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Stayin' alive

OS config

Linux proc

echo 600 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_keepalive_time
echo 60 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_keepalive_intvl
echo 20 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_keepalive_probes

Registry keys

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters

TCP_KEEPCNT: overrides tcp_keepalive_probes
TCP_KEEPIDLE: overrides tcp_keepalive_time
TCP_KEEPINTVL: overrides tcp_keepalive_intvl

Peek data to check socket is open.

recv(sock, &buf, 1, MSG_PEEK | MSG_DONTWAIT);

Linux only

MSG_DONTWAIT: set blocking per recv call

Windows PowerShell script

while (1) {clear; echo hello; netstat -n -a | select-string 2300; sleep 1}

C

Set extra params using SOL_TCP.

optval = 1;
optlen = sizeof(optval);
if(setsockopt(s, SOL_SOCKET, SO_KEEPALIVE, &optval, optlen) < 0) {
perror("setsockopt()");
close(s);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}

Nagle's algorithm

"Congestion Control in IP/TCP Internetworks"

  • TCP_NODELAY
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagle%27s_algorithm

References

  • https://holmeshe.me/network-essentials-setsockopt-SO_KEEPALIVE/
  • https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winsock/so-keepalive
  • https://tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/TCP-Keepalive-HOWTO/