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A Java application can open a single Socket on a port and open an InputStream and OutputStream just like the client, but in general, a server will want to be able to open multiple sockets to establish communication with a number of clients at the same time.
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The ServerSocket class allows multiple sockets:
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ServerSocket s = new ServerSocket(port);
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Then the Java server application can use the accept method to open a socket for each client which tries to open a socket on the port:
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Socket client = s.accept();
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Typically, a server main program would be waiting to accept a client. When a client tries to establish a socket, the accept proceeds. Then the server would spawn a thread to handle that one socket, opening input and output streams as necessary and communicating with the client.
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