named pipes (fifo's) allow communication between different processes. They allow you to pipe data directly into a special file that is then read immediately by another process.
As an example we can use the 'mkfifo' command:
mkfifo /tmp/fifo
ls -la /tmp/fifo
prw-r--r--
Notice the precense of the 'p' bit - this indicates that the file is a named pipe / fifo.
Now let's tail it and pipe some data into it:
tail -f /tmp/fifo &
echo test data > /tmp/fifo
test data
A socket file in Linux (AKA a Unix Domain Socket) allows communication between - for example an server and multiple clients - in some respects it is similar to a named pipe (fifo) - however they provide some advantages such as bi-directional communication, passing file descriptors between processes and support packet and sequenced packet modes.
For example haproxy can utilise sockets:
ls -la /run/haproxy_admin.sock
srw-rw----. 1 root root 0 Mar 28 14:17 /run/haproxy_admin.sock
The 's' bit indicates that the file is a socket.
Socket are typically employed when network communication is not required, rather all communication is performed by processes on the local system.
As an example we can use the 'mkfifo' command:
mkfifo /tmp/fifo
ls -la /tmp/fifo
prw-r--r--
Notice the precense of the 'p' bit - this indicates that the file is a named pipe / fifo.
Now let's tail it and pipe some data into it:
tail -f /tmp/fifo &
echo test data > /tmp/fifo
test data
A socket file in Linux (AKA a Unix Domain Socket) allows communication between - for example an server and multiple clients - in some respects it is similar to a named pipe (fifo) - however they provide some advantages such as bi-directional communication, passing file descriptors between processes and support packet and sequenced packet modes.
For example haproxy can utilise sockets:
ls -la /run/haproxy_admin.sock
srw-rw----. 1 root root 0 Mar 28 14:17 /run/haproxy_admin.sock
The 's' bit indicates that the file is a socket.
Socket are typically employed when network communication is not required, rather all communication is performed by processes on the local system.