MySQL difference between wait_timeout and connect_timeout

I have a my.cnf file. In it I see wait_timeout as well as connect_timeout. What's the difference between these 2?

Right from the MySQL Documentation

• wait_timeout : The number of seconds the server waits for activity on a noninteractive connection before closing it.

• connect_timeout : The number of seconds that the mysqld server waits for a connect packet before responding with Bad handshake

EXAMPLES

• If wait_timeout is 1800 (30 Minutes), the DB Connection will close in 30 minutes if the connection is idle (indicated by Sleep in the command column of the processlist).

• If connect_timeout is 10, then mysqld will reject you if you cannot login (authenticate) in 10 seconds.

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#162453, answer score: 21