HttpURLConnection timeout problem

[stemy]

Hi
I have a weird problem with HttpURLConnection.
I'm running a servlet on a tomcat server. When I access it from a web browser through

http://localhost:8080/servlername

or

http://computername:8080/servletname

it works fine. the weird thing happens when I access it through an external client I wrote, that uses HttpURLConnection. I'm doing

HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();[code] 
and if I'm using [URL unfurl="true"]http://localhost:8080/servletname[/URL] it works fine, but if I'm using [URL unfurl="true"]http://computername:8080/servletname[/URL] it throws an IOException with timeout error.
any suggestions?

 

[idarke]

I'm guessing here, but I imagine that Tomcat is smart enough to use the local DNS file (on windows it's the HOSTS file) to resolve the "computername" reference, but the httpURLConnection does not - there may be a default value for localhost that allows it to work.

 

[stemy]

thanks idarke, I suppose your guess was close enough. I simply added an entry to my HOSTS file:
127.0.0.1 computername
and it worked like a charm. Now that I think of it, I once told ZoneAlarm to lock my HOSTS file (as a defence against some viruses), and maybe that entry would've been added automatically if it wasn't for that protection.
anyway, thanx.