Listener concept

A listener binds a local connection endpoint to connectors in remote sites. Listeners and connectors are matched using routing keys.

A site has zero or more listeners. Each listener has an associated connection endpoint and routing key. The connection endpoint exposes a host and port for accepting connections from local clients. The routing key is a string identifier that binds the listener to connectors in remote sites.

On Kubernetes, a listener is implemented as a Service. On Docker, Podman, and Linux, it is a listening socket bound to a local network interface.

Skupper routers forward client connections across the network from listeners to connectors with matching routing keys. The connectors then forward the client connections to the workload servers.