Read the article to know more about the keepalive_timeout in NGINX. Bobcares, as a part of our Server Management Service offers solutions to every query that comes our way.

More on keepalive_timeout in NGINX

The Nginx configuration file’s keepalive_timeout setting describes how long the server must wait before receiving requests from a client. Another way to put it is that it represents the duration for which an idle keepalive connection will remain active. For between six and ten seconds, it is advisable to leave the idle connection open.

The server will be overburdened and RAM resources will be squandered if the keepalive_timeout setting is set too high. The syntax is as follows:

keepalive_timeout [time]

For instance, if we set the time to 10 seconds, it will look like:

keepalive_timeout 10;

We’ll look into the main components of the function:

1. Keep-Alive Connection: The NGINX server can decide whether to maintain the connection after providing the response when a client (such as a browser) sends a request. Avoiding the time-consuming process of creating a new connection for every request will also enable the client to reuse the same connection for subsequent requests.

2. Idle Timeout: The keepalive_timeout directive determines the longest period of inactivity for a persistent connection. NGINX will kill the connection to free up server resources if no requests are delivered across it during this time.

3. Syntax: We can set up the directive in server blocks or the nginx.conf configuration file for NGINX.

The value of keepalive_timeout must be balanced. Also, setting it too high would result in lots of unused connections, which would use up server resources. Setting it too low might lead to more connections being opened for each request, which would increase overhead.

When setting the keepalive_timeout value, we must take into account the features of the application and the anticipated client usage patterns. A greater value can be appropriate if the application handles numerous requests from the same client in a short amount of time. On the other hand, a smaller amount can be preferable if we have many clients making infrequent requests.

Always test and track the effect of the keepalive_timeout parameter on the performance of the NGINX server to discover the ideal setting for the particular use.

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Conclusion

With the keepalive_timeout in NGINX, we can decide how long the server must wait before receiving requests from a client.