How to listen for multiple tcp connection using nc How to listen for multiple tcp connection using nc linux linux

How to listen for multiple tcp connection using nc


Simultaneous connections are not possible with netcat. You should use something like ucspi-tcp's tcpserver tool or leverage xinetd since you're on Linux.

See: https://superuser.com/questions/232747/netcat-as-a-multithread-server

Consecutive connections could be handled through a shell script that restarts netcat after it finishes.


ncat can do it.

E.g. ncat --broker --listen -p 12345 will distribute all incoming messages to all other clients (think of it as a hub).


I recommend socat as nc alternative.

For OP's problem, socat - TCP-LISTEN:12345,fork,reuseaddr can do the job.