The execution of my php script doing database queries is interrupted by a "Error: timeout on server" message or something like that after 30s, though I already made the following changes to avoid such timeouts:

1. inserted 'set_time_limit(360)' at the beginning of the script,
2. set 'max_execution_time=300' and 'max_input_time=600' in php.ini,
3. set 'Timeout 300' in httpd.conf, and restarted apache (apachectl restart)

Is there something I missed? Why my requests keep timing out?

Wasn't the timeout on the PostgreSQL server?

I do not think so, since I could not find any timeout settings in postgresql.conf.
Besides, if there were any limitation on the runtime of a query or PostgreSQL connection, I do not think it would be as short as 30s (I think an SQL query is reasonably allowed to run for several minutes by default).

Wow!

I tried it from within the LAN, and there is no 30s timeout!

So the timeout I experienced from home was either due to the fact that I connected to the server from the outside of our LAN, or maybe my efforts to sighup apache took effect after some hours of delay.

When I connect to the server from the outside I do it through a natd port forward on the firewall, and a stunnel between the http and https ports. I already checked stunnel, there is no 30s timeout (only a 300s one). A 30s timeout in natd seems unlikely, too.

So I am still puzzled...

The timeout is still there from the outside.

So:
ipfw + natd +stunnel + apache + php + postgresql = 30s timeout
stunnel + apache + php + postgresql = no 30s timeout

It seems that it has something to do with the firewall or natd.

How did you resolve this? I might be encountering the same issue.

You have replied to a 12 year old thread!

You would do much better to open your own thread and provide the information relevant to your own system.

And welcome to LQ!