# How does wowza identify "connections"?

**URL:** https://community.wowza.com/t/how-does-wowza-identify-connections/49713
**Category:** Wowza Streaming Engine
**Created:** [September 18, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-does-wowza-identify-connections/49713 "2017-09-18T16:34:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![James\_McHugh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@James\_McHugh](https://community.wowza.com/u/James_McHugh)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-does-wowza-identify-connections/49713/1 "2017-09-18T16:34:11Z")

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We are trying to load test our server that hosts Wowza with realistic connections. We are using a plugin for apache jmeter, that is meant to simulate connections over HLS or Dash. However, it seems to generate more than one “connection” (as displayed in the management UI) in wowza per client thread (at a guess I’d say one for every time it polls for the manifest/playlist).

Interestingly, the number of physical TCP connections reported on the OS is accurate, and the number left in TIME\_WAIT state is not growing.

Which leads me to ask, how does Wowza identify a “connection” internally?

This is most likely an issue with the plugin, as this doesn’t occur for real connections (i.e. from browser or player), but it would be very helpful to understand why this is occuring.