KeepAliveTimeout

Integer (seconds)

120 (2 minutes)

Purpose

The KeepAliveTimeout parameter specifies the maximum time a connection will remain open after a response has been sent. If another request is made on the connection before the keep‑alive time is reached, it will not be considered by the server to be idle and it will not be closed.

If the server receives another request within the specified time, it starts the timer again (that is, repeated requests from the client within the timeout period will keep the connection open indefinitely).

The minimum value is 5 seconds and the maximum value is 2,147,483,647, but in reality application designers should limit the keep‑alive timeout to a sensible value (for example, less than 10 minutes or whatever makes sense for their application), as keeping inactive connections open consumes server resources for no operational advantage.

When a client application makes a request, it is assumed by the REST server or SOAP web service that this is a one‑time request, and the server closes the connection when it has sent the response. However, in some use cases where it suits the client application to make multiple requests on that same connection, it signals this to the REST server or SOAP web service by setting the "Connection" header value in the request to "Keep-Alive". If the request is valid, the REST server or SOAP web service honors the demand from the client and does not close the connection on transmission of the response.

If the REST server or SOAP web service receives no requests on the connection that has been held open, after the timeout period has expired, the socket connection between the client and the server is closed by the server and no error messages are sent.

The REST client or SOAP web service will still be able to make subsequent requests but they will have to a fresh connection to the server. As the process of opening a new connection adds overhead to the request, keeping the connections open is a performance consideration for client applications.

2022.0.05 and higher