node.js tcp socket disconnect handling

Question

I'm establishing a TCP client socket connection to an XMPP server and need a reliable way to detect interruptions in the connection (e.g. server crashes, restarts etc). I have listeners attached to the end, error and close events, but they do not fire reliably when I cut my internet connection during an active connection. How can my client detect when the connection has been broken? I would prefer not to resort to pinging/timeouts.

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 23 '12 at 22:28

4

I'm in no way an expert on TCP or socket programming, but I'm pretty sure that there exists no "reliable way to detect interruptions in the connection". See e.g. this Unix.com thread.

In node, your options seem to be socket.setTimeout/socket.on('timeout', callback) and/or socket.setKeepAlive.

Edit: Here is a guide on TCP keepalive.

answered Apr 23 '12 at 22:28

Linus Thiel

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but do you see, that socket.setTimeout can be used with keepalive packets? – 4esn0k Dec 07 '12 at 08:35

node.js tcp socket disconnect handling

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