Connection Instability with socketTimeout Parameter

[pinkiesky]

When setting the socketTimeout parameter to a non-zero value, the Redis connection becomes unstable after startup. The connection repeatedly closes due to the socketTimeout mechanism, reconnects, and then falls into a loop of closing and reconnecting.

Code for the bug reproduction

const Redis = require("ioredis");

async function main() {
  const client = new Redis({
    host: "localhost",
    port: 6381,
    socketTimeout: 1000,
    lazyConnect: true,
    password: "123",
    reconnectOnError: () => false,
  });

  client.on("error", (err) => {
    console.count("Redis error: " + err.toString());
  });

  client.on("close", () => {
    console.count("Redis closed");
  });

  client.on("reconnecting", () => {
    console.count("Redis reconnecting");
  });

  client.on("ready", () => {
    console.count("Redis ready");
  });

  await client.connect();
}

main();

Here’s a typical log output from running the code:

~/P/ioredis-test$ node ./index.js
Redis ready: 1
Redis error: Error: Socket timeout. Expecting data, but didn't receive any in 1000ms.: 1
Redis closed: 1
Redis reconnecting: 1
Redis ready: 2
Redis error: Error: Socket timeout. Expecting data, but didn't receive any in 1000ms.: 2
Redis closed: 2
Redis reconnecting: 2
Redis ready: 3
Redis error: Error: Socket timeout. Expecting data, but didn't receive any in 1000ms.: 3
...[the same logs here]...
Redis error: Error: Socket timeout. Expecting data, but didn't receive any in 1000ms.: 9
Redis closed: 9
Redis reconnecting: 9
Redis ready: 10

In this example, the connection eventually stabilized after 10 reconnection attempts, but the number of attempts seems random and can vary between runs. My tests often have 2-3 reconnections, but this may differ for others.

My environment:

Node: v20.17.0 (npm 10.8.2)
System Version: macOS 15.0 (24A335)
Kernel Version: Darwin 24.0.0
ioredis: 5.4.1
Redis server: v7.2.5

[pinkiesky]

The actual error:

Error: Socket timeout. Expecting data, but didn't receive any in 1000ms.
    at Timeout._onTimeout (/Users/rglr/Projects/ioredis-test/node_modules/ioredis/built/Redis.js:420:33)
    at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:581:17)
    at process.processTimers (node:internal/timers:519:7)

[github-actions]

🎉 This issue has been resolved in version 5.4.2 🎉

The release is available on:

• npm package (@latest dist-tag)
• GitHub release

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀

[bobymicroby]

@pinkiesky Thanks for opening this issue and submitting the fix! Your contribution is much appreciated!