Understanding INADDR_ANY in Network Programming: Common Errors and Wireshark Limitations

Binding with INADDR_ANY using bind

• INADDR_ANY binds all network interfaces
• INADDR_LOOPBACK loopback IP address, used for connectivity testing within the local protocol stack without passing through the link layer

Wireshark can capture data that doesn’t pass through the network interface in the loopback by using a special address like INADDR_ANY.

Two network interfaces might not be interconnected Use

arp -a to check the connected IPs of each network interface

Binding Multiple Network Interfaces

Binding INADDR_ANY The following is prone to error

hostent* thisHost = gethostbyname("");char* ip = inet_ntoa(*(struct in_addr *)*thisHost->h_addr_list);