Online Class & News Service

Project developed for the Computer Networks course (Redes de Computadores) > BSc in Informatics Engineering - University of Coimbra (FCTUC)

This project implements a distributed Client-Server system for managing online classes and broadcasting news/content using TCP/IP, UDP, and IP Multicast protocols. The system allows professors to create classes and broadcast messages, while students can subscribe to classes and receive real-time updates via multicast groups.

---

Features

Architecture

• Multithreaded Server: Handles multiple concurrent TCP clients using POSIX threads (pthread).
• Hybrid Communication: Uses TCP for session control and reliable commands, UDP for administrative tasks, and Multicast (IGMP) for efficient message broadcasting.

User Roles & Functionalities

The system supports three types of users, defined in the configuration file:

• Student (Aluno):

  • View available classes (LIST_CLASSES).
  • Subscribe to classes (SUBSCRIBE_CLASS) to join the multicast group.
  • View subscribed classes (LIST_SUBSCRIBED).
  • Receive real-time messages broadcasted to the class.

• Professor:

  • All Student permissions.
  • Create new classes with a specific capacity (CREATE_CLASS).
  • Send multicast messages/news to a specific class (SEND).

• Administrator:

  • Remote management via UDP console.
  • Add new users (ADD_USER).
  • Delete users (DEL).
  • List all registered users (LIST).

---

Tech Stack

• Language: C
• Networking: BSD Sockets (TCP/UDP), IP Multicast
• Concurrency: pthread (POSIX Threads)
• Tools: GCC, Make, GNS3 (for network simulation)

---

Installation & Usage

1. Compilation

A Makefile is included to compile both the server and the client. Simply run:

make