SSLHandshake Error while connection to remote server

[Gopi Chand Maddula]

Hello JavaRanch,

While i am trying to post a request to a remote server i am receiving the SSLHandShake Error. I am using apache-commons HTTPClient and PostMethod classes to post the request.
As i tried for the first time while coding it worked well and good. But all of the sudden while testing its showing the error as mentioned.

Below is the code which i used to post

import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.SocketTimeoutException;

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpException;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpStatus;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.PostMethod;
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;

public class DataPost {

	private HttpClient httpclient;
	protected PostMethod postmethod;
	private String response="";
	protected String url="";
	private String data="";
	private int returnedCode;
	Logger log=Logger.getLogger(DataPost.class);
	
	/**
	 * constructor which creates an instance of HttpClient
	 */
	public DataPost(){
		httpclient=new HttpClient();
		httpclient.getParams().setParameter("http.socket.timeout", new Integer(120000));
	}
	
	/**
	 * @param URL url to post the data.
	 */
	public void setUrl(String URL) {
		this.url = URL;
		postmethod=new PostMethod(URL);
		log.info("Request Posted to URL----"+URL);
	}
	/**
	 * @throws HttpException
	 * @throws IOException
	 * @throws SocketTimeoutException
	 */
	public void postRequest() throws HttpException, IOException, SocketTimeoutException{
		response="";
		execute();
	}
	
	/**
	 * @param postingURL url to post the data 
	 * @param reqString actually string to post
	 * @throws HttpException
	 * @throws IOException
	 * @throws SocketTimeoutException
	 */
	public String postRequest(String postingURL, String reqString) throws HttpException, IOException, SocketTimeoutException{
		data=reqString;
		setUrl(postingURL);
		postRequest(reqString);
		return response;
	}
	
	/**
	 * @param postingURL url to post the data 
	 * @param parameter to bound the string
	 * @param reqString actually string to post
	 * @throws HttpException
	 * @throws IOException
	 * @throws SocketTimeoutException
	 */
	public String postRequest(String postingURL, String parameter, String reqString) throws HttpException, IOException, SocketTimeoutException{
		data=reqString;
		setUrl(postingURL);
		postmethod.setParameter(parameter, reqString);
		postRequest();
		return response;
	}
	/**
	 * @param reqString string to post
	 * @throws HttpException
	 * @throws IOException
	 * @throws SocketTimeoutException
	 */
	@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
	public void postRequest(String reqString) throws HttpException, IOException, SocketTimeoutException{
		data=reqString;
 		postmethod.setRequestBody(reqString);
 		postRequest();
	}
	/**
	 * executes the post method 
	 * if the return code is success then it reads the response from stream
	 * 
	 * @throws HttpException
	 * @throws IOException
	 * @throws SocketTimeoutException
	 */
	private void execute() throws HttpException, IOException, SocketTimeoutException{
		BufferedInputStream bis = null;
		ByteArrayOutputStream bos=null;
		try{
			bos= new ByteArrayOutputStream();
			returnedCode = httpclient.executeMethod(postmethod);
			log.info("is Request sent ?"+postmethod.isRequestSent());
			log.info("Return Code of the Posting---"+returnedCode);
		
			if(returnedCode==HttpStatus.SC_OK){
				bis = new BufferedInputStream(postmethod.getResponseBodyAsStream());
				int n ;
				while((n = bis.read()) != -1 )
					bos.write((char)n);
					bos.flush();
					response = (new String(bos.toByteArray())).trim();
			 }else{
				 log.info("$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ UNSUCCESSFULL POSTING  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Return code= "+returnedCode);
			 }
		}finally{
			if(bos != null) try { bos.close(); } catch (Exception fe) {log.error(fe.getMessage(),fe);}
			if(bis != null) try { bis.close(); } catch (Exception fe) {log.error(fe.getMessage(),fe);}
			if(postmethod != null)try { postmethod.releaseConnection(); } catch (Exception fe) {log.error(fe.getMessage(),fe);}
		}
	}
	/**
	 * @return the response which is received after posting
	 */
	public String getResponse() {
		return response;
	}

	/**
	 * @return postmethod object
	 */
	public PostMethod getPostmethod() {
		return postmethod;
	}
	/**
	 * @param postmethod set the postmethod object
	 */
	public void setPostMethod(PostMethod postmethod){
		this.postmethod=postmethod;
	}
	public boolean hasResponse(){
		return response.isEmpty()?false:true;
	}
	public String toString(){
		StringBuffer sb=new StringBuffer();
		sb.append("\n<LivePostData>\n");
			sb.append("\t<URL>"+url+"</URL>\n");
			sb.append("\t<Request>"+data+"</Request>\n");
			sb.append("\t<Response>"+response+"</Response>\n");
			sb.append("\t<ReturnCode>"+returnedCode+"</ReturnCode>\n");
		sb.append("</LivePostData>\n");
		return sb.toString();
	}
	
}

As my application is in testing phase, i got some exceptions while trying to connect to the remote server. After verifying the logs i came to know that the error is caused due to SSLHandshaking.
Below is the ErrorTrace.

javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Remote host closed connection during handshake
	at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:849)
	at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1170)
	at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.writeRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:637)
	at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.AppOutputStream.write(AppOutputStream.java:89)
	at java.io.BufferedOutputStream.flushBuffer(BufferedOutputStream.java:65)
	at java.io.BufferedOutputStream.flush(BufferedOutputStream.java:123)
	at java.io.FilterOutputStream.flush(FilterOutputStream.java:123)
	at org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.StringRequestEntity.writeRequest(StringRequestEntity.java:146)
	at org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.EntityEnclosingMethod.writeRequestBody(EntityEnclosingMethod.java:499)
	at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodBase.writeRequest(HttpMethodBase.java:2114)
	at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodBase.execute(HttpMethodBase.java:1096)
	at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodDirector.executeWithRetry(HttpMethodDirector.java:398)
	at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodDirector.executeMethod(HttpMethodDirector.java:171)
	at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient.executeMethod(HttpClient.java:397)
	at org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient.executeMethod(HttpClient.java:323)
	at DataPost.execute(DataPost.java:102)
	at DataPost.postRequest(DataPost.java:45)
	at DataPost.postRequest(DataPost.java:87)
	at DataPost.postRequest(DataPost.java:58)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:637)
	at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:128)
	at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
	at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:286)
	at org.apache.coyote.ajp.AjpAprProcessor.process(AjpAprProcessor.java:419)
	at org.apache.coyote.ajp.AjpAprProtocol$AjpConnectionHandler.process(AjpAprProtocol.java:378)
	at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$Worker.run(AprEndpoint.java:1509)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Caused by: java.io.EOFException: SSL peer shut down incorrectly
	at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.InputRecord.read(InputRecord.java:333)
	at com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:830)
	... 39 more

As i have taken care of the socketConnectionTimouts and other connection issue, i want to know whether there is any point i am missing out in my code that caused this error.

Thanks in Advance...

[H Paul]

While debugging a testing SSL issue: I have

Server A ----> https ----> Server B (the code on B is set up to run for 5 mins + display some logs)

a .If I wait until the end, every thing is fine.

b. If After 2 mins, I just shut down Server B and I got the same exception like yours, displayed.

So some where the SSL connection was dropped by B either it was re-started and/or completely shut down voluntarily or due to network issue.

Now, just run 10 times your POST and see what happen?

with or without

-Djavax.net.debug=ssl

OR

System.setProperty("javax.net.debug", "ssl");