ACE4710 protocol support

[billmatthews]

For server load balancing, does the ACE4710 support custom protocols?

We'll be using HTTP for server health monitoring, and to determine if a server is up or down.

But the client/server application is custom, and includes a lot of non-standard ports.  Can the server VIP handle generic TCP connections?  For example client1 connects to the VIP on http, but then later client1 switches to using tcp842 (a custom protocol, not http).

Is that supported?

Thanks

[Andrew Nam]

Not really if I understand correctly.

looks like you want to configure port translation at the serverfarm.

For example client1 connects to the VIP on http, but then later client1 switches to using tcp842 (a custom protocol, not http).

client------ vip 10.1.1.1:80--ACE---- rserver 20.1.1.1:841

serverfarm host ABMJ
  rserver r1 843
    inservice
  rserver r2 843
    inservice

class-map match-all VIP-HTTP
  2 match virtual-address 10.1.1.1 tcp eq www

policy-map type loadbalance first-match LB-Policy
  class class-default
    serverfarm LB-FARM

policy-map multi-match HTTP-POLICY
  class VIP-HTTP
    loadbalance vip inservice
    loadbalance policy LB-Policy
    loadbalance vip icmp-reply active

If you configure the serverfarm as above, when the client hits the vip, it will connect to the port 80 but when it LBs to the server behind the ACE, the ACE will change the destination port from port 80 to port 843.

This is fairly common practice.

regards,

Andrew

[billmatthews]

Thanks for the reply Andrew.

Let me clarify my question.

This is a client/server application (not a web browser).  It uses a couple different connections from the client to the server.  One is regular http, and one is a custom protocol (not http) on port 841.

So my question is, does the ACE support generic tcp protocols on the VIP?  The ACE 4710 data sheet says it support:

Generic protocol parsing (GPP): Cisco ACE has native understanding of the following protocols: HTTP,
FTP, DNS, Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Real-Time
Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Extended RTSP, RADIUS, and Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

But does it support other non-standard protocols?

[stmccabe]

Bill,

You can accomplish what you are looking to do with a scripted probe.  You basically need to set the socket then set parameters you want to parse "look" for in the form of a tcl script that the ACE will run against the defined rservers/serverfarm(s)..

There are some precanned scripts that you can download in the ACE code download page.. You can use one of these scripts as a starting point/template.

With tcl scripting you are provided quite a bit of flexiblity.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/interfaces_modules/services_modules/ace/vA2_3_0/configuration/slb/guide/script.html

HTH.

[billmatthews]

Thanks, but that sounds like it's about a health probe.  For server status/health checks, I'll just be doing basic HTTP tests.

My question is just about protocol forwarding.  When node1 is up, the client needs to access http and tcp841 on node1.  Can the ACE appliance forward non-standard protocols? 

[stmccabe]

Bill,

Absolutely.  The ACE can forward your application traffic at Layer 4.  In fact if you you GPP (generic protocol parsing) you can create match conditions to make more granular deterministic forwarding based on L4 payload of the protocol..