[zeromq-dev] Integrating ZeroMQ into existing systems?

[Chuck Remes]

On Jul 12, 2010, at 12:18 PM, Steven Clark wrote:

> Forgive me a simple/stupid question here-
> 
> To make use of ZeroMQ, do both ends of a simple network connection
> need to be programmed with ZeroMQ, or can one endpoint use ZeroMQ and
> the other use low-level (Berkeley-style) sockets?
> 
> I have a situation where a device (microcontroller-based) connects
> periodically to a TCP server, sends/recvs some data, and disconnects.
> The server sends some filtered form of the data to other network
> endpoints. Currently everything is written using low-level sockets.
> I'd like to switch the server to use ZeroMQ so I can take advantage of
> Publisher/Subscriber sockets, etc for the distribution of data from
> the server. Should/can I make the link between the device and the
> server use ZeroMQ, given that I can't exactly port ZeroMQ to run on
> the microcontroller platform?
> 
> In the event that I can use it for the device connection, is the PAIR
> topology the correct one to use? What happens if the device doesn't
> shut down the connection cleanly (which happens fairly often)? Is
> there any danger of getting stuck in a FIN_WAIT state?

You can use regular sockets but you need to conform to the 0mq wire protocol.

See: http://api.zeromq.org/zmq_tcp.html

I think you could probably get something working on the microcontroller platform for SUB sockets pretty easily.

cr