TCP Connection States and Netstat Output

• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5 and 3.51
• Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5 and 3.51
• Microsoft TCP/IP-32 for Windows for Workgroups, version 3.11
• Microsoft Windows 95

SUMMARY

This article describes TCP connection states and how to read Netstat (NETSTAT.EXE) output.

Before data transfer takes place in TCP, a connection must be established. TCP employs a three-way handshake (the details of this can be found in RFC793, Chapter 3: "Functional Specification").

MORE INFORMATION

TCP Connection States

Following is a brief explanation of this handshake. In this context the "client" is the peer requesting a connection and the "server" is the peer accepting a connection. Note that this notation does not reflect Client/Server relationships as an architectural principal.

1. Connection Establishment

   a. The client sends a SYN message which contains the server's port and

         the client's Initial Sequence Number (ISN) to the server (active
         open).
   

   b. The server sends back its own SYN and ACK (which consists of the

         client's ISN + 1).
   

   c. The Client sends an ACK (which consists of the server's ISN + 1).

2. Connection Tear-down (modified three way handshake).

   a. The client sends a FIN (active close). This is a now a half-closed

         connection. The client does no longer sends data, but is still able
         to receive data from the server. Upon receiving this FIN, the server
         enters a passive close state.
   

   b. The server sends an ACK (which is the clients FIN sequence + 1)

   c. The server sends its own FIN.

   d. The client sends an ACK (which is server's FIN sequence + 1). Upon

         receiving this ACK, the server closes the connection.
   

Netstat Output

The above TCP connection states can be monitored in a network trace under the TCP flags. It is also possible to determine the status of the connection by running the Netstat utility and looking at the State column. Netstat is shipped with Windows NT, Windows 95, and TCP/IP-32 for Windows for Workgroups.

State explanations as shown in Netstat:

State          Explanation
------------   --------------------------------------------------------

SYN_SEND       Indicates active open.

SYN_RECEIVED   Server just received SYN from the client.

ESTABLISHED    Client received server's SYN and session is established.

LISTEN         Server is ready to accept connection.
               NOTE: See documentation for listen() socket call. TCP
               sockets in listening state are not shown - this is a
               limitation of NETSTAT. For additional information, please
               see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

                  ARTICLE-ID: Q134404
                  TITLE     : NETSTAT.EXE Does Not Show TCP Listen Sockets

FIN_WAIT_1     Indicates active close.

TIMED_WAIT     Client enters this state after active close.

CLOSE_WAIT     Indicates passive close. Server just received first FIN
               from a client.

FIN_WAIT_2     Client just received acknowledgment of its first FIN from
               the server.

LAST_ACK       Server is in this state when it sends its own FIN.

CLOSED         Server received ACK from client and connection is closed.

A socket application has been terminated, but Netstat reports the socket in a CLOSE_WAIT state. This could indicate that the client properly closed the connection (FIN has been sent), but the server still has its socket open. This could be the result of one instance (among all threads or processes) of the socket not being closed.

NOTE: It is normal to have a socket in the TIME_WAIT state for a long period of time. The time is specified in RFC793 as twice the Maximum Segment Lifetime (MSL). MSL is specified to be 2 minutes. So, a socket could be in a TIME_WAIT state for as long as 4 minutes. Some systems implement different values (less than 2 minutes) for the MSL.

Additional references:

• "Internetworking with TCP/IP, Volume 1" by Douglas Comer
• "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1" by Richard Stevens.
• "Computer Networks" by Andrew Tanenbaum