BidCrafter Auction Engine

A secure real-time auction system built using TCP sockets in Python. The system allows multiple clients to connect to a central server and participate in live bidding for multiple auction items.

All communication between the server and clients is encrypted using TLS (SSL) to ensure secure transmission of auction commands and bid information.

---

Features

• Multi-client support using asynchronous server architecture (Python's asyncio library)
• TLS-encrypted communication using Python's ssl module
• Multiple auction items with unique item IDs
• Real-time bidding updates broadcast to all connected clients
• Concurrency-safe bidding logic using asynchronous locks
• Username system for bidder identification
• Auction timers that automatically declare winners
• Dynamic item-loading from JSON
• Throughput and Latency measurements

---

System Architecture

Clients
   ↓
Secure TCP Connection (TLS)
   ↓
Async Auction Server
   ↓
In-Memory Auction State

Each connected client communicates with the server over a secure TCP socket. The server maintains the auction state and ensures fair bidding using synchronization mechanisms.

---

Project Structure

BidCrafter-Auction-Engine
│
├── certs/
│   ├── server.crt
│   └── server.key
│
├── clients/
│   └── client.py
│   └── load_test.py
│
├── server/
│   └── items.json
│   └── server_async.py
│
├── .gitignore
└── README.md

---

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• OpenSSL (for generating TLS certificates)

---

Generating TLS Certificates

Before running the server, generate a self-signed certificate:

openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes -out certs/server.crt -keyout certs/server.key

This will create the TLS certificate and private key used for encrypted communication.

Note: The private key should not be committed to version control.

---

Running the Auction Server

Navigate to the project directory and start the server:

python server/server_async.py

You should see output similar to:

Esmerelda is running on port 12000!!!
Secure connection established with ('127.0.0.1', 53212)
TLS version: TLSv1.3
Cipher: TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384

---

Connecting Clients

Open another terminal and run:

python clients/client.py

Or:

python clients/load_test.py

Which you can to run multiple fake clients simultaneously to simulate concurrent bidders.

---

Auction Commands

View available items

LIST

Place a bid

BID <item_id> <amount>

Example:

BID 2 500

Check current item status

STATUS <item_id>

Example:

STATUS 3

Leave the auction

QUIT

---

Security

All client-server communication is secured using TLS encryption via Python's ssl module. This ensures that auction commands and bid values cannot be intercepted or modified in transit.

---

Concepts Demonstrated

This project demonstrates several important networking and systems concepts:

• TCP socket programming
• Asynchronous server architecture (asyncio)
• TLS encryption
• Application-layer protocol design
• Concurrency control with async locks
• Real-time event broadcasting
• Client-server communication
• Performance measurement

---

Future Improvements

• Web-based Frontend
• Persistent storage with database integration

---

Contributors

• Zia Kadijah
• Palla Tejeswar Reddy
• Mohammed Noor