How does Node.js handle connections?

Question

I'd like to know how does Node handle connections. I mean: when I run...

node myserver.js

... and I make a request, what does Node do?

I've made a test. I have a server running with socket.io. I open two tabs in my browser which stablishes WebSockets connections. I check the threads (ps -eLf) and I get always the same 6 threads running:

node     12837 12518 12837  1    6 22:29 pts/0    00:01:10 node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-dev/wrapper.js prueba1.js
node     12837 12518 12838  0    6 22:29 pts/0    00:00:00 node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-dev/wrapper.js prueba1.js
node     12837 12518 12839  0    6 22:29 pts/0    00:00:14 node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-dev/wrapper.js prueba1.js
node     12837 12518 12840  0    6 22:29 pts/0    00:00:14 node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-dev/wrapper.js prueba1.js
node     12837 12518 12841  0    6 22:29 pts/0    00:00:14 node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-dev/wrapper.js prueba1.js
node     12837 12518 12842  0    6 22:29 pts/0    00:00:14 node /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node-dev/wrapper.js prueba1.js

I'm asking this because I'm trying to understand what does the blocking code actually blocks.

Answer 1

If you need to understand how asynchronous IO in node works on low level I suggest to read following documentation:

• libuv book
• epoll ( tutorial, manpage, wikipedia)
• kqueue ( manpage, wikipedia )
• I/O Completion Ports