NAME

       portserver.py - server to hand out unused port numbers

DESCRIPTION

       usage: portserver.py [-h] [--portserver_static_pool PORTSERVER_STATIC_POOL]

       [--portserver_unix_socket_address PORTSERVER_UNIX_SOCKET_ADDRESS]
              [--verbose] [--debug]

   optional arguments:
       -h, --help
              show this help message and exit

       --portserver_static_pool PORTSERVER_STATIC_POOL
              Comma separated N-P Range(s) of ports to manage (inclusive).

       --portserver_unix_socket_address PORTSERVER_UNIX_SOCKET_ADDRESS
              Address of AF_UNIX socket on which to listen (first @ is a NUL).

       --verbose
              Enable verbose messages.

       --debug
              Enable full debug messages.

PORT SERVER

       A  port  server is intended to be run as a daemon, for use by all processes running on the
       host. It coordinates uses of network ports by anything using a portpicker library. If  you
       are using hosts as part of a test automation cluster, each one should run a port server as
       a daemon. You should set the PORTSERVER_ADDRESS=@unittest-portserver environment  variable
       on all of your test runners so that portpicker makes use of it.

       A port server listens on a unix socket, reads a pid from a new connection, tests the ports
       it is managing and replies with a port assignment port  for  that  pid.  A  port  is  only
       reclaimed  for  potential  reassignment  to  another  process  after  the  process  it was
       originally assigned to has died. Processes that  need  multiple  ports  can  simply  issue
       multiple requests and are guaranteed they will each be unique.

TYPICAL USAGE

        1) Run one instance of this process on each of your unittest farm hosts.
        2) Set the PORTSERVER_ADDRESS environment variable in your test runner
           environment to let the portpicker library know to use a port server
           rather than attempt to find ports on its own.

        $ /path/to/portserver.py &
        $ export PORTSERVER_ADDRESS=@unittest-portserver
        $ # ... launch a bunch of unittest runners using portpicker ...