Windows NT WinSock Listen (Backlog) Parameter Limit
Article ID: 127144
Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q127144
The WinSock listen() call backlog parameter under Windows NT version 3.5
and 3.51 accepts a maximum value of 100.
The maximum backlog parameter is 5 on Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, and 200 on Windows NT 4.0 Server.
WinSock server applications use the listen() call to establish a socket
for listening for incoming connections. This calls second parameter,
backlog, is defined as the maximum length to which the queue of pending
connections may grow.
The WinSock version 1.1 specification states the maximum value for the
backlog parameter is 5. However, Windows NT version 3.5 accepts up to 100
for this value.
Services that handle a large number of socket connections may be written
to use a larger backlog value to prevent client connection requests from
being dropped. This can be useful when writing applications such as World
Wide WEB (WWW) and gopher servers.
Additional query words: prodnt
Keywords: kbapi kbnetwork kbwinsock KB127144