ExternalInformationPort component - Used for (UDP-)Information (for example a public key) exchange with "external" communication partners (for example other mixes or clients). This component doesn't affect the sending of mix messages directly (That's done by the InputOutputHandler: see architectureInterfaces.InputOutputHandlerInterface).

Each exchangeable type of information is specified in the enumeration Information. The classes InformationProvider and InformationGrabber provide generic methods for exchanging byte arrays, as well as Information specific interpretation rules (e. g. casting a received byte array of Information-type "public key" to a java PublicKey-object and vice versa).