Getting java.net.BindException even when I close socket

Something else is already listening at port 8003. Possibly a prior instance of your program, possibly something else. Use netstat to find out which.

If it's your own program, change the ServerSocket creation to this:

serverSocket = new ServerSocket();
serverSocket.setReuseAddress(true);
serverSocket.bind(new InetSocketAddress(8003));

The problem is you are initializing the client first and then server.

as.setUpClient();

as.setUpServer();

And what I believe you are doing it to have the code run twice. First you get Connection refused and when u run it the second time you get BindException. Without closing the previous console.

Also check if any other process is binding on the same port. If you are on windows run

nestat -ano

If you see port 8003 refer that pid and kill it using task manager.

Since you have already tried other ports I guess your problem is as stated first point.

Even if you were to reverse it the order in your code

as.setUpServer();

as.setUpClient();

And since your Socket sock = serverSocket.accept(); is blocking api. Your client code i.e as.setUpClient(); will not be called.

Split it as two file client and server. Run the server first then client. It will work.

Do some thing like this:

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;

public class AdviceServer {

    String[] adviceList = {
            "Take smaller bites",
            "Go for the tight jeans. No they do NOT" + "make you look fat.",
            "One word: inappropriate",
            "Just for today, be honest. Tell your"
                    + "boss what you *really* think",
            "You might want to rethink that haircut." };

    public void setUpServer() {

        ServerSocket serverSocket = null;

        try {
            if (serverSocket == null)
                serverSocket = new ServerSocket(8003);
            int i = 2;

            // Keep looping till we have clients.
            while (true) {
                Socket sock = serverSocket.accept();
                PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(sock.getOutputStream());
                pw.write(getRandomAdvice());
                pw.close();
                System.out.println(getRandomAdvice());
            }

            // serverSocket.close();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            if (serverSocket != null) {
                try {
                    serverSocket.close();
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        }
    }

    public String getRandomAdvice() {
        return adviceList[(int) (Math.random() * adviceList.length)];

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        AdviceServer as = new AdviceServer();

        as.setUpServer();

    }
}





import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.Socket;

public class AdviceClient {

    public void setUpClient() {

        // Make a socket
        Socket chatSocket = null;
        try {
            chatSocket = new Socket("127.0.0.1", 8003);
            InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(
                    chatSocket.getInputStream());

            // Make a chain stream Buffered Reader
            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);

            String text;
            while ((text = br.readLine()) != null) {
                System.out.println(text);
            }

            br.close();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            if (chatSocket != null) {
                try {
                    chatSocket.close();
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        }


    }

    public static void main(String[] args){

        AdviceClient client = new AdviceClient();
        client.setUpClient();
    }
}