Keepalive
Keepalive is a mechanism for data transfer with two goals:
- Maintain a network connection " alive " to
- To convince himself of accessibility and functionality of a communication partner.
Keepalives are usually specific packets of a network protocol. They are replaced at regular intervals by an existing communication channel between the partners. The receiver of such a message, a response is expected within a time limit. If the keep-alive packet or the response to it ( repeatedly if necessary) from the corresponding communication partner assumes a disconnection or a malfunction of the communication partner and takes further action. Such measures may be:
- Replacing the network connection with an existing protocol (eg resume a file download, session management for HTTP and VPN connections )
- Reconnection recording under Restart the protocol ( eg SMTP to send mails )
- Final connection task ( abort), ie termination of the protocol with an error message.
- Telecommunications
- Network protocol