How to fix java.net.SocketException: Broken pipe?

Question

This is caused by:

• most usually, writing to a connection when the other end has already closed it;
• less usually, the peer closing the connection without reading all the data that is already pending at his end.

So in both cases you have a poorly defined or implemented application protocol.

There is a third reason which I will not document here but which involves the peer taking deliberate action to reset rather than properly close the connection.

In our case we experienced this while performing a load test on our app server. The issue turned out that we need to add additional memory to our JVM because it was running out. This resolved the issue.

Try increasing the memory available to the JVM and or monitor the memory usage when you get those errors.

SocketException: Broken pipe, is caused by the 'other end' (The client or the server) closing the connection while your code is either reading from or writing to the connection.

This is a very common exception in client/server applications that receive traffic from clients or servers outside of the application control. For example, the client is a browser. If the browser makes an Ajax call, and/or the user simply closes the page or browser, then this can effectively kill all communication unexpectedly. Basically, you will see this error any time the other end terminates their application, and you were not anticipating it.

If you experience this Exception in your application, then it means you should check your code where the IO (Input/Output) occurs and wrap it with a try/catch block to catch this IOException. It is then, up to you to decide how you want to handle this semi-valid situation.

In your case, the earliest place where you still have control is the call to HttpMethodDirector.executeWithRetry - So ensure that call is wrapped with the try/catch block, and handle it how you see fit.

I would strongly advise against logging SocketException-Broken Pipe specific errors at anything other than debug/trace levels. Else, this can be used as a form of DOS (Denial Of Service) attack by filling up the logs. Try and harden and negative-test your application for this common scenario.

All the open streams & connections need to be properly closed, so the next time we try to use the urlConnection object, it does not throw an error. As an example, the following code change fixed the error for me.

Before:

OutputStream out = new BufferedOutputStream(urlConnection.getOutputStream());
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(out));
bw.write("Some text");
bw.close();
out.close();

After:

OutputStream os = urlConnection.getOutputStream();
OutputStream out = new BufferedOutputStream(os);
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(out));
bw.write("Some text");
bw.close();
out.close();
os.close(); // This is a must.

I have implemented data downloading functionality through FTP server and found the same exception there too while resuming that download. To resolve this exception, you will always have to disconnect from the previous session and create new instance of the Client and new connection with the server. This same approach could be helpful for HTTPClient too.

I'd the same problem while I was developing a simple Java application that listens on a specific TCP. Usually, I had no problem, but when I run some stress test I noticed that some connection broke with error socket write exception.

After Investigation I found a solution that solves my problem. I know this question is quite old, but I prefer to share my solution, someone can find it useful.

The problem was on ServerSocket creation. I read from Javadoc there is a default limit of 50 pending sockets. If you try opening another connection, these will be refused. The solution consist simply in change this default configuration at server side. In the following case, I create a Socket server that listen at TCP port 10_000 and accept max 200 pending sockets.

new Thread(() -> {
      try (ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(10_000, 200)) {
        logger.info("Server starts listening on TCP port {}", port);

        while (true) {
          try {
            ClientHandler clientHandler = clientHandlerProvider.getObject(serverSocket.accept(), this);
            executor.execute(clientHandler::start);
          } catch (Exception e) {
            logger.error(e.getMessage());
          }
        }

      } catch (IOException | SecurityException | IllegalArgumentException e) {
        logger.error("Could not open server on TCP port {}. Reason: {}", port, e.getMessage());
      }
    }).start();

From Javadoc of ServerSocket:

The maximum queue length for incoming connection indications (a request to connect) is set to the backlog parameter. If a connection indication arrives when the queue is full, the connection is refused.