title: How to fix "System.Net.WebException: The operation has timed out" error from .Net 1.1 Framework
body: <p>Our <code>ASP.Net 1.1</code> WebService application is hosted in <code>Windows 2003 Server</code>. 
  Another <code>.Net</code> Windows Service application is calling the Webservice hosted in the above server every 30 seconds.</p>
  
  <p>We have added a retry call mechanism if any network error happens while calling the web service.</p>
  
  <p>We are occasionally getting the below exception from the Client application while calling the web service:</p>
  
  <pre><code>System.Net.WebException: The operation has timed out
     at System.Web.Services.Protocols.WebClientProtocol.GetWebResponse(WebRequest request)
     at System.Web.Services.Protocols.HttpWebClientProtocol.GetWebResponse(WebRequest request)
     at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>After this error is generated, in the next attempt it will execute with out any error.</p>
  
  <p>On research, I have found that "This could be caused by a stale DNS entry for a proxy or if a request is not received before the socket times out." from the below link
  <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jpsanders/archive/2009/01/07/you-receive-one-or-more-error-messages-when-you-try-to-make-an-http-request-in-an-application-that-is-built-on-the-net-framework-2-0.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jpsanders/archive/2009/01/07/you-receive-one-or-more-error-messages-when-you-try-to-make-an-http-request-in-an-application-that-is-built-on-the-net-framework-2-0.aspx</a></p>
  
  <p>Instead of doing a workaround in the code or in the configuration, how can we find the exact root cause of the problem?</p>