AF_INET for IPC in windows

Question

I wish to know that If protocol family AF_INET is used for local communication (IPC) in windows systems. (with loopback interface) will it be able to give performance same as AF_UNIX in unix. I tried for Named pipe in windows but it doesn't seems to me working for my case.

AF_INET when used it will go through the TCP/IP stack. which will be overhead in case of intranode communication. Please let me know for any clarification.

Answer 1

The IPC using the loopback interface is quiet fast. I can't compare the performance with a AF_UNIX implementation. But it should give you a similar programming interface (sockets).

For high performance IPC you might consider using shared memory. But in that case you would miss the comfort of the streaming communication as you find with sockets.

You should also check, what requirement leads you to the performance question?