RMI stuck on network disconnection

[Peter Jones]

On Jun 8, 2009, at 10:27 AM, Alan Bateman wrote:
> Guy Korland wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I found out that an RMI call might never return on network  
>> disconnection and will not throw RemoteException as expected.
>> The scenario is very simple:
>>
>> 1. Find a remote stub (the stub should be behind a router).
>> 2. Physically disconnect the server from the LAN.
>> 3. Invoke a method from the client, the client can stuck without an  
>> exception up to 30 min.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> -- 
>> Thanks,
>> Guy
> I would suggest searching the archives of the rmi-users list [1].   
> Also check the properties that control timeouts [2].
>
> -Alan.
>
> [1] http://archives.java.sun.com/archives/rmi-users.html
> [2] http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/rmi/sunrmiproperties.html

Hmm, it had been my understanding that the LISTSERV at java.sun.com  
would cease operation at the beginning of this month, but at least the  
archives still seem available for now (which is great).  Here is a  
post from some years ago about the behavior of an RMI/JRMP client in  
the face of network disconnection at various stages of a connection's  
life cycle, and some ways of controlling it:

     http://archives.java.sun.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0212&L=rmi- 
users&P=731

Are you saying that the invocation eventually fails with an exception,  
after 30 minutes?  In the situation you describe, with the connection  
attempt not starting until after the network disconnection has  
occurred, I would expect a RemoteException when the TCP retransmission  
for connection establishment expires-- the default timeout for this  
varies by OS but is typically from one to several minutes.

-- Peter