[[Interfaces_and_ports]]
= Interfaces and ports


[[interface-declarations]]
== Interface declarations

WildFly uses named interface references throughout the configuration. A
network interface is declared by specifying a logical name and a
selection criteria for the physical interface:

[source,options="nowrap"]
----
[standalone@localhost:9990 /] :read-children-names(child-type=interface)
{
   "outcome" => "success",
   "result" => [
       "management",
       "public"
   ]
}
----

This means the server in question declares two interfaces: One is
referred to as " _management_"; the other one " _public_". The "
_management_" interface is used for all components and services that are
required by the management layer (i.e. the HTTP Management Endpoint).
The " _public_" interface binding is used for any application related
network communication (i.e. Web, Messaging, etc). There is nothing
special about these names; interfaces can be declared with any name.
Other sections of the configuration can then reference those interfaces
by their logical name, rather than having to include the full details of
the interface (which, on servers in a management domain, may vary on
different machines).

The `domain.xml`, `host.xml` and `standalone.xml` configuration files
all include a section where interfaces can be declared. If we take a
look at the XML declaration it reveals the selection criteria. The
criteria is one of two types: either a single element indicating that
the interface should be bound to a wildcard address, or a set of one or
more characteristics that an interface or address must have in order to
be a valid match. The selection criteria in this example are specific IP
addresses for each interface:

[source,xml,options="nowrap"]
----
<interfaces>
  <interface name="management">
   <inet-address value="127.0.0.1"/>
  </interface>
  <interface name="public">
   <inet-address value="127.0.0.1"/>
  </interface>
</interfaces>
----

Some other examples:

[source,xml,options="nowrap"]
----
<interface name="global">
   <!-- Use the wildcard address -->
   <any-address/>
</interface>
 
<interface name="external">
   <nic name="eth0"/>
</interface>
 
<interface name="default">
   <!-- Match any interface/address on the right subnet if it's
        up, supports multicast and isn't point-to-point -->
   <subnet-match value="192.168.0.0/16"/>
   <up/>
   <multicast/>
   <not>
      <point-to-point/>
   </not>
</interface>
----

[NOTE]

An interface configuration element is used to provide a single `InetAddress` to parts
of the server that reference that interface. If the selection criteria specified for
the interface element results in more than one address meeting the criteria, then a
warning will be logged and one just one address will be selected and used. Preference
will be given to network interfaces that are up, are non-loopback and are not
point-to-point.


=== The -b command line argument

WildFly supports using the `-b` command line argument to specify the
address to assign to interfaces. See
link:#controlling-the-bind-address[Controlling the Bind Address with -b] for further details.

[[socket-binding-groups]]
== Socket Binding Groups

The socket configuration in WildFly works similarly to the interfaces
declarations. Sockets are declared using a logical name, by which they
will be referenced throughout the configuration. Socket declarations are
grouped under a certain name. This allows you to easily reference a
particular socket binding group when configuring server groups in a
managed domain. Socket binding groups reference an interface by its
logical name:

[source,xml,options="nowrap"]
----
<socket-binding-group name="standard-sockets" default-interface="public">
  <socket-binding name="management-http" interface="management" port="${jboss.management.http.port:9990}"/>
  <socket-binding name="management-https" interface="management" port="${jboss.management.https.port:9993}"/>
  <socket-binding name="ajp" port="${jboss.ajp.port:8009}"/>
  <socket-binding name="http" port="${jboss.http.port:8080}"/>
  <socket-binding name="https" port="${jboss.https.port:8443}"/>
  <socket-binding name="txn-recovery-environment" port="4712"/>
  <socket-binding name="txn-status-manager" port="4713"/>
</socket-binding-group>
----

A socket binding includes the following information:

* name -- logical name of the socket configuration that should be used
elsewhere in the configuration
* port -- base port to which a socket based on this configuration should
be bound. (Note that servers can be configured to override this base
value by applying an increment or decrement to all port values.)
* interface (optional) -- logical name (see "Interfaces declarations"
above) of the interface to which a socket based on this configuration
should be bound. If not defined, the value of the "default-interface"
attribute from the enclosing socket binding group will be used.
* multicast-address (optional) -- if the socket will be used for
multicast, the multicast address to use
* multicast-port (optional) -- if the socket will be used for multicast,
the multicast port to use
* fixed-port (optional, defaults to false) -- if true, declares that the
value of port should always be used for the socket and should not be
overridden by applying an increment or decrement

[[ipv4-versus-ipv6]]
== IPv4 versus IPv6

WildFly supports the use of both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. By default,
WildFly is configured for use in an IPv4 network and so if you are
running in an IPv4 network, no changes are required. If you need to run
in an IPv6 network, the changes required are minimal and involve
changing the JVM stack and address preferences, and adjusting any
interface IP address values specified in the configuration
(standalone.xml or domain.xml).

[[stack-and-address-preference]]
=== Stack and address preference

The system properties java.net.preferIPv4Stack and
java.net.preferIPv6Addresses are used to configure the JVM for use with
IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. With WildFly, in order to run using IPv4
addresses, you need to specify java.net.preferIPv4Stack=true; in order
to run with IPv6 addresses, you need to specify
java.net.preferIPv4Stack=false (the JVM default) and
java.net.preferIPv6Addresses=true. The latter ensures that any hostname
to IP address conversions always return IPv6 address variants.

These system properties are conveniently set by the JAVA_OPTS
environment variable, defined in the standalone.conf (or domain.conf)
file. For example, to change the IP stack preference from its default of
IPv4 to IPv6, edit the standalone.conf (or domain.conf) file and change
its default IPv4 setting:

----
if [ "x$JAVA_OPTS" = "x" ]; then
   JAVA_OPTS=" ... -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true ..."
...
----

to an IPv6 suitable setting:

----
if [ "x$JAVA_OPTS" = "x" ]; then
   JAVA_OPTS=" ... -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=false -Djava.net.preferIPv6Addresses=true ..."
...
----

[[ip-address-literals]]
=== IP address literals

To change the IP address literals referenced in standalone.xml (or
domain.xml), first visit the interface declarations and ensure that
valid IPv6 addresses are being used as interface values. For example, to
change the default configuration in which the loopback interface is used
as the primary interface, change from the IPv4 loopback address:

[source,xml,options="nowrap"]
----
<interfaces>
  <interface name="management">
    <inet-address value="${jboss.bind.address.management:127.0.0.1}"/>
  </interface>
  <interface name="public">
    <inet-address value="${jboss.bind.address:127.0.0.1}"/>
  </interface>
</interfaces>
----

to the IPv6 loopback address:

[source,xml,options="nowrap"]
----
<interfaces>
  <interface name="management">
    <inet-address value="${jboss.bind.address.management:[::1]}"/>
  </interface>
  <interface name="public">
    <inet-address value="${jboss.bind.address:[::1]}"/>
  </interface>
</interfaces>
----

Note that when embedding IPv6 address literals in the substitution
expression, square brackets surrounding the IP address literal are used
to avoid ambiguity. This follows the convention for the use of IPv6
literals in URLs.

Over and above making such changes for the interface definitions, you
should also check the rest of your configuration file and adjust IP
address literals from IPv4 to IPv6 as required.
