Re: Extended comm loss and TCP/IP

[Corey Ashford <yeroca@rocketmail.com>]

Mark McKercher wrote:
[snip]
> If comm is lost while in the middle of a CORBA request and it takes 10
> or more minutes to re-establish comm, then there is trouble.  It appears
> as though the server side completes the request but abandons the return
> to the client after 10 minutes.  The client, on the otherhand, is
> waiting infinitely for the return.  Hence, the client side is locked up
> and never frees up.
> 
> Our orb vendor has looked at the problem and has determined that it is a
> TCP/IP problem... it never sends any indication to orb of a problem.
> 
> Has anyone else experienced such problems with TCP/IP and are there any
> workarounds for such a problem?

It seems like the server side ought to close the socket if it believes there's
an unrecoverable error and has given up waiting for a response.
That way when the client finally establishes contact
again, it will be made aware by TCP/IP that the socket has closed.  At this
point the client ought to be able to reestablish a new connection.

If the socket is just left open, and the server has given up on the protocol,
it's a problem waiting to happen.

Another possible solution would be to change the server so that it just never times
out.

- Corey