Socket.NoDelay Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Net.Sockets

Assembly:

System.Net.Sockets.dll

Source:

Socket.cs

Gets or sets a Boolean value that specifies whether the stream Socket is using the Nagle algorithm.

public:
 property bool NoDelay { bool get(); void set(bool value); };

public bool NoDelay { get; set; }

member this.NoDelay : bool with get, set

Public Property NoDelay As Boolean

Property Value

Boolean

false if the Socket uses the Nagle algorithm; otherwise, true. The default is false.

Exceptions

SocketException

An error occurred when attempting to access the Socket.

ObjectDisposedException

The Socket has been closed.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates the use of the NoDelay property.

static void ConfigureTcpSocket(Socket^ tcpSocket)
{
     
    // Don't allow another socket to bind to this port.
    tcpSocket->ExclusiveAddressUse = true;
     
    // The socket will linger for 10 seconds after
    // Socket.Close is called.
    tcpSocket->LingerState = gcnew LingerOption(true, 10);
     
    // Disable the Nagle Algorithm for this tcp socket.
    tcpSocket->NoDelay = true;
     
    // Set the receive buffer size to 8k
    tcpSocket->ReceiveBufferSize = 8192;
     
    // Set the timeout for synchronous receive methods to
    // 1 second (1000 milliseconds.)
    tcpSocket->ReceiveTimeout = 1000;
     
    // Set the send buffer size to 8k.
    tcpSocket->SendBufferSize = 8192;
     
    // Set the timeout for synchronous send methods
    // to 1 second (1000 milliseconds.)
    tcpSocket->SendTimeout = 1000;
     
    // Set the Time To Live (TTL) to 42 router hops.
    tcpSocket->Ttl = 42;
    Console::WriteLine("Tcp Socket configured:");
    Console::WriteLine("  ExclusiveAddressUse {0}", 
        tcpSocket->ExclusiveAddressUse);
    Console::WriteLine("  LingerState {0}, {1}", 
        tcpSocket->LingerState->Enabled,
        tcpSocket->LingerState->LingerTime);
    Console::WriteLine("  NoDelay {0}",
        tcpSocket->NoDelay);
    Console::WriteLine("  ReceiveBufferSize {0}", 
        tcpSocket->ReceiveBufferSize);
    Console::WriteLine("  ReceiveTimeout {0}",
        tcpSocket->ReceiveTimeout);
    Console::WriteLine("  SendBufferSize {0}",
        tcpSocket->SendBufferSize);
    Console::WriteLine("  SendTimeout {0}",
        tcpSocket->SendTimeout);
    Console::WriteLine("  Ttl {0}",
        tcpSocket->Ttl);
    Console::WriteLine("  IsBound {0}",
        tcpSocket->IsBound);
    Console::WriteLine("");
}

static void ConfigureTcpSocket(Socket tcpSocket)
{
    // Don't allow another socket to bind to this port.
    tcpSocket.ExclusiveAddressUse = true;

    // The socket will linger for 10 seconds after
    // Socket.Close is called.
    tcpSocket.LingerState = new LingerOption (true, 10);

    // Disable the Nagle Algorithm for this tcp socket.
    tcpSocket.NoDelay = true;

    // Set the receive buffer size to 8k
    tcpSocket.ReceiveBufferSize = 8192;

    // Set the timeout for synchronous receive methods to
    // 1 second (1000 milliseconds.)
    tcpSocket.ReceiveTimeout = 1000;

    // Set the send buffer size to 8k.
    tcpSocket.SendBufferSize = 8192;

    // Set the timeout for synchronous send methods
    // to 1 second (1000 milliseconds.)
    tcpSocket.SendTimeout = 1000;

    // Set the Time To Live (TTL) to 42 router hops.
    tcpSocket.Ttl = 42;

    Console.WriteLine("Tcp Socket configured:");

    Console.WriteLine($"  ExclusiveAddressUse {tcpSocket.ExclusiveAddressUse}");

    Console.WriteLine($"  LingerState {tcpSocket.LingerState.Enabled}, {tcpSocket.LingerState.LingerTime}");

    Console.WriteLine($"  NoDelay {tcpSocket.NoDelay}");

    Console.WriteLine($"  ReceiveBufferSize {tcpSocket.ReceiveBufferSize}");

    Console.WriteLine($"  ReceiveTimeout {tcpSocket.ReceiveTimeout}");

    Console.WriteLine($"  SendBufferSize {tcpSocket.SendBufferSize}");

    Console.WriteLine($"  SendTimeout {tcpSocket.SendTimeout}");

    Console.WriteLine($"  Ttl {tcpSocket.Ttl}");

    Console.WriteLine($"  IsBound {tcpSocket.IsBound}");

    Console.WriteLine("");
}

Remarks

The Nagle algorithm is designed to reduce network traffic by causing the socket to buffer small packets and then combine and send them in one packet under certain circumstances. A TCP packet consists of 40 bytes of header plus the data being sent. When small packets of data are sent with TCP, the overhead resulting from the TCP header can become a significant part of the network traffic. On heavily loaded networks, the congestion resulting from this overhead can result in lost datagrams and retransmissions, as well as excessive propagation time caused by congestion. The Nagle algorithm inhibits the sending of new TCP segments when new outgoing data arrives from the user if any previously transmitted data on the connection remains unacknowledged.

The majority of network applications should use the Nagle algorithm.

Setting this property on a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) socket will have no effect.