only once this handshake has been completed will one computer actually transfer data packets to the other.

In addition, TCP communications indicate the order in which data packets should be received and confirm that packets arrive as intended. If a packet does not arrive — e.g. due to congestion in intermediary networks — TCP requires that it be re-sent. UDP communications do not include any of this functionality.

Node dgram module : The dgram module provides a way of working with Datagram sockets. Install: npm install dgram

Run server:

node udp_server.js

In other terminal window, run client:

node udp_client.js

Now, see the message received to Server from the client in first terminal window.