User guide

User Guide 129
Proxy Settings
HTTP requests: General settings
Idle connection timeout
This setting controls how long the HTTP proxy waits for the client to make a request after it has
established a connection to the server. If the client does not make a request in the specified time, the
proxy closes the connection. This makes sure that the network resources can be used by the proxy
again. The default value is 10 minutes.
When a user clicks on a hyperlink or types a URL into the web browser, it sends an HTTP request to a
remote server to get the content. In most browsers, the status bar shows, "Contacting site..." or a
similar message. If the remote server does not respond, the HTTP client waits for a reply until it
receives an answer or until the request times out. During this time, the HTTP proxy continues to
monitor the connection and uses valuable network resources.
Maximum URL length
This setting sets the maximum length of the path component of a URL. This does not include the
http:\\ or host name. The URL length limit prevents buffer overflow attacks against web server
resources. It could be necessary to increase this value for CGI web sites that use long URLs.
HTTP responses: General settings
When the remote HTTP server accepts the connection request from the HTTP client, most browser status bars
show, "Site contacted. Waiting for reply..." Then the HTTP server sends the appropriate response to the HTTP
client. This is usually a file or series of files. The proxy uses valuable network resources to monitor the network
connection to the web server. It could become necessary to limit or expand how the proxy policy uses these
resources in your network.
Timeout
This setting controls how long the HTTP proxy waits for the web server to send the web page. The idle
timeout makes sure that the proxy can use the network resources after the timeout expires. The
default value is 10 minutes.
Maximum line length
This setting controls the maximum allowed length of a line of characters in the HTTP response
headers. The maximum line length limit prevents buffer overflow attacks.