The timeout Statement

Syntax

timeout <value> {
    [ statements ]
}

Description

The timeout statement limits the total time which a section can use to process a particular request. If the request takes more than the given time, it returns timeout.

<value>: A number, or a dynamic expansion, or an attribute reference. The value is interpreted as a time_delta, with default scale in seconds.

The time scale can be changed by appending s, us, ms, ns, etc. as with all uses of time_delta values.

Negative times, and times less than 1us are treated as zero. The timeout section does not run, but instead immediately returns the timeout rcode.

Example

timeout 1ms {
    foo
    bar
}

Timeout with catch

In the following example, the configuration allows the sql module to run for 4 seconds. If the sql module takes more than 4 seconds to return, or if the sql module fails, then the detail module is called.

Example using catch

try {
    timeout 4s {
        sql
    }
}
catch timeout {
    detail
}

Timeout with redundant

The timeout can also be used inside of a redundant block. This example has almost the same behaviour as above. The difference here is that the detail file here is run on when either the sql module fails, or the timeout is reached.

Whether you choose to use a redundant or a catch block after the timeout depends on your local requirements.

Example using redundant

redundant {
    timeout 4s {
        sql
    }

    detail
}

If the timeout value is taken from a dynamic expansion or attribute reference which fails, the entire timeout block returns fail.