Long Running HTTP
Typically, an HTTP request is made and returns more or less immediately. But what if you want to keep the connection open so that the server can push data to the client on demand? Traditionally, this is impossible to do, hence the 'pull' nature of web browsers. There is a solution, however. HTTP allows for a 'chunked' connection. This basically says, keep listening for some unknown amount of data until the end command is sent. This is referred to as long running HTTP, reverse ajax, comet, HTTP push, etc. This allows for real-time communication between the client and server. Unfortunately, with a traditional web server like IIS, these long running requests hold on to their resources and eventually bog down or crash the server. There are solutions that exist, most of which suggest implementing a stand alone server. There is a protocol called Bayeux that many implementations use that would allow a proprietary client or server work with other proprieta...