Android: HttpURLConnection doesn't disconnect

Question

by running netstat on the server:
UNTIL A FEW DAYS AGO: I could see the connection being ESTABLISHED only for about a second, and then it would disappear from the list
NOW: it stays as ESTABLISHED for about 10 seconds, then it goes into FIN_WAIT1 and FIN_WAIT2

the Android code is the same, the server is still the same

is it possible that some kind of Android update might have changed things?

I can't really explain it.

I report the code below. The urlConnection.disconnect() gets executed, but the connection remains established on the server.

    HttpURLConnection urlConnection = null;
    System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false");

    try {
        URL url = new URL(stringUrl);
        urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
        InputStream instream = new BufferedInputStream(urlConnection.getInputStream());
        ...
        instream.close();
    } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        if (urlConnection!=null) {
            urlConnection.disconnect();
        }
    }

Answer 1

The moment all data on input stream is consumed, the connection is released automatically and added to the connection pool. The underlying socket connection is not released, assuming the connection will be reused in near future. It is a good practice to call disconnect in finally block, as it takes care of connection release in case of exceptions.

Here is the implementation of read method of FixedLengthInputStream:

@Override public int read(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) throws IOException {
        Arrays.checkOffsetAndCount(buffer.length, offset, count);
        checkNotClosed();
        if (bytesRemaining == 0) {
            return -1;
        }
        int read = in.read(buffer, offset, Math.min(count, bytesRemaining));
        if (read == -1) {
            unexpectedEndOfInput(); // the server didn't supply the promised content length
            throw new IOException("unexpected end of stream");
        }
        bytesRemaining -= read;
        cacheWrite(buffer, offset, read);
        if (bytesRemaining == 0) {
            endOfInput(true);
        }
        return read;
    }

When bytesRemaining variable becomes 0, endOfInput is called which will futher call release method with true parameter, which will ensures the connection is pooled.

protected final void endOfInput(boolean reuseSocket) throws IOException {
    if (cacheRequest != null) {
            cacheBody.close();
    }
    httpEngine.release(reuseSocket);
}

Here is the release method implementation. The last if check ensures whether connection need to be closed down or added to the connection pool for reuse.

public final void release(boolean reusable) {
    // If the response body comes from the cache, close it.
    if (responseBodyIn == cachedResponseBody) {
        IoUtils.closeQuietly(responseBodyIn);
    }
    if (!connectionReleased && connection != null) {
        connectionReleased = true;
        // We cannot reuse sockets that have incomplete output.
        if (requestBodyOut != null && !requestBodyOut.closed) {
            reusable = false;
        }
        // If the headers specify that the connection shouldn't be reused, don't reuse it.
        if (hasConnectionCloseHeader()) {
            reusable = false;
        }
        if (responseBodyIn instanceof UnknownLengthHttpInputStream) {
            reusable = false;
        }
        if (reusable && responseBodyIn != null) {
            // We must discard the response body before the connection can be reused.
            try {
                Streams.skipAll(responseBodyIn);
            } catch (IOException e) {
                reusable = false;
            }
        }
        if (!reusable) {
            connection.closeSocketAndStreams();
            connection = null;
        } else if (automaticallyReleaseConnectionToPool) {
            HttpConnectionPool.INSTANCE.recycle(connection);
            connection = null;
        }
    }
}

Note: I had previously answered couple of SO questions related to HttpURLConnection, which can help you in understanding the underlying implementation. Here are the links : Link1 and Link2.

Answer 2

As per how the TCP protocol works, when you close a connection, it doesn't automatically disappear from within your socket list.

When you send the termination signal to the other part, there starts a protocol (a procedure, morelike), where the first step is precisely your intention of closing the connection. You send a signal to the other node and that would involve the FIN_WAIT1 status.

When the user has received that signal, the next step is to acknowledge it from the remote side. This means that the opposite server sends you another signal symbolizing that the node is ready to close the connection too. That would be the FIN_WAIT2 status.

Between these two steps, it might happen that the remote node hasn't responded yet (so you're not been acknowledged that you want to close the connection). In that time, you would be in an intermediate state called CLOSE_WAIT (resuming: once you've sent the FIN signal to the remote server and they haven't responded yet).

The TIME_WAIT state would mean that you are giving some graceful time to the server before definitely closing it to receive some packets. You do this because connection anomalies might happen, and the remote server could have not received the 'disconnection' message and send you some packet. So when that happens, instead of creating a new socket between both nodes, you associate it to the one you have in the TIME_WAIT state and simply discard that packet because probably the sequence number will not be ordered.

There are some other states you might see, but according to the way you describe it, it seems pretty normal to me, unless when you call the .disconnect() method, the ESTABLISHED status would last. In that case something's not working as expected (it might be related to some kind of overloading or non-optimized code which might make your execution very slow).

Answer 3

You have to disconnect your open UrlConnection

HttpURLConnection urlConnection = null;
System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false");

try {
    URL url = new URL(stringUrl);
    urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
    InputStream instream = new BufferedInputStream(urlConnection.getInputStream());
    ...
    instream.close();
    urlConnection.disconnect(); //HERE
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
    if (urlConnection!=null) {
        urlConnection.disconnect();
    }
}