Re: [PATCH] Configurable TCP KeepAlives

hi James,

> FreeTDS configuration parameters affect the Tabular Data Stream only, not
> the application, and not the underlying communication layer.  Non-TDS
> behavior is best controlled by non-TDS tools.

But in the real-world TDS probably runs mostly on TCP, and FreeTDS
only runs on TCP.


> When perfectly good network connections fail without any
> attributable cause in the client or server, ...

It's not necessarily always a network issue - the remote host could be
rebooted or have a power-failure, similar for a stateful router /
firewall.
The keepalive mechanism has to do with detecting these unexpected
situations sooner.

http://blogs.msdn.com/sql_protocols/archive/2006/03/09/546852.aspx
  "As an example, under default configuration, SQL Server can detect a
'orphaned' connection in about 35 seconds."

Sybase has similar advice about adjusting the TCP keepalive settings.


> Again, I have no problem exposing the underlying endpoint for manipulation
> by ioctl(2).  But, because the keepalive parameters are invisible to TDS
> per se, they should not be configured by the library.

Maybe we can then rather add a [tcp] section to the freetds.conf
The patch only modifies the KeepAlive settings if you add the options
to the configuration file.  Don't need them, don't add them.


Regards,
  Andrew Victor