- From: John Franks <john@math.nwu.edu>
- Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 15:41:06 -0500 (CDT)
- To: Jeffrey Mogul <mogul@pa.dec.com>
- Cc: Ben Laurie <ben@algroup.co.uk>, HTTP Working Group <http-wg%cuckoo.hpl.hp.com@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
On Fri, 31 May 1996, Jeffrey Mogul wrote:
> 'HTTP/1.1 servers SHOULD maintain persistent connections and use TCPs
> flow control mechanisms to resolve temporary overloads, rather than
> terminating connections with the expectation that clients will retry.
> The latter technique can exacerbate network congestion.'
>
> On a practical note; how do I distinguish between an idle client, a dead
> client, and one that is avoiding network congestion? Should the standard
> give some guidelines?
>
> Actually, the real question is "how do I distinguish between an idle
> client, a dead client, and one that can no longer be reached over
> the network?" (Network congestion tends to result in slow but not
> totally failed communication.)
>
> The answer to the real question is "you can't, so don't bother to try."
> Treat them all the same: when you get tired of waiting, give up. Many
> servers seem to use a timeout of about 20 minutes for this.
^^^^^^^
Is this a typo? Wouldn't 20 seconds be more appropriate?
That's what I use by default, though actually I vary it in some
circumstances. I suspect in the future servers may have heuristics
to pick this time.
John Franks Dept of Math. Northwestern University
john@math.nwu.edu
Received on Friday, 31 May 1996 13:47:19 UTC