I'm having a problem with outbound connections from hosts located on the server side of a CSM. These hosts do not have any associated "real" configuration, so are not actively known by the CSM.
We have the CSM installed in a "CSM Inline and MSFC Not Involved" topology. The client vlan is connected directly to a firewall via the CSM "gateway" command. The firewall has a route statement to the CSM server vlan. We've also tested with a normal router in place of the firewall with the same result. We've produced the problem "test production" environment as well as in the lab. The problem occurs in CSM v 4.1(2) and also 3.2(3) as well as with a Sup II and Sup 720.
Inbound connections to the CSM server segment to configured "real" servers and other hosts, not known to the CSM, work fine. Connections to vservers also work fine.
My problem occurs when hosts not actively known to the CSM on the CSM server side try to initiate an outbound connection. Without an entry in the CSM arp cache or in the CSM connection table, the outbound connection fails. For instance, there is a host at 10.230.177.99 that can't get outbound unless an inbound connection occurs. Once the inbound connection populates the CSM arp cache, the outbound connection may proceed. Any ideas?
My configuration is as follows:
module ContentSwitchingModule 5
vlan 176 client
ip address 10.230.176.254 255.255.255.0
gateway 10.230.176.248
!
vlan 177 server
ip address 10.230.177.254 255.255.255.0
!
serverfarm FISCOREFARM
nat server
no nat client
real 10.230.177.100
inservice
real 10.230.177.101
inservice
!
serverfarm ROUTERTO177
no nat server
no nat client
predictor forward
!
vserver FISCOREVIRT
virtual 10.230.176.101 any
serverfarm FISCOREFARM
persistent rebalance
inservice
!
vserver ROUTER-TO177
virtual 10.230.177.0 255.255.255.0 any
serverfarm ROUTERTO177
persistent rebalance
inservice
!
