receiveTimeout Breaks the communication channel after inactivity?

Question

Hi,

I have a WCF service hosted in IIS that has the following binding config :

 <binding name="netTcpRegular" closeTimeout="00:01:00" openTimeout="00:01:00" receiveTimeout="00:00:20" sendTimeout="00:20:00" transactionFlow="false" transferMode="Buffered" transactionProtocol="OleTransactions" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard" listenBacklog="10" maxBufferPoolSize="2147483647" maxBufferSize="2147483647" maxConnections="10" maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647">
          <readerQuotas maxDepth="2147483647" maxStringContentLength="2147483647" maxArrayLength="2147483647" maxBytesPerRead="2147483647" maxNameTableCharCount="2147483647"/>
          <reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="infinite" enabled="false"/>
          <security mode="None">
            <transport clientCredentialType="None" />
          </security>
        </binding>

When the client(that holds the channel open) have logged in to the WCF service the channel will throw a faulted exception after 20 secon and Im not doing anything att all, not even commuinicating with the service? SO after 20 sec of inactivity the communication will fail.

The receiveTimeout should only affect when a call is in progress right? So how could it timout when doing nothing but having the channel open and ready for doing service call?

Edit:

By using the WCF log I get this exceptions:

<DataItem>
<TraceRecord xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2004/10/E2ETraceEvent/TraceRecord" Severity="Error">
<TraceIdentifier>http://msdn.microsoft.com/sv-SE/library/System.ServiceModel.Diagnostics.ThrowingException.aspx</TraceIdentifier>
<Description>Throwing an exception.</Description>
<AppDomain>/LM/W3SVC/1/ROOT/MyTest-1-129811288584315020</AppDomain>
<Exception>
<ExceptionType>System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException, System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</ExceptionType>
<Message>The socket connection was aborted. This could be caused by an error processing your message or a receive timeout being exceeded by the remote host, or an underlying network resource issue. Local socket timeout was '10675199.02:48:05.4775807'.</Message>
<StackTrace>
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.PreReadConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.DelegatingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.DelegatingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SessionConnectionReader.OnAsyncReadComplete(Object state)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.TracingConnectionState.ExecuteCallback()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.WaitCallback(Object state)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.FinishRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.AsyncReadCallback(Boolean haveResult, Int32 error, Int32 bytesRead)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.OverlappedContext.CompleteCallback(UInt32 error, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)
at System.Runtime.Fx.IOCompletionThunk.UnhandledExceptionFrame(UInt32 error, UInt32 bytesRead, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)
at System.Threading._IOCompletionCallback.PerformIOCompletionCallback(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* pOVERLAP)
</StackTrace>
<ExceptionString>System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException: The socket connection was aborted. This could be caused by an error processing your message or a receive timeout being exceeded by the remote host, or an underlying network resource issue. Local socket timeout was '10675199.02:48:05.4775807'. ---&gt; System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---</ExceptionString>
<InnerException>
<ExceptionType>System.Net.Sockets.SocketException, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</ExceptionType>
<Message>An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host</Message>
<StackTrace>
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.PreReadConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.DelegatingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.DelegatingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SessionConnectionReader.OnAsyncReadComplete(Object state)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.TracingConnectionState.ExecuteCallback()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.WaitCallback(Object state)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.FinishRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.AsyncReadCallback(Boolean haveResult, Int32 error, Int32 bytesRead)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.OverlappedContext.CompleteCallback(UInt32 error, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)
at System.Runtime.Fx.IOCompletionThunk.UnhandledExceptionFrame(UInt32 error, UInt32 bytesRead, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)
at System.Threading._IOCompletionCallback.PerformIOCompletionCallback(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* pOVERLAP)
</StackTrace>
<ExceptionString>System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host</ExceptionString>
<NativeErrorCode>2746</NativeErrorCode>
</InnerException>
</Exception>
</TraceRecord>
</DataItem>

---

<TraceRecord xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2004/10/E2ETraceEvent/TraceRecord" Severity="Error">
<TraceIdentifier>http://msdn.microsoft.com/sv-SE/library/System.ServiceModel.Diagnostics.ThrowingException.aspx</TraceIdentifier>
<Description>Throwing an exception.</Description>
<AppDomain>/LM/W3SVC/1/ROOT/MyTest-1-129811288584315020</AppDomain>
<Exception>
<ExceptionType>System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException, System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</ExceptionType>
<Message>The socket connection was aborted. This could be caused by an error processing your message or a receive timeout being exceeded by the remote host, or an underlying network resource issue. Local socket timeout was '10675199.02:48:05.4775807'.</Message>
<StackTrace>
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.PreReadConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.DelegatingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.DelegatingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.EndRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SessionConnectionReader.OnAsyncReadComplete(Object state)
</StackTrace>
<ExceptionString>System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException: The socket connection was aborted. This could be caused by an error processing your message or a receive timeout being exceeded by the remote host, or an underlying network resource issue. Local socket timeout was '10675199.02:48:05.4775807'. ---&gt; System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.EndRead()
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.PreReadConnection.EndRead()
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.DelegatingConnection.EndRead()
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.DelegatingConnection.EndRead()
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.EndRead()
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SessionConnectionReader.OnAsyncReadComplete(Object state)</ExceptionString>
<InnerException>
<ExceptionType>System.Net.Sockets.SocketException, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089</ExceptionType>
<Message>An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host</Message>
<StackTrace>
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SessionConnectionReader.GetPendingMessage()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SessionConnectionReader.EndReceive()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SynchronizedMessageSource.ReceiveAsyncResult.OnReceiveComplete(Object state)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SessionConnectionReader.OnAsyncReadComplete(Object state)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.TracingConnectionState.ExecuteCallback()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.TracingConnection.WaitCallback(Object state)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.FinishRead()
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.SocketConnection.AsyncReadCallback(Boolean haveResult, Int32 error, Int32 bytesRead)
at System.ServiceModel.Channels.OverlappedContext.CompleteCallback(UInt32 error, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)
at System.Runtime.Fx.IOCompletionThunk.UnhandledExceptionFrame(UInt32 error, UInt32 bytesRead, NativeOverlapped* nativeOverlapped)
at System.Threading._IOCompletionCallback.PerformIOCompletionCallback(UInt32 errorCode, UInt32 numBytes, NativeOverlapped* pOVERLAP)
</StackTrace>
<ExceptionString>System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host</ExceptionString>
<NativeErrorCode>2746</NativeErrorCode>
</InnerException>
</Exception>
</TraceRecord>

Edit:

Clientside binding :

<binding name="NetTcpBinding_IMyClientServiceRegular" closeTimeout="00:01:00" openTimeout="00:00:30" receiveTimeout="00:00:30" sendTimeout="00:00:30" transactionFlow="false" transferMode="Buffered" transactionProtocol="OleTransactions" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard" listenBacklog="10" maxBufferPoolSize="2147483647" maxBufferSize="2147483647" maxConnections="10" maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647">
  <readerQuotas maxDepth="2147483647" maxStringContentLength="2147483647" maxArrayLength="2147483647" maxBytesPerRead="2147483647" maxNameTableCharCount="2147483647"/>
  <reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="infinite" enabled="false"/>
  <security mode="None">
    <transport clientCredentialType="None"/>
  </security>
</binding>

Answer 1

You missunderstand the meaning of ReceiveTimeout. It is "the interval of time that a connection can remain inactive, during which no application messages are received, before it is dropped". To extend this to infinity you need to enable reliable sessions. Hope this clears it up.

Edit: Here is further description, i think the property you are after is sendtimeout

Answer 2

The receive timeout is how long it waits for all data to be received.

The time starts running as soon as the chanel is open, it does not detect the first byte that you send and start the timer then.

It is a bit like a taxi that starts the meter when you wave it down, not when you get in.