diff --git a/gbcs-cli/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/cli/impl/commands/BenchmarkCommand.kt b/gbcs-cli/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/cli/impl/commands/BenchmarkCommand.kt
index e8263ad..be83f08 100644
--- a/gbcs-cli/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/cli/impl/commands/BenchmarkCommand.kt
+++ b/gbcs-cli/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/cli/impl/commands/BenchmarkCommand.kt
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ class BenchmarkCommand : GbcsCommand() {
             val random = Random(SecureRandom.getInstance("NativePRNGNonBlocking").nextLong())
             while (true) {
                 val key = Base64.getUrlEncoder().encode(random.nextBytes(16)).toString(Charsets.UTF_8)
-                val value = random.nextBytes(0x1000)
+                val content = random.nextInt().toByte()
+                val value = ByteArray(0x1000, { _ -> content })
                 yield(key to value)
             }
         }
diff --git a/gbcs-client/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/Client.kt b/gbcs-client/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/Client.kt
index 60fc387..85dab7e 100644
--- a/gbcs-client/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/Client.kt
+++ b/gbcs-client/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/Client.kt
@@ -30,16 +30,18 @@ import io.netty.handler.ssl.SslContextBuilder
 import io.netty.handler.stream.ChunkedWriteHandler
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.Future
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.GenericFutureListener
+import net.woggioni.gbcs.client.impl.Parser
 import net.woggioni.gbcs.common.Xml
 import net.woggioni.gbcs.common.contextLogger
 import net.woggioni.gbcs.common.debug
-import net.woggioni.gbcs.client.impl.Parser
+import net.woggioni.gbcs.common.trace
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress
 import java.net.URI
 import java.nio.file.Files
 import java.nio.file.Path
 import java.security.PrivateKey
 import java.security.cert.X509Certificate
+import java.time.Duration
 import java.util.Base64
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger
@@ -67,6 +69,7 @@ class GbcsClient(private val profile: Configuration.Profile) : AutoCloseable {
         data class Profile(
             val serverURI: URI,
             val authentication: Authentication?,
+            val connectionTimeout : Duration?,
             val maxConnections : Int
         )
 
@@ -104,6 +107,9 @@ class GbcsClient(private val profile: Configuration.Profile) : AutoCloseable {
             option(ChannelOption.TCP_NODELAY, true)
             option(ChannelOption.SO_KEEPALIVE, true)
             remoteAddress(InetSocketAddress(host, port))
+            profile.connectionTimeout?.let {
+                option(ChannelOption.CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MILLIS, it.toMillis().toInt())
+            }
         }
         val channelPoolHandler = object : AbstractChannelPoolHandler() {
 
@@ -114,20 +120,29 @@ class GbcsClient(private val profile: Configuration.Profile) : AutoCloseable {
             private var leaseCount = AtomicInteger()
 
             override fun channelReleased(ch: Channel) {
-                log.debug {
-                    "Released lease ${leaseCount.decrementAndGet()}"
+                val activeLeases = leaseCount.decrementAndGet()
+                log.trace {
+                    "Released channel ${ch.id().asShortText()}, number of active leases: $activeLeases"
                 }
             }
 
-            override fun channelAcquired(ch: Channel?) {
-                log.debug {
-                    "Acquired lease ${leaseCount.getAndIncrement()}"
+            override fun channelAcquired(ch: Channel) {
+                val activeLeases = leaseCount.getAndIncrement()
+                log.trace {
+                    "Acquired channel ${ch.id().asShortText()}, number of active leases: $activeLeases"
                 }
             }
 
             override fun channelCreated(ch: Channel) {
+                val connectionId = connectionCount.getAndIncrement()
                 log.debug {
-                    "Created connection ${connectionCount.getAndIncrement()}"
+                    "Created connection $connectionId, total number of active connections: $connectionId"
+                }
+                ch.closeFuture().addListener {
+                    val activeConnections = connectionCount.decrementAndGet()
+                    log.debug {
+                        "Closed connection $connectionId, total number of active connections: $activeConnections"
+                    }
                 }
                 val pipeline: ChannelPipeline = ch.pipeline()
 
@@ -202,6 +217,7 @@ class GbcsClient(private val profile: Configuration.Profile) : AutoCloseable {
                             ctx.close()
                             pipeline.removeLast()
                             pool.release(channel)
+                            super.exceptionCaught(ctx, cause)
                         }
                     })
                     // Prepare the HTTP request
@@ -219,7 +235,7 @@ class GbcsClient(private val profile: Configuration.Profile) : AutoCloseable {
                                     set(HttpHeaderNames.CONTENT_LENGTH, content.readableBytes())
                                 }
                                 set(HttpHeaderNames.HOST, profile.serverURI.host)
-                                set(HttpHeaderNames.CONNECTION, HttpHeaderValues.CLOSE)
+                                set(HttpHeaderNames.CONNECTION, HttpHeaderValues.KEEP_ALIVE)
                                 set(
                                     HttpHeaderNames.ACCEPT_ENCODING,
                                     HttpHeaderValues.GZIP.toString() + "," + HttpHeaderValues.DEFLATE.toString()
@@ -237,6 +253,8 @@ class GbcsClient(private val profile: Configuration.Profile) : AutoCloseable {
                     // Set headers
                     // Send the request
                     channel.writeAndFlush(request)
+                } else {
+                    responseFuture.completeExceptionally(channelFuture.cause())
                 }
             }
         })
diff --git a/gbcs-client/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/impl/Parser.kt b/gbcs-client/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/impl/Parser.kt
index cc8a4a3..d775234 100644
--- a/gbcs-client/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/impl/Parser.kt
+++ b/gbcs-client/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/impl/Parser.kt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import java.nio.file.Path
 import java.security.KeyStore
 import java.security.PrivateKey
 import java.security.cert.X509Certificate
+import java.time.Duration
 
 object Parser {
 
@@ -60,7 +61,9 @@ object Parser {
                     val maxConnections = child.renderAttribute("max-connections")
                         ?.let(String::toInt)
                         ?: 50
-                    profiles[name] = GbcsClient.Configuration.Profile(uri, authentication, maxConnections)
+                    val connectionTimeout = child.renderAttribute("connection-timeout")
+                        ?.let(Duration::parse)
+                    profiles[name] = GbcsClient.Configuration.Profile(uri, authentication, connectionTimeout, maxConnections)
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/gbcs-client/src/main/resources/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/schema/gbcs-client.xsd b/gbcs-client/src/main/resources/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/schema/gbcs-client.xsd
index 3663106..14cfa8f 100644
--- a/gbcs-client/src/main/resources/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/schema/gbcs-client.xsd
+++ b/gbcs-client/src/main/resources/net/woggioni/gbcs/client/schema/gbcs-client.xsd
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
         <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:token" use="required"/>
         <xs:attribute name="base-url" type="xs:anyURI" use="required"/>
         <xs:attribute name="max-connections" type="xs:positiveInteger" default="50"/>
+        <xs:attribute name="connection-timeout" type="xs:duration"/>
     </xs:complexType>
 
     <xs:complexType name="noAuthType"/>
diff --git a/gbcs-server/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/configuration/Parser.kt b/gbcs-server/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/configuration/Parser.kt
index d4b4081..c9282ef 100644
--- a/gbcs-server/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/configuration/Parser.kt
+++ b/gbcs-server/src/main/kotlin/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/configuration/Parser.kt
@@ -21,14 +21,20 @@ import org.w3c.dom.TypeInfo
 import java.nio.file.Paths
 import java.time.Duration
 import java.time.temporal.ChronoUnit
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
 
 object Parser {
     fun parse(document: Document): Configuration {
         val root = document.documentElement
         val anonymousUser = User("", null, emptySet())
-        var connection: Configuration.Connection? = null
-        var eventExecutor: Configuration.EventExecutor? = null
+        var connection: Configuration.Connection = Configuration.Connection(
+            Duration.of(10, ChronoUnit.SECONDS),
+            Duration.of(10, ChronoUnit.SECONDS),
+            Duration.of(60, ChronoUnit.SECONDS),
+            Duration.of(30, ChronoUnit.SECONDS),
+            Duration.of(30, ChronoUnit.SECONDS),
+            67108864
+        )
+        var eventExecutor: Configuration.EventExecutor = Configuration.EventExecutor(true)
         var cache: Cache? = null
         var host = "127.0.0.1"
         var port = 11080
diff --git a/gbcs-server/src/main/resources/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/gbcs-default.xml b/gbcs-server/src/main/resources/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/gbcs-default.xml
index 97ca2b2..ca17e90 100644
--- a/gbcs-server/src/main/resources/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/gbcs-default.xml
+++ b/gbcs-server/src/main/resources/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/gbcs-default.xml
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
-<gbcs:server use-virtual-threads="false"
-             max-request-size="67108864"
-             incoming-connections-backlog-size="1024"
+<gbcs:server
              xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
              xmlns:gbcs="urn:net.woggioni.gbcs.server"
              xs:schemaLocation="urn:net.woggioni.gbcs.server jpms://net.woggioni.gbcs.server/net/woggioni/gbcs/server/schema/gbcs.xsd">
-    <bind host="127.0.0.1" port="8080"/>
+    <bind host="127.0.0.1" port="8080" incoming-connections-backlog-size="1024"/>
+    <connection
+            max-request-size="67108864"
+            idle-timeout="PT30S"
+            read-timeout="PT10S"
+            write-timeout="PT10S"
+            read-idle-timeout="PT60S"
+            write-idle-timeout="PT60S"/>
+    <event-executor use-virtual-threads="true"/>
     <cache xs:type="gbcs:fileSystemCacheType" path="/tmp/gbcs" max-age="P7D"/>
     <authentication>
         <none/>