SUMMARY: Keep Alive

From: COURTIER Denis Athesa (COURTIER@ulysse.cea.fr)
Date: Tue May 17 1994 - 06:56:32 CDT


Hi managers !

My original question was:
 -------------------------

QUESTION :
My customer has asked me about the "keepalive" function of TCP/IP.
Specifically, he wants to know if it is configurable for different times
(send a packet more often than 2 hours, the default).
For now, I've been said that...
============================================================================
==============
The "keepalive " function has to do with sockets. Sockets are communication
channels (ports on a specific host) that enable unrelated processes to
exchange data locally and over networks. A single socket is one endpoint of
the two-way communications channel.

A programmer can set certain options on a socket with the setsockopt()
routine. This routine accepts the SO_KEEPALIVE parameter. This parameter
enables the periodic transmission of messages to a connected socket. If the
connected socket fails to respond to these
messages, the connection is broken and processes using the socket are
notified with a SIGPIPE signal.
============================================================================
==============
But I'm not a programmer !
I can't tell from the documentation if the 120 minute interval is settable
in the kernel (then rebuild) or not. I've been said that SunOS allows to set
it for a smaller interval. It is important to my customer that he can do
this. Is it settable, or do we (or OSF) have plans
to make it settable?
For AIX 3.2, I have this ANSWER:
========================================================
     You could configure the 120 minute interval upgrading to AIX ver 3.2.
 Although this is not documented, AIX ver 3.2 supports user-confugured
 keepalive interval.
     This is accomplished with the "no"(Network Option) command. The "no"
command sets and displays kernel network options. This command must be run
after each startup or after the network has been changed. Issuing the "no
 -a" command from the shell prompt displays the current settings. An example
partial listing is :
          ...
          tcp_keepintvl = 150
          tcp_keepidle = 14400
          ...
========================================================
But what about SunOS ?

My original answer is:
 ----------------------

The answer is coming from the Sybase Release bulletin for SQL Server 4.9:

"
5.3.1. Adjusting Network Client Time-out for SunOS 4.1.x and Above.

       The length of the time-out period in SunOS 4.1.x is adjusted
       through three symbolic constants. These constants can be found
       in /sys/netinet/tcp_timer.h. Adjustment of this time-out
       requires that you modify this file and rebuild the kernel. Make
       a backup copy of this file before you modify it.

       For best server performance, shorten the time-out period to one
       minute by changing the constants as shown below:
       from
               #define TCPTV_KEEP_IDLE (120*60*PR_SLOWHZ)
       to
               #define TCPTV_KEEP_IDLE ( 2*60*PR_SLOWHZ)
       from
               #define TCPTV_KEEPINTVL ( 75*PR_SLOWHZ)
       to
               #define TCPTV_KEEPINTVL ( 60*PR_SLOWHZ)
       and from
               #define TCPTV_KEEPCNT 8
       to
               #define TCPTV_KEEPCNT 1

       The exact format of these source lines may vary slightly in
       different SunOS releases. The value of TCPTV_KEEP_IDLE determines
       the total time to wait after making a connection before probing
       the connection for activity. We reduced it from two hours to two
       minutes. We also reduced TCPTV_KEEPCNT from ten minutes to one
       minute. The total time-out interval is the product of
       TCPTV_KEEPINTVL and TCPTV_KEEPCNT. One PR_SLOWHZ time unit
       is roughly equal to one second.
"

It's working very well. It's very usefull for people who are working on PC
and running the "Q+E" application.
"Q+E" sometimes reboots the PC but the link still exists towards the SQL
server (SUN SS10 for example).
The link stay openned for a while that can reach 2 hours by default or 2
MINUTES if you install these changes.
If many people reboot their PCs several times, the maximum number of
SQL-connection can be quickly reached.

Thanks to:
     Pierre.Pertsov@sybase.com
     guycole@netcom.com
     lledo@sphinx.cea.fr



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