IBM API Connect Configuration example: Creating a Gateway extension to tune the timeout settings on API Gateway

Summary

On DataPower when using IBM API Connect, the API Gateway object has 2 timeouts configured, which affect all API calls.

The front timeout controls the amount of time the connection from the client to API Gateway can be idle while an active transaction is occurring and has a default value of 120 seconds.

The front persistent timeout controls the amount of time a TCP connection from the client to the backend can remain idle for reuse before the connection closed and has a default value of 180 seconds. 

When persistence is enabled, after connections are established and used for an HTTP request/response, they will be left open for re-use. A connection in this state is "idle", and can be used to send new HTTP requests instead of opening a new connection.

If you wish to tune these fields you need to update the values using a Gateway extension. Caution is recommended when tuning these values to higher values as it will make the Gateway hold the transaction in memory longer and affects all transactions running through the API Gateway. It is always recommended to adequately test before deploying in production.