Server-side handling missing client connection (reset by peer)?

Question

I have a webservice and a client. There are times where the client connects, and not is getting a return value instantly. Later, if a value is returned from the WS and the client has been shutdown in the meantime, I'm getting exceptions that I do not know how to handle.

How can I catch those reset by peer exceptions, so that the webserver does not crash?

@Webservice
class MyWebservice {
    public boolean myWebserviceMethod() {
        //sleep, cut the client, then return.
        return false;
    }   
}

Okt 02, 2012 2:26:52 PM org.apache.cxf.phase.PhaseInterceptorChain doDefaultLogging

Warnung: Interceptor for {http://myproject.de/wsdl}ConnectionService#{http://myproject.de/wsdl}myWebserviceMethod has thrown exception, unwinding now
org.apache.cxf.interceptor.Fault: Could not send Message.
    at org.apache.cxf.interceptor.MessageSenderInterceptor$MessageSenderEndingInterceptor.handleMessage(MessageSenderInterceptor.java:64)
    at org.apache.cxf.phase.PhaseInterceptorChain.doIntercept(PhaseInterceptorChain.java:262)
    at org.apache.cxf.interceptor.OutgoingChainInterceptor.handleMessage(OutgoingChainInterceptor.java:77)
    at org.apache.cxf.phase.PhaseInterceptorChain.doIntercept(PhaseInterceptorChain.java:262)
    at org.apache.cxf.transport.ChainInitiationObserver.onMessage(ChainInitiationObserver.java:121)
    at org.apache.cxf.transport.http.AbstractHTTPDestination.invoke(AbstractHTTPDestination.java:211)
    at org.apache.openejb.server.cxf.CxfWsContainer.onMessage(CxfWsContainer.java:73)
    at org.apache.openejb.server.webservices.WsServlet.service(WsServlet.java:98)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:305)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:225)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:123)
    at org.apache.tomee.catalina.OpenEJBValve.invoke(OpenEJBValve.java:45)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:472)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:168)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:98)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:927)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:407)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1001)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:585)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:312)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: ClientAbortException:  java.net.SocketException: Connection reset by peer: socket write error
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.OutputBuffer.doFlush(OutputBuffer.java:346)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.OutputBuffer.flush(OutputBuffer.java:306)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.Response.flushBuffer(Response.java:568)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.ResponseFacade.flushBuffer(ResponseFacade.java:307)
    at org.apache.openejb.server.httpd.ServletResponseAdapter.flushBuffer(ServletResponseAdapter.java:205)
    at org.apache.cxf.transport.http.AbstractHTTPDestination$WrappedOutputStream.close(AbstractHTTPDestination.java:684)
    at org.apache.cxf.transport.AbstractConduit.close(AbstractConduit.java:56)
    at org.apache.cxf.transport.http.AbstractHTTPDestination$BackChannelConduit.close(AbstractHTTPDestination.java:626)
    at org.apache.cxf.interceptor.MessageSenderInterceptor$MessageSenderEndingInterceptor.handleMessage(MessageSenderInterceptor.java:62)
    ... 24 more
Caused by: java.net.SocketException: Connection reset by peer: socket write error
    at java.net.SocketOutputStream.socketWrite0(Native Method)
    at java.net.SocketOutputStream.socketWrite(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.SocketOutputStream.write(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.InternalOutputBuffer.realWriteBytes(InternalOutputBuffer.java:215)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.buf.ByteChunk.flushBuffer(ByteChunk.java:462)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.InternalOutputBuffer.flush(InternalOutputBuffer.java:119)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.action(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:789)
    at org.apache.coyote.Response.action(Response.java:174)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.OutputBuffer.doFlush(OutputBuffer.java:341)
    ... 32 more

Answer 1

Does the server indeed crash, or are you (mistakenly) concluding that the server crashes by witnessing the stack trace?

The stack trace is there because Catalina can't write a response to the socket that was opened for communication with the client. This exception will always appear in such cases; Catalina can't know exactly why it can't write to the socket - all it knows is that it can't write a response. It prints the stack trace (as this is an error condition that might be of value for the system administrator, for example - for performance tuning purposes), and moves on.

If your server does, indeed, crash once this condition occurs, then you might have a bigger problem. I find it hard to believe that a server will actually crash if it can't write a response to a dead TCP/IP socket.