The iRate server / client protocol is http-like.

Two headers are used :

• Content-Length which is expected to have an integer containing the length in bytes of the following XML document (not compressed);
• Content-Encoding which should be gzip.

The data stream should be a real gzip file, with gzip headers.

The default listening port is 2278. Headers are case-sensitive. Lines are ended using network standard CRLF.

When a client connects to the server it is expected to send a header and an xml-like message. The server will respond by either closing the connection or returning an xml-like message.

Both client and server exchange a TrackDatabase XML document.