AddressFamily Enumeration

System.Net.Sockets

Specifies the address family used by the Socket class.

Description

The AddressFamily enumeration defines the address families supported by the Socket class. These families determine the type of network addresses used for communication.

Members

Unknown: The address family is unknown.
InterNetwork: Unspecified. Represents the IPv4 address family.
InterNetworkV6: Unspecified. Represents the IPv6 address family.
Max: Used to specify the maximum number of address families that are supported.
NS: Deprecated. Represents the Xerox Network Systems (XNS) address family.
OSI: Deprecated. Represents the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) address family.
Unix: Deprecated. Represents the Unix domain socket address family.
ImplLink: Deprecated. Represents the implementation-specific link layer address family.
SNS_IP: Deprecated. Represents the SNS IP address family.
IPX: Deprecated. Represents the Novell NetWare IPX address family.
Sna: Deprecated. Represents the IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) address family.
DecNet: Deprecated. Represents the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) networking protocol address family.
DataLink: Deprecated. Represents the data link layer address family.

Syntax


                public enum AddressFamily

Remarks

When you create a Socket, you must specify an AddressFamily to indicate the network protocol to use. For example, to create a socket for IPv4 communication, you would use AddressFamily.InterNetwork. For IPv6, you would use AddressFamily.InterNetworkV6.

Many of the values in this enumeration are marked as deprecated. It is recommended to use AddressFamily.InterNetwork for IPv4 and AddressFamily.InterNetworkV6 for IPv6.

Examples

Creating an IPv4 TCP Socket

            
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;

public class Example
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Create a TCP socket for IPv4.
        Socket socket = new Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetwork, SocketType.Stream, ProtocolType.Tcp);

        Console.WriteLine($"Socket created with Address Family: {socket.AddressFamily}");

        // Remember to close the socket when done.
        socket.Close();
    }
}
            
        

Creating an IPv6 UDP Socket

            
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;

public class Example
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Create a UDP socket for IPv6.
        Socket socket = new Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetworkV6, SocketType.Dgram, ProtocolType.Udp);

        Console.WriteLine($"Socket created with Address Family: {socket.AddressFamily}");

        // Remember to close the socket when done.
        socket.Close();
    }
}
            
        

Fields

Name	Description
`Unknown`	The address family is unknown.
`InterNetwork`	Unspecified. Represents the IPv4 address family.
`InterNetworkV6`	Unspecified. Represents the IPv6 address family.
`Max`	Used to specify the maximum number of address families that are supported.
`NS`	Deprecated. Represents the Xerox Network Systems (XNS) address family.
`OSI`	Deprecated. Represents the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) address family.
`Unix`	Deprecated. Represents the Unix domain socket address family.
`ImplLink`	Deprecated. Represents the implementation-specific link layer address family.
`SNS_IP`	Deprecated. Represents the SNS IP address family.
`IPX`	Deprecated. Represents the Novell NetWare IPX address family.
`Sna`	Deprecated. Represents the IBM Systems Network Architecture (SNA) address family.
`DecNet`	Deprecated. Represents the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) networking protocol address family.
`DataLink`	Deprecated. Represents the data link layer address family.