Hi all,

I have searched the archive but came up blank on this problem I'm facing:

We use a web-based course management application in which faculty creates content for 
access by students.  The app includes an archive feature in which the content for any 
course is consolidated into a zip file and can be downloaded to the instructor via a 
link to the file on the server.

I wrote a perl script, with LWP, to simulate the actions an instructor (or 
administrator) will perform via a browser to archive courses, and have them downloaded 
to the client.

The script works pretty well except for this one small problem.  With some courses, 
the useragent times out.  Even if I increase the timeout setting to many hours, the 
useragent times out.  However, if I attempt to archive the same course via the 
browser, the archive operation completes without issue.  The amount of time for the 
completion varies, depending on the load on the system, but usually it completes in 
less than 5 minutes.

So my question is: why do some of the courses successfully archive and some don't via 
the script, with a timeout setting sufficiently set?

Is it possible the useragent loses the connection to the server, and just doesn't see 
the response from the server? Would it help to use keep-alive?  Or is there something 
else I should look at?  The browser doesn't seem to have a problem, is there a setting 
in LWP I can use to better simulate what the browser is doing (BTW, I'm using IE 6.0). 
 Is there someway to debug the script to get a better idea of what is happening with 
the response, which I've got to believe is sent?

I am using Perl 5.8.4 with LPW 5.79, but I had the same problem with Perl 5.8.0.

I appreciate any help.

Don

Don Smitheimer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Seton Hall University

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