The Server Framework

The Server Framework is a set of C++ libraries for Microsoft Windows that make it easy to create highly scalable, high performance client and server systems. The libraries provide an easy to use abstraction over the complexities of using I/O Completion Ports which are the most effective way to create scalable network systems on Windows platforms.

Whilst writing simple code that uses I/O Completion Ports is relatively straight forward, like most programming problems the devil is in the detail. Len has over 15 year’s experience in writing clients and servers with The Server Framework and as the Windows Platform has evolved so has The Server Framework. We support lots of optional ways to squeeze just a bit more performance out of your servers and the code will run on all versions of Windows from Windows Vista through to Windows 10 including server versions, of course. The code builds natively for x86 or x64 systems. You can selectively enable new functionality if you need the performance improvements available with later versions of Windows, though this may prevent your server from running on earlier versions.

The Server Framework can be built with all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio from Visual Studio 2017 through to Visual Studio 2022 and builds as x64 native code. We no longer support earlier versions of Visual Studio, or x86 but we have an older versions of The Server Framework that can build with legacy compilers if you need it.

A license to The Server Framework provides unlimited updates as and when they become available and unlimited email support for The Server Framework. We currently do not publish a road map for future development directions for The Server Framework as development tends to be driven by client demand; so, if there are features that we don’t currently support that you’d like supported, do get in touch by email. Bug fixes and change notifications are available either via RSS feed or email and the release notes of previous versions are available here in the documentation pack. We can provide consultancy to help with the integration of your business logic if you require it, but most clients don’t as The Server Framework is very easy to use and the points at which you would link to your business logic are clearly indicated in the examples.