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System Design · Tradeoffs in Production · 1 article

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System DesignTradeoffs in Production·16 min read

TCP Keep-Alive vs Application Heartbeat — Three Different Things Called “Keep-Alive”

Kernel TCP keep-alive probes the network path; app heartbeats prove the peer process is serving; HTTP Connection: keep-alive only reuses sockets. Why NAT, load balancers, and firewalls still drop “idle” long-lived connections, how defaults like Linux’s multi-hour timers compare to prod WebSocket patterns, and when you really need both mechanisms.

TCPNetworkingWebSocketsNATMay 9, 2026Read →

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TCP Keep-Alive vs Application Heartbeat — Three Different Things Called “Keep-Alive”