Why would a "java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out" exception occur when URL is up?

Connection timeouts (assuming a local network and several client machines) typically result from

a) some kind of firewall on the way that simply eats the packets without telling the sender things like "No Route to host"

b) packet loss due to wrong network configuration or line overload

c) too many requests overloading the server

d) a small number of simultaneously available threads/processes on the server which leads to all of them being taken. This happens especially with requests that take a long time to run and may combine with c).

Hope this helps.

If the URL works fine in the web browser on the same machine, it might be that the Java code isn't using the HTTP proxy the browser is using for connecting to the URL.

The error message says it all: your connection timed out. This means your request did not get a response within some (default) timeframe. The reasons that no response was received is likely to be one of:

a) The IP/domain or port is incorrect

b) The IP/domain or port (i.e service) is down

c) The IP/domain is taking longer than your default timeout to respond

d) You have a firewall that is blocking requests or responses on whatever port you are using

e) You have a firewall that is blocking requests to that particular host

f) Your internet access is down

g) Your live-server is down i.e in case of "rest-API call".

Note that firewalls and port or IP blocking may be in place by your ISP

I'd recommend raising the connection timeout time before getting the output stream, like so:

urlConnection.setConnectTimeout(1000);

Where 1000 is in milliseconds (1000 milliseconds = 1 second).