Re: SQL connection timeout -- is it pretty useless or what?

It's more than just "moving wires around"--it's a function of the
fundamental design of the TCP protocol at the hardware layer. Yes, there are
Framework APIs that can test for network availability but they too are
dependent on the NIC to respond--which it won't if there is no wire
attached. Connection timeout was more useful (and more necessary) in the
early days when a server had far less CPU horsepower to run it and the
server or network could be too busy to respond in time.

--
____________________________________
William (Bill) Vaughn
Author, Mentor, Consultant
Microsoft MVP
INETA Speaker
www.betav.com/blog/billva
www.betav.com
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that others can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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"Rob R. Ainscough" <robains@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u20E0xgoGHA.4152@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I was looking it going thru SQL instances but realized that will only work
with local networks.

It seems to me that building in this timeout to permit "move wires around"
is building a solution (with an large negative impact) for a problem that
might happen .0001% of the time? Just about any shop I know, usually
provides "down time" for this activity, so why introduce a 45 second
timeout. Does that make sense to you?

So what is the point of having a TimeOut property? I set it to 90 seconds
and it timed out in 130 seconds, I set it to 2 seconds and it timed out in
45 seconds, I set it to 60 seconds and it timed out in 120 seconds -- just
seems to be to random and very useless to me?

Any way to quick test for a response (with a timeout) from an IP address
and SQL listening port -- hackers seem to be able to do it so it must be
pretty easy.

Rob.

"William (Bill) Vaughn" <billvaRemoveThis@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eM2c9lgoGHA.4996@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The issue is usually that the timeout counter does not start until
network connectivity has been established. If the NIC card can't see the
wire, it's programmed to wait for quite some time before complaining.
This is by design and due to the way the TCP protocol works--it permits
you to move wires around or use a switch/router/hub without worrying that
it will disturb the network. We've talked about this issue for
decades--there is no easy way to resolve it.

hth

--
____________________________________
William (Bill) Vaughn
Author, Mentor, Consultant
Microsoft MVP
INETA Speaker
www.betav.com/blog/billva
www.betav.com
Please reply only to the newsgroup so that others can benefit.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
__________________________________

"Rob R. Ainscough" <robains@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Of95s0foGHA.2464@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm trying to code a routine that will test the connection to a server
and I would like to specific how long (aka timeout) the .Open() should
wait before a timeout error is triggered.

I've tried "connection timeout=10;" in the connect string, but that
still doesn't timeout til 30 seconds have passed. I can't set the
Connection.ConnectionTimeout as that is a read only property. So am I
out of luck? Is there no way to quickly test a SQL connection in .NET
2.0? Operative being quickly as in I can define how long to wait?

Please tell me I don't have to initiate a thread for the SQL connection
and have the thread stop after xx seconds. There must be a more simple
approach no?? VS 2005 is supposed to be RAD (rapid application
development) not WAAD (work around application development).

Thanks, Rob.








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