connect_timeout_ms This attribute specifies the amount of time in milliseconds to wait for a new connection to a server. The default is 10,000 ms. If set to a negative value, connection operations will block indefinitely until the server replies or until the operating system TCP/IP stack gives up (e.g. if the name can't resolve or there is no process listening on the target host/port). A zero value polls the socket during connection and is thus likely to fail except when talking to a local process (and perhaps even then). This may be set in a connection string with the 'connectTimeoutMS' option.