Nginx keepalive_requests - What value to use for unlimited?

Question

We are using an nginx backend behind a nginx proxy.

We use upstream keepalives.

They work quite nicely.

We were wondering, what value would we set keepalive_requests on the backend to set the maximum number of keepalive requests to unlimited?

Thanks!

Solution

There is no special value to mean unlimited. Use some big number (up to 2147483647 on 32-bit platforms) instead.

Comments

[محمّد محسن احمدی]

yep, we have taken a look at the nginx source. nothing in there that would point to a value that sets keepalive_requests to unlimited. this will have to do. thanks!

[wick]

Maxim, and what's the point of not having an option to let infinite keep-alive? If a connection is actively used why would it have to be reopen every N http requests?

[Maxim Dounin]

@wick, the main reason is that there are some allocations from a connection memory pool which may happen, and the connection have to be closed to free the memory.

[Jonathon Reinhart]

@wick I asked a very similar question: Why would you ever set MaxKeepAliveRequests to anything but unlimited?