HERDING DAEMONS

Typical server applications handle network communication autonomously. They open a socket and listen at a TCP port, using the port to send and receive data. Interaction with a socket is not exactly rocket science, but coding a program for socket interaction can be troublesome and prone to error. It can also be quite difficult to keep track of the various configurations. Central security settings involve a lot of effort if each server has its own set of configuration files. And what’s more, it doesn’t always make sense to re-invent the wheel by coding each program separately for network access.