Using socket_connect with a reliable timeout in PHP

socket_connect_timeout.php

<?php

/**
 * I was having trouble with socket connections timing out reliably. Sometimes,
 * my timeout would be reached. Other times, the connect would fail after three
 * to six seconds. I finally figured out it had to do with trying to connect to
 * a routable, non-localhost address. It seems the socket_connect call would
 * not fail immediately for those connections. This function is what I finally
 * ended up with that reliably connects to a working server, fails quickly for
 * a server that has an address/port that is not reachable and will reach the
 * timeout for routable addresses that are not up.
 *
 * Full Story: http://brian.moonspot.net/socket-connect-timeout
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2015, Brian Moon of DealNews.com, Inc.
 * All rights reserved.
 *
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
 * are met:
 *
 *  * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
 *    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 *  * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
 *    copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
 *    disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided
 *    with the distribution.
 *  * Neither the name of DealNews.com Inc. nor the names of its
 *    contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
 *    from this software without specific prior written permission.
 *
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
 * "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
 * LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
 * FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 * COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
 * INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
 * (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
 * SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
 * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT,
 * STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
 * ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED
 * OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 *
 */

/**
 * Example:
 *
 * Assuming these hosts are valid for your setup, this example would produce
 * something like this:
 *
 * Trying: Good host...
 * resource(10) of type (Socket)
 *
 * Trying: Routable, but not up...
 * Failed to connect to 10.1.2.30:4730. (timed out after 102.1051ms)
 * NULL
 *
 * Trying: Up but not listening...
 * Failed to connect to 127.0.0.1:7676. (111: Connection refused; after 0.051ms)
 * NULL
 *
 * =====
 *
 * $timeout = 100;
 *
 * $hosts = array(
 *     array(
 *         "desc" => "Good host",
 *         "host" => "127.0.0.1",
 *         "port" => "4730"
 *     ),
 *     array(
 *         "desc" => "Routable, but not up",
 *         "host" => "10.1.2.30",
 *         "port" => "4730"
 *     ),
 *     array(
 *         "desc" => "Up but not listening",
 *         "host" => "127.0.0.1",
 *         "port" => "7676"
 *     ),
 * );
 *
 * foreach($hosts as $host){
 *
 *     echo "Trying: $host[desc]...\n";
 *
 *     try{
 *         $socket = socket_connect_timeout($host["host"], $host["port"], $timeout);
 *     } catch(Exception $e){
 *         echo $e->getMessage()."\n";
 *         $socket = null;
 *     }
 *
 *     var_dump($socket);
 *
 *     echo "\n";
 *
 * }
 *
 */

 function socket_connect_timeout($host, $port, $timeout=100){

    $socket = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, SOL_TCP);

    /**
     * Set the send and receive timeouts super low so that socket_connect
     * will return to us quickly. We then loop and check the real timeout
     * and check the socket error to decide if its conected yet or not.
     */
    $connect_timeval = array(
        "sec"=>0,
        "usec" => 100
    );
    socket_set_option(
        $socket,
        SOL_SOCKET,
        SO_SNDTIMEO,
        $connect_timeval
    );
    socket_set_option(
        $socket,
        SOL_SOCKET,
        SO_RCVTIMEO,
        $connect_timeval
    );

    $now = microtime(true);

    /**
     * Loop calling socket_connect. As long as the error is 115 (in progress)
     * or 114 (already called) and our timeout has not been reached, keep
     * trying.
     */
    $err = null;
    $socket_connected = false;
    do{
        socket_clear_error($socket);
        $socket_connected = @socket_connect($socket, $host, $port);
        $err = socket_last_error($socket);
        $elapsed = (microtime(true) - $now) * 1000;
    }
    while (($err === 115 || $err === 114) && $elapsed < $timeout);

    /**
     * For some reason, socket_connect can return true even when it is
     * not connected. Make sure it returned true the last error is zero
     */
    $socket_connected = $socket_connected && $err === 0;

    if($socket_connected){

        /**
         * Set keep alive on so the other side does not drop us
         */
        socket_set_option($socket, SOL_SOCKET, SO_KEEPALIVE, 1);

        /**
         * set the real send/receive timeouts here now that we are connected
         */
        $timeval = array(
            "sec" => 0,
            "usec" => 0
        );
        if($timeout >= 1000){
            $ts_seconds = $timeout / 1000;
            $timeval["sec"] = floor($ts_seconds);
            $timeval["usec"] = ($ts_seconds - $timeval["sec"]) * 1000000;
        } else {
            $timeval["usec"] = $timeout * 1000;
        }
        socket_set_option(
            $socket,
            SOL_SOCKET,
            SO_SNDTIMEO,
            $timeval
        );
        socket_set_option(
            $socket,
            SOL_SOCKET,
            SO_RCVTIMEO,
            $timeval
        );

    } else {

        $elapsed = round($elapsed, 4);

        if(!is_null($err) && $err !== 0 && $err !== 114 && $err !== 115){
            $message = "Failed to connect to $host:$port. ($err: ".socket_strerror($err)."; after {$elapsed}ms)";
        } else {
            $message = "Failed to connect to $host:$port. (timed out after {$elapsed}ms)";
        }

        throw new Exception($message);

    }

    return $socket;

}

Where does the variable $tv_sec on line 169 come from? It seems like it's not being declared anywhere. Also on lines 168, 169 and 171, the array $timeval is spelt incorrectly as $timval.

Thanks for making this code public.

@rotexdegba thanks for pointing those out. I extracted this from a lib to make it something I could share and messed up some variables. I will get them fixed.

Updated the script with typos fixed. I never have a timeout over 1000ms, so I did not hit that part of the if. Sorry about that.

Hey I tried implementing this code, set the $timeout to 100 and this is what I get back
Failed to connect to xx.xx.xx. (60: Operation timed out; after 75069.3259ms)

Running on PHP Version 5.6.8

Also checked some of the PHP config values and the default_socket_timeout is even set to 60 so I'm not sure how it's staying alive for 75 seconds anyways? Any advice?

@frostover default_socket_timeout meaning 'sending or receiving data' timeout, not 'connect timeout'.