Timeout value for TCP/IP

[Karl Clapp]

A client is experiencing some timeout issues with TCP/IP. I looked all over the documentation and couldn't find where one can set the timeout value for acknowlegments in TCP/IP (assuming it can be set). Version is 4.0G. Does anyone know if or how this can be set? Any info appreciated.
Thanks,
Karl

[Ralf Puchner]

due to different RFC implementations it is difficult to specify the "real delay" of an acknowledge timeout (guessing 200..500ms depending on OS and RFC implementation), because features like nagle algorithm, delayed acknowledge etc. will have some influences when and if an acknowledge will be sent immediately (which depends also on windowsizes).

A good starter is to have a look into the admin guide (section kernel tuning) and checking sysconfig -q inet.

Tru64 uses delayed acknowledge by default so the timeframe until an acknowledge is about 200ms.

Btw. If you mean keepalive timeouts (2 hours) its easier, maybe you can be more specific to the problem of your client (udp/tcp, application, behaviour etc.)

[Karl Clapp]

Thanks Ralf. I'll check the kernel config. The keepalive timeouts may indeed be what I need to set higher. The telnet sessions keep timing out and the netstat report is indicating the timeouts and session drops.

[Ralf Puchner · Accepted solution]

the keepalive is not enabled by default and the timeout is set to 2 hours (standard). But this leads no to a timeout problem for telnet or other applications....

So if telnet timed out it seems to be a network problem not a "kernel setting" issue. Monitor the netstat -i output and be sure switch is configured properly depending on the used network devices!

[Karl Clapp]

Thanks again, Ralf. Will do!