Cisco CSS Load Balance Issues

bronocode · ‎08-06-2012

I'm still relatively new to Cisco CSS' so I may not be using the right terminology. Anyways, I'm testing out a 2 Windows 2008 IIS7 web servers in a load balance configured on the CSS. The site uses a login to authenticate and I've configured the Machine Key in IIS7 to match on each server.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be working and I'm having a hard time figuring out why. I figured I would try using a sticky instead from the CSS side. I want to use advanced-balance arrowpoint-cookie method over srcip as I feel like using a IP-sticky has it's faults (please correct me otherwise). Anyways, the cookie is working and I stay connected through one server, however the site is extremely slow and it doesn't always authenticate properly. The page will hang and it will eventually time out and bring you back to the main login page. If I host file one server, it works fine.

Now - there may be something on the application side and still exploring that avenue, but we had issues with VIP even when there was just one server in the mix.

I believe we have the Cisco 11500 series

Jorge Bejarano · ‎08-06-2012

Hello DD,

Do you have it configured as L5 content rule?

Can you upload the owner, content rule, services and groups(If any)?

At this point, stickiness is working fine however you are seeing slowness and some timeouts, correct? If you are having some timeout, maybe you may need to configure a "flow timeout multiplier"

Is this a http or https site?

Additionally, it may be related with window scale, does your servers or client use it?

Please let us know

Jorge

Jorge Bejarano · ‎08-06-2012

Please include your current version as well

Jorge

bronocode · ‎08-07-2012

Here is what is currently setup:

content vip19-80

vip address XX.XX.XX.XX

balance leastconn

port 80

protocol tcp

add service XX.XX.XX.01-80

add service XX.XX.XX.02-80

advanced-balance arrowpoint-cookie

active

For now, this is strictly HTTP. Please forgive me as I'm still learning this. It appears I'm not using a L5 Content Rule. Is L5 pretty standard to use for web applications (particularly .NET if that makes a difference)?

And by version, do you mean the software version?

Thanks!

Jorge Bejarano · ‎08-07-2012

Hi DD,
Yes software version.

Your configuration requires this:

content vip19-80
    vip address XX.XX.XX.XX
    balance leastconn
    port 80
    protocol tcp
    add service XX.XX.XX.01-80
    add service XX.XX.XX.02-80
    advanced-balance arrowpoint-cookie
    URL "/*" ------------------> it seems you are missing this part
    active

Please test it and let us know how it behaves after applying the change

Jorge

Gilles Dufour · ‎08-08-2012

Rhe URL command is not mandatory.

If your site is slow, you should first check if it slow only when using SSL or if is also slow when using the clear text vip.

Get a sniffer trace frontend and backend to see where there is delay. Could be a problem with window scaling.

Gilles.

bronocode · ‎08-09-2012

Still having an issue after adding the L5 content rule. Here are the current configs. We are on version 08.20.5.01

content vip19-80

vip address xx.xx.xx.110

balance leastconn

add service xx.xx.xx.01-80

add service xx.xx.xx.02-80

advanced-balance arrowpoint-cookie

port 80

protocol tcp

url "/*"

active

service xx.xx.xx.01-80

ip address xx.xx.xx.01

protocol tcp

port 80

keepalive type http

keepalive frequency 10

active

service XX.XX.XX.02-80

ip address XX.XX.XX.02

protocol tcp

port 80

keepalive type http

keepalive frequency 10

active

!

I know this is a generalized question but is there an overall issue with Windows 2008 web servers being load balanced?

Jorge Bejarano · ‎08-13-2012

Hi DD,

Hummm, did you check what the WS of the client side and servers side are?

Jorge

bronocode · ‎08-14-2012

Could you elaborate on your question? I'm not quite sure what you're asking. I've host filed each web server individually and have no issues.