Web Server Keep-Alive & Connection Multiplexing: Optimizing TCP Overhead
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Published by ZodHost Engineering Team
Executive Summary & Key Takeaways
Master TCP Keep-Alive timeout tuning and HTTP connection multiplexing to reduce handshake latency on high-frequency web applications.
Eliminating Redundant TCP & TLS Handshakes
Every new TCP connection requires a 3-way handshake (SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK) followed by a 2-way TLS 1.3 cryptographic negotiation. HTTP Keep-Alive allows multiple asset requests over a single persistent TCP stream.
Recommended Timeout Configuration
Set keepalive_timeout 65; in Nginx or KeepAliveTimeout 5 in Apache to balance worker process memory retention with connection reuse efficiency.