How to determine which timeout to set?

The determination of an appropriate timeout depends on the task context and system requirements. It is important to consider:

• Expected operation duration. For example, if a request to an external service usually takes 200 ms, the timeout can be set slightly higher, such as 500 ms, to account for peak loads.
• Responsiveness requirements. In interactive applications, timeouts should be shorter to avoid delaying the user.
• Timeout consequences. If the operation is critical, the timeout can be longer to give it more chances to complete.
• System resources. Long timeouts can block threads and reduce performance.

A practical approach is to measure the average and maximum execution time under real conditions, add a margin (e.g., 2-3 standard deviations), and set the timeout accordingly. It is also useful to use adaptive timeouts or exponential backoff during retries.

Example in Java for an HTTP request with a timeout:

HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
connection.setConnectTimeout(5000); // connection timeout of 5 seconds
connection.setReadTimeout(10000);   // read timeout of 10 seconds