HTTP Status Code 598 – Network Read Timeout Error
The HTTP status code 598 Network Read Timeout Error is a non-standard status code used by some proxy servers to signal that a network read operation has timed out. This error generally indicates that a client was unable to receive a response from the upstream server within a specified time frame. It is not an officially recognized status code by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and therefore may not be supported by all servers or clients.
Example 1: Curl Command Timeout
Consider a scenario where you are using the curl command to fetch data from a server, but the server takes too long to respond. This might result in a 598 Network Read Timeout Error:
curl --max-time 5 http://example.com/api/data
In this example, the --max-time 5 option is used to limit the maximum time allowed for the transfer to 5 seconds. If the server does not respond within this time, a 598 error could be returned by certain proxy servers to indicate a timeout.
Example 2: Proxy Server Configuration
If you are configuring a proxy server and set a read timeout value, the server may return a 598 status code when this timeout is exceeded:
timeout read 10s
backend http_backend
server server1 192.168.1.10:80 maxconn 32
Here, the timeout read 10s directive specifies that the proxy server will wait up to 10 seconds for a read operation from the backend server. If the response is not received in this time, the proxy might issue a 598 Network Read Timeout Error, signaling a timeout to the client.
Example 3 Scenario
# Client sends a request example.
GET /example HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
# Server Response
HTTP/1.1 598 598 Network Read Timeout Error
Date: Wed, 09 Oct 2024 23:15:00 GMT
Server: ExampleServer/1.0
Content-Type: application/json
{
"error": "Description of the error for 598"
}
Example 4 Scenario
# Client sends another example request.
POST /another-example HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
# Server Response
HTTP/1.1 598 598 Network Read Timeout Error
Date: Wed, 09 Oct 2024 23:15:00 GMT
Server: ExampleServer/1.0
Content-Type: application/json
{
"error": "Detailed message for 598"
}
Summary
The 598 Network Read Timeout Error is a non-standard HTTP status code used by some proxy servers to indicate that a network read operation timed out. It is not widely recognized across all platforms and can result from slow network responses or misconfigured timeout settings. Understanding this code can help diagnose connectivity issues when interacting with web services through proxies or other intermediaries.
