diff --git a/src/utils/socket.h b/src/utils/socket.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5b216980e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/socket.h
@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+#ifndef XGBOOST_UTILS_SOCKET_H
+#define XGBOOST_UTILS_SOCKET_H
+/*!
+ * \file socket.h
+ * \brief this file aims to provide a platform independent wrapper 
+ *        of socket
+ * \author Tianqi Chen
+ */
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <netdb.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <arpa/inet.h>
+#include <netinet/in.h>
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#include <sys/select.h>
+#include <string>
+#include <cstring>
+#include "./utils.h"
+
+namespace xgboost {
+namespace utils {
+
+/*! \brief data structure for network address */
+struct SockAddr {
+  sockaddr_in addr;
+  // constructor
+  SockAddr(void) {}
+  SockAddr(const char *url, int port) {
+    this->Set(url, port);
+  }
+  /*! 
+   * \brief set the address
+   * \param url the url of the address
+   * \param port the port of address
+   */
+  inline void Set(const char *url, int port) {
+    hostent *hp = gethostbyname(url);
+    Check(hp != NULL, "cannot obtain address of %s", url);
+    memset(&addr, 0, sizeof(addr));
+    addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
+    addr.sin_port = htons(port);
+    memcpy(&addr.sin_addr, hp->h_addr_list[0], hp->h_length);
+  }
+  /*! \return a string representation of the address */
+  inline std::string ToString(void) const {
+    std::string buf; buf.resize(256);
+    const char *s = inet_ntop(AF_INET, &addr, &buf[0], buf.length());
+    Assert(s != NULL, "cannot decode address");
+    std::string res = s;
+    sprintf(&buf[0], "%u", ntohs(addr.sin_port));
+    res += ":" + buf;
+    return res;
+  }
+};
+/*! 
+ * \brief a wrapper of TCP socket that hopefully be cross platform
+ */
+class TCPSocket {
+ public:
+  /*! \brief the file descriptor of socket */
+  int sockfd;
+  // constructor
+  TCPSocket(void) {}
+  // default conversion to int
+  inline int operator()() const {
+    return sockfd;
+  }
+  /*!
+   * \brief start up the socket module
+   *   call this before using the sockets
+   */
+  inline static void Startup(void) {
+  }
+  /*! 
+   * \brief shutdown the socket module after use, all sockets need to be closed
+   */  
+  inline static void Finalize(void) {
+  }
+  /*! 
+   * \brief set this socket to use async I/O 
+   */
+  inline void SetAsync(void) {
+    if (fcntl(sockfd, fcntl(sockfd, F_GETFL) | O_NONBLOCK) == -1) {
+      SockError("SetAsync", errno);
+    }
+  }
+  /*!
+   * \brief perform listen of the socket
+   * \param backlog backlog parameter
+   */
+  inline void Listen(int backlog = 16) {
+    listen(sockfd, backlog);
+  }
+  /*! 
+   * \brief bind the socket to an address 
+   * \param 3
+   */
+  inline void Bind(const SockAddr &addr) {
+    if (bind(sockfd, (sockaddr*)&addr.addr, sizeof(addr.addr)) == -1) {
+      SockError("Bind", errno);
+    }
+  }
+  /*! 
+   * \brief connect to an address 
+   * \param addr the address to connect to
+   */
+  inline void Connect(const SockAddr &addr) {
+    if (connect(sockfd, (sockaddr*)&addr.addr, sizeof(addr.addr)) == -1) {
+      SockError("Connect", errno);
+    }
+  }
+  /*! \brief close the connection */
+  inline void Close(void) {
+    close(sockfd);
+  }
+  /*!
+   * \brief send data using the socket 
+   * \param buf the pointer to the buffer
+   * \param len the size of the buffer
+   * \param flags extra flags
+   * \return size of data actually sent
+   */
+  inline size_t Send(const void *buf, size_t len, int flag = 0) {
+    ssize_t ret = send(sockfd, buf, len, flag);
+    if (ret == -1) SockError("Send", errno);
+    return ret;
+  }
+  /*! 
+   * \brief send data using the socket 
+   * \param buf the pointer to the buffer
+   * \param len the size of the buffer
+   * \param flags extra flags
+   * \return size of data actually received 
+   */
+  inline size_t Recv(void *buf, size_t len, int flags = 0) {
+    ssize_t ret = recv(sockfd, buf, len, flags);
+    if (ret == -1) SockError("Recv", errno);
+    return ret;
+   }
+ private:
+  // report an socket error
+  inline static void SockError(const char *msg, int errsv) {
+    char buf[256];    
+    Error("Socket %s Error:%s", msg, strerror_r(errsv, buf, sizeof(buf)));
+  }
+};
+/*! \brief helper data structure to perform select */
+struct SelectHelper {
+ public:
+  SelectHelper(void) {}
+  /*!
+   * \brief add file descriptor to watch for read 
+   * \param fd file descriptor to be watched
+   */
+  inline void WatchRead(int fd) {
+    FD_SET(fd, &read_set);
+    if (fd > maxfd) maxfd = fd;
+  }
+  /*!
+   * \brief add file descriptor to watch for write
+   * \param fd file descriptor to be watched
+   */
+  inline void WatchWrite(int fd) {
+    FD_SET(fd, &write_set);
+    if (fd > maxfd) maxfd = fd;
+  }
+  /*!
+   * \brief Check if the descriptor is ready for read
+   * \param 
+   */
+  inline bool CheckRead(int fd) const {
+    return FD_ISSET(fd, &read_set);
+  }
+  inline bool CheckWrite(int fd) const {
+    return FD_ISSET(fd, &write_set);
+  }
+  inline void Clear(void) {
+    FD_ZERO(&read_set);
+    FD_ZERO(&write_set);
+    maxfd = 0;
+  }
+  /*!
+   * \brief peform select on the set defined
+   * \param timeout specify timeout in micro-seconds(ms) if equals 0, means select will always block
+   * \return number of active descriptors selected
+   */
+  inline int Select(long timeout = 0) {
+    int ret;
+    if (timeout == 0) {
+      ret = select(maxfd + 1, &read_set, &write_set, NULL, NULL);
+    } else {
+      timeval tm;
+      tm.tv_usec = (timeout % 1000) * 1000;
+      tm.tv_sec = timeout / 1000;
+      ret = select(maxfd + 1, &read_set, &write_set, NULL, &tm);
+    }
+    if (ret == -1) {
+      int errsv = errno;
+      char buf[256];
+      Error("Select Error:%s", strerror_r(errsv, buf, sizeof(buf)));      
+    }
+    return ret;
+  }
+  
+ private:
+  int maxfd; 
+  fd_set read_set, write_set;
+};
+}
+}
+#endif