java.net.SocketException: Software caused connection abort: recv failed

Question

I haven't been able to find an adequate answer to what exactly the following error means:

java.net.SocketException: Software caused connection abort: recv failed

Notes:

• This error is infrequent and unpredictable; although getting this error means that all future requests for URIs will also fail.
• The only solution that works (also, only occasionally) is to reboot Tomcat and/or the actual machine (Windows in this case).
• The URI is definitely available (as confirmed by asking the browser to do the fetch).

Relevant code:

BufferedReader reader;
try { 
 URL url = new URL(URI);
 reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url.openStream())));
} catch( MalformedURLException e ) { 
 throw new IOException("Expecting a well-formed URL: " + e); 
}//end try: Have a stream

String buffer;
StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
while( null != (buffer = reader.readLine()) ) { 
 result.append(buffer); 
}//end while: Got the contents.
reader.close();

Answer 1

This usually means that there was a network error, such as a TCP timeout. I would start by placing a sniffer (wireshark) on the connection to see if you can see any problems. If there is a TCP error, you should be able to see it. Also, you can check your router logs, if this is applicable. If wireless is involved anywhere, that is another source for these kind of errors.

Answer 2

This also happens if your TLS client is unable to be authenticate by the server configured to require client authentication.

Answer 3

This error occurs when a connection is closed abruptly (when a TCP connection is reset while there is still data in the send buffer). The condition is very similar to a much more common 'Connection reset by peer'. It can happen sporadically when connecting over the Internet, but also systematically if the timing is right (e.g. with keep-alive connections on localhost).

An HTTP client should just re-open the connection and retry the request. It is important to understand that when a connection is in this state, there is no way out of it other than to close it. Any attempt to send or receive will produce the same error.

Don't use URL.open(), use Apache-Commons HttpClient which has a retry mechanism, connection pooling, keep-alive and many other features.

Sample usage:

HttpClient httpClient = HttpClients.custom()
            .setConnectionTimeToLive(20, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .setMaxConnTotal(400).setMaxConnPerRoute(400)
            .setDefaultRequestConfig(RequestConfig.custom()
                    .setSocketTimeout(30000).setConnectTimeout(5000).build())
            .setRetryHandler(new DefaultHttpRequestRetryHandler(5, true))
            .build();
// the httpClient should be re-used because it is pooled and thread-safe.

HttpGet request = new HttpGet(uri);
HttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(request);
reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent()));
// handle response ...

Answer 4

Are you accessing http data? Can you use the HttpClient library instead of the standard library? The library has more options and will provide better error messages.

http://hc.apache.org/httpclient-3.x/

Answer 5

The only time I've seen something like this happen is when I have a bad connection, or when somebody is closing the socket that I am using from a different thread context.

Answer 6

Try adding 'autoReconnect=true' to the jdbc connection string

Answer 7

This will happen from time to time either when a connection times out or when a remote host terminates their connection (closed application, computer shutdown, etc). You can avoid this by managing sockets yourself and handling disconnections in your application via its communications protocol and then calling shutdownInput and shutdownOutput to clear up the session.

Answer 8

Look if you have another service or program running on the http port. It happened to me when I tried to use the port and it was taken by another program.

Answer 9

If you are using Netbeans to manage Tomcat, try to disable HTTP monitor in Tools - Servers

Answer 10

I too had this problem. My solution was:

sc.setSoLinger(true, 10);

COPY FROM A WEBSITE -->By using the setSoLinger() method, you can explicitly set a delay before a reset is sent, giving more time for data to be read or send.

Maybe it is not the answer to everybody but to some people.