re: CLOSE_WAIT Problem

[Dan Kegel]

Chriss wrote:
> I wrote a simple server application and installed it on a linux machine
> in Slovakia, running Mandrake 7.2 (2.2.18).
> That machine loses tcp/ip packages, as it uses a Microwave connection.
> So my server works all the time, and the tcp/ip connections are set to
> TIME_WAIT, but after a couple of hours
> my server application won't get any connections anymore and the netstat
> shows a lot of CLOSE_WAITs that belong to the server.
> I've installed the same server on two SuSE 7.1 (2.2.18) machines in
> Austria, and the problem never occured.
> So does anyone know how to avoid that CLOSE_WAITs, or at least how to
> get rid of  them?

Dunno if this will help, but:

They're supposed to go away by themselves after 2MSL (about 120 seconds).
Other people (on many operating systems) have reported similar problems, btw:

http://uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/net/9611.2/0043.html
http://www.sunmanagers.org/pipermail/sunmanagers/2001-April/002894.html
http://www2.real-time.com/tclug-list/1999/Jun/msg00254.html
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-bugs/1996/04/16/0004.html

The last one has a fix for an old bug in netbsd that could cause this.
- Dan