Need to make periodic request to App Server from NSAPI SAF

Question

I have to send a keep alive ping to a existing Session on our app server from a NSAPI SAF on IWS6.
First, is making a direct socket call the best way to handle it or is there another suggestion for sending the request.
Second, if using the direct socket connection is the way to go do I need to use the net_* methods within the NSAPI code or can I use native socket code.
Third, will there be any issues with making this type of socket call from a spawned thread, and can I use the native threads on Sun Solarias.
Some code examples would be very helpful since I can't find much at all on the site.

Answer 1

NSAPI doesn't expose any infrastructure for managing outbound connections, and the list of supported net_* functions does not include socket, bind, or connect analogs. You are probably best off using native socket code.
On Solaris, you can create your thread using the NSAPI systhread_create function or the Solaris pthread_create or thr_create functions. Note that you should not call NSAPI functions from a thread you create yourself unless you first call the NSAPI prepare_nsapi_thread function.