What is connection management?
Connection management in networking refers to the process of establishing, maintaining, and terminating connections between devices or systems within a network. In the web, connections typically refer to logical associations or pathways that enable communication between devices.
Connection management process include:
Connection Establishment: The process begins with initiating a connection request from one party (client) to another (server). This typically involve protocols such as TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) or UDP (User Datagram Protocol) for establishing connections between hosts in a network, or protocols like HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) for establishing connections between clients and servers in web applications.
Handshake: Once the connection request is received, the server validates the request and responds with a handshake message to acknowledge and establish the connection. During the handshake, both parties may exchange additional information required for secure communication, such as cryptographic keys.
Data Transfer: With the connection established, data can be transmitted between the client and server. This may involve multiple rounds of data exchange, depending on the communication protocol and application requirements.
Connection Monitoring: Throughout the lifespan of the connection, both parties monitor its status to ensure continued reliability and performance. This may involve periodic checks, heartbeats, or other mechanisms to detect and handle connection failures or timeouts.
Connection Termination: When the data exchange is complete or either party wishes to end the connection, a termination sequence is initiated. This involves sending a termination request or notification, followed by the acknowledgment and closure of the connection.
Resource Management: Connection management also involves efficient allocation and utilization of resources, such as network bandwidth, memory, and processing power, to support multiple concurrent connections without compromising performance or stability.
Connection Error Handling and Recovery: Connection management systems implement error detection, correction, and recovery mechanisms to handle various issues that may arise during connection establishment or data transfer, such as packet loss, network congestion, or hardware failures.
Connection management is a important part of network architecture.
Connection troubleshooting
Common connection management errors include:
Connection timeouts: Awaiting time refers to the period during which the system remains in this state, waiting for the connection to be established or the timeout to occur. A common procedure for managing connection timeouts involves setting a reasonable timeout period, typically in seconds (ie. 30s), to balance between allowing enough time for connections to be established and avoiding prolonged delays in case of failure.
Connection refused: Occurs when the server actively rejects the connection request, often due to being overloaded or misconfigured.
Connection reset: Happens when an established connection is terminated abruptly by one of the parties involved, usually due to network issues.
Connection dropped: The connection is terminated unexpectedly without proper closure, leading to data loss or corruption.
DNS resolution failure: The system is unable to resolve the domain name to an IP address, preventing connection establishment.
Too many connections: When the server reaches its limit for accepting new connections, causing subsequent connection attempts to fail.
Firewall or security restrictions: Connections are blocked or restricted by firewall rules or security settings, preventing successful communication.
Incorrect credentials: Authentication failure due to providing incorrect login credentials or authorization tokens.
Server unavailability: The server is offline or inaccessible, preventing any connection attempts from being successful.
Network congestion: Heavy traffic or network issues lead to delays (ping) or failures in connection establishment.
Other names for connection management:
Network communication control
Web/Network session management
Connection handling/control
Session handling
Communication protocol management
Network connectivity
For more informations please visit PubNub connection management technical documentation