Creating gRPC Servers
1. Creating Server Instance
Example: Basic server (Go)
srv := grpc. NewServer ( grpc. MaxRecvMsgSize ( 8 << 20 ), grpc. MaxSendMsgSize ( 8 << 20 ), )
Option Purpose grpc.Creds(tlsCreds)Enable TLS grpc.UnaryInterceptor(...)Single unary interceptor grpc.ChainUnaryInterceptor(...)Multiple interceptors grpc.KeepaliveParams(...)Server keep-alive config
2. Registering Service Handlers
Example: Register implementation
type server struct { userv1 . UnimplementedUserServiceServer } func ( s * server ) GetUser ( ctx context . Context , r * userv1 . GetUserRequest ) ( * userv1 . User , error ) { return & userv1 . User {Id: r.Id}, nil } userv1. RegisterUserServiceServer (srv, & server {})
Pattern Detail Embed Unimplemented*Server Forward compatible — new RPCs return Unimplemented One impl per service Pointer receiver, no shared state without sync
3. Creating Network Listener
Example: TCP listener
lis, err := net. Listen ( "tcp" , ":50051" ) if err != nil { log. Fatal (err) }
Address Use :50051All interfaces 127.0.0.1:50051Localhost only unix:///tmp/grpc.sockUnix domain socket
4. Starting Server
Example: Serve
if err := srv. Serve (lis); err != nil { log. Fatal (err) }
Method Behavior Serve(lis)Blocks until Stop() or fatal error Stop()Immediate; cancels in-flight RPCs GracefulStop()Drains active RPCs then stops
5. Implementing Graceful Shutdown
Example: Signal-driven shutdown
go func () { _ = srv. Serve (lis) }() sig := make ( chan os . Signal , 1 ) signal. Notify (sig, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM) <- sig ctx, cancel := context. WithTimeout (context. Background (), 30 * time.Second) defer cancel () done := make ( chan struct {}) go func (){ srv. GracefulStop (); close (done) }() select { case <- done: case <- ctx. Done (): srv. Stop () }
Step Purpose Catch SIGTERM Kubernetes preStop signal Drain timeout Bound shutdown time Fallback to Stop() Force kill if drain exceeds
6. Handling Server Errors
Source Handling Bind failure Fatal — exit non-zero Handler panic Recovery interceptor → Internal Stream error Return status from handler
7. Setting Server Options
Option Purpose MaxConcurrentStreamsPer-connection RPC cap ConnectionTimeoutInitial handshake timeout ReadBufferSize / WriteBufferSizeTune throughput NumStreamWorkersWorker pool size
8. Configuring Max Message Size
Default Value Server recv 4 MB Server send Unlimited Client recv 4 MB Client send Unlimited
Warning: If a single message exceeds the cap, the RPC fails with ResourceExhausted. Use streaming for large payloads.
9. Setting Connection Timeout
Option Detail grpc.ConnectionTimeout(d)Max time for HTTP/2 handshake Server keep-alive See section 28
10. Enabling Server Reflection
Example: Enable reflection (Go)
import " google.golang.org/grpc/reflection " reflection. Register (srv)
Purpose Detail Tool support grpcurl, Postman, EvansProduction Disable or gate behind auth
11. Using Multiple Listeners
Approach Detail cmux Multiplex gRPC + HTTP on one port Multiple Serve() Call once per listener in goroutines Same server One grpc.Server can serve many listeners