A good question, Jake. Here's how an HTTP connection normally works:
- A socket is opened by the client to the server.
- The client sends a request that says what it wants and some details on what it can accept.
- The server responds with a status code and the response body, and then (usually) closes the connection.
In a persistent connection instead of doing a single request response we might send a lot more data down the wire (consider an ssh connection as an example), and if there's no data to send, there will be periodic keepalives to make sure the connection is open. If a keepalive doesn't appear in time, we know the connection has failed and it's time to reopen a new one.
A good question, Jake. Here's how an HTTP connection normally works:
- A socket is opened by the client to the server.
- The client sends a request that says what it wants and some details on what it can accept.
- The server responds with a status code and the response body, and then (usually) closes the connection.
In a persistent connection instead of doing a single request response we might send a lot more data down the wire (consider an ssh connection as an example), and if there's no data to send, there will be periodic keepalives to make sure the connection is open. If a keepalive doesn't appear in time, we know the connection has failed and it's time to reopen a new one.