One of the most important requirements in session model programming is how you manage the client connection for each session model. For a session-managed application, the client connection is a physical connection, a one-to-one relationship between the client and AppServer that supports a particular application service. For a session-free application, the client connection is a logical connection, a one-to-many relationship between the client and any number of AppServer resources that support a single application service. To support logical connections, the session-free Open Client maintains a connection pool, which is a configured connection resource that maintains a number of physical AppServer connections to use for all client requests invoked on a given application service.

Each Open Client manages the session-free connection pool in its own way on behalf of the Open Client application. For .NET and Java Open Clients, the proxies manage the connection pool from run-time property settings that you can modify before and sometimes after establishing the logical connection. For SOAP Web service Open Clients, the WSA manages the connection pool for each Web service from similar Web service property settings that can be changed by the Web service administrator.

For more information on physical and logical connections and how they interact with the AppServer, see the sections on the AppServer connection model in OpenEdge Getting Started: Application and Integration Services.