Microsoft KB Archive/305053

= ServerXMLHTTP Stops Responding When You Send a POST Request =

Article ID: 305053

Article Last Modified on 11/15/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft XML Parser 3.0

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This article was previously published under Q305053



SYMPTOMS
When you send a POST request by using ServerXMLHTTP, and the response from an HTTP/1.1 server does not contain a Connection header, and the HTTP/1.1 server keeps the connection alive after it delivers a response to an HTTP request, ServerXMLHTTP may stop responding (hang) until the timeout expires, and you may receive the following error message:

msxml3.dll error '80004005'

Unspecified error



CAUSE
WinHTTP attempts to read more data than will actually be delivered in the socket connection.



RESOLUTION
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that this article describes. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, submit a request to Microsoft Online Customer Services to obtain the hotfix. To submit an online request to obtain the hotfix, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=6294451

Note If additional issues occur or any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. To create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:   Date           Time  Version    Size       File name ---  27-Jun-20001  12:38  8.10.8627  1,106,944  msxml3.dll 27-Jun-20001 12:36  8.10.8627     24,576  msxml3a.dll 27-Jun-20001 12:36  8.10.8627     44,032  msxml3r.dll 27-Jun-20001 12:36  6.0.2462.0    28,672  xmlinst.exe



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.



MORE INFORMATION
The HTTP stack that MSXML3 ServerXMLHTTP uses, WinHTTP, is an HTTP/1.0-compliant stack with support for persistent connections. ServerXMLHTTP uses a COM Automation component called WinHttpRequest that is based on the core WinHTTP Win32 application programming interface (API).

Section 19.6.2 (&quot;Compatibility with HTTP/1.0 Persistent Connections&quot;) of the HTTP/1.1 specification (RFC 2616) contains the following text:

Persistent connections in HTTP/1.0 are explicitly negotiated as they are not the default behavior.

When an HTTP/1.1 server interoperates with a 1.0 client, the server response to a request should specify whether the connection is closed or persisted after the response is delivered.

WinHTTP supports persistent connections, but assumes that the server will close the connection if the server response does not include a Connection header. This is the opposite behavior of an HTTP/1.1 client, which assumes that the connection is persisted unless explicitly informed otherwise with a Connection: Close response header.

Furthermore, the WinHttpRequest component ignores any Content-Length header in the response. It does this because occasionally the value that is given in the Content-Length header is incorrect, so WinHttpRequest continues to read response data from the TCP socket connection until it encounters the end of the response stream. However, if the connection is persisted, the Content-Length value must be honored so that no attempt is made to read past the end of the response data. Because the connection is persisted, ServerXMLHTTP stops responding if WinHTTP attempts to read more data than will actually be delivered in the socket connection.

Keywords: kbhotfixserver kbqfe kbfix kbprb kbqfe KB305053

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