Output from netstat -a

[ASSIST]

what's the meaning of the state filed of netstat -an command?

CLOSE_WAIT
LISTEN
ESTABLISHED
SYN_SENT

[ASSIST]

and FIN_WAIT_2......

[John Poff · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Those are different states of sockets. The LISTEN means that a process has a socket open and is waiting for something to come along and connect. The ESTABLISHED is a socket that is connected. The CLOSE_WAIT and FIN_WAIT_2 states are what you see on each end of a socket when they are in the process of closing. Often they will get hung in this state if one side or the other is not sending an acknowledgement.

Here is a link to a document that briefly lists the states.


http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docLocale=en_US&docId=200000063235782

I hope that helps a little. I gave a ten cent explanation to a ten dollar question. :)

JP

[Christopher McCray_1]

Hello,

Check out this link:

http://www2.itrc.hp.com/service/cki/docDisplay.do?docLocale=en_US&docId=200000063235782

Also, do a search on netstat in the technical knowledge base. I has postings on each, like "What does CLOSE_WAIT state mean?" and so on.

Hope this helps

Chris

[Bill Thorsteinson]

LISTEN indicates a process is waiting for a connection. Generally a server process.

ESTABLISHED indicates a connection is active.

CLOSE_WAIT and FIN_WAIT* indicate a connection is being closed or has been closed recently. The protocol stack is waiting to verify no more packets will arrive on the connection.

I think SYN_SENT occurs during startup.