Maximum segment lifetime is the time a TCP segment can exist in the internetwork system. It is arbitrarily defined to be 2 minutes long.
The Maximum Segment Lifetime value is used to determine the TIME_WAIT interval (2*MSL)
The command that can be used to many Unix systems determine the TIME_WAIT interval is:
ndd -get /dev/tcp tcp_time_wait_interval60000 (60 seconds) is a common value.
On most linux systems, this value can be checked by the command below:
sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_fin_timeoutOr simply view the file in /proc:
cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_fin_timeoutFamous quotes containing the words maximum and/or lifetime:
“Probably the only place where a man can feel really secure is in a maximum security prison, except for the imminent threat of release.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“You have a lifetime to work, but children are only young once.”
—Polish Proverb. New York Times Magazine (February 20, 1994)