Socket Programing java - how much time socket connection is alive? And how can I control it?

Question

Do you know how can I keep alive a socket connection if I do not do any actions on the socket? I just noticed that if my connection is on background and I do not operate it I get this:

java.net.SocketException: Connection reset by peer: socket write error
    at java.net.SocketOutputStream.socketWrite0(Native Method)
    at java.net.SocketOutputStream.socketWrite(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.SocketOutputStream.write(Unknown Source)
    at java.io.DataOutputStream.writeInt(Unknown Source)

So, how can I control that the connection will not be lost after some idle time and after how much time by default does it happen?

Duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1480236/does-a-tcp-socket-connection-have-a-keep-alive — Klas Lindbäck, Oct 28 '11 at 11:48
@KlasLindbäck No it isn't. The immediate problem here is a reset. — user207421, Mar 28 '16 at 23:52

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 28 '16 at 23:51

2

This problem has no general solution. It is quite likely that the remote server / service that has decided to reset/close the TCP/IP connection. How and why it decides is application specific. An application specific solution will be required to prevent it.

FWIW, the SO_KEEP_ALIVE mechanism causes the protocol stack to occasionally exchange messages on an otherwise idle TCP/IP connection. This may help if you are experiencing resets on a NATed connection due to port reuse. The relevant Java method is Socket.setKeepAlive.

edited Mar 28 '16 at 23:51

user207421

305,947
44
307
483

answered Oct 28 '11 at 11:57

Stephen C

698,415
94
811
1,216

okay thanks, do you have any link to the mechanism you specified I may try it, I'm runing my server on ubuntu 10 if thats help. – Mulder Oct 28 '11 at 12:02
any way to control the keepalive timeout length? – MeBigFatGuy Feb 03 '13 at 20:11

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 29 '11 at 01:08

1

Connection reset by peer: socket write error

This is usually caused by writing to a connection that has already been closed by the peer. It is an application protocol error. You should investigate that first before worrying about connection lifetimes.

answered Oct 29 '11 at 01:08

user207421

305,947
44
307
483

Socket Programing java - how much time socket connection is alive? And how can I control it?

2 Answers2