Category: Brocade ADX

Brocade ADX – JSession Persistence

This is an example for JSession ID based persistence for Brocade ADX:


csw-rule "JSESSION" header "cookie" pattern "JSESSIONID=" case-insensitive
csw-rule "URI" url pattern "JSESSIONID=" case-insensitive                 
                                                                          
csw-policy "CSW_JSESSION" case-insensitive                            
 match "JSESSION" persist offset 0 length 32 passive-persist              
 match "URI" persist offset 0 length 32 passive-persist                   
 default forward 1

In the above policy, the persistence decision is made based on the first 33 characters (0-32) of the JSession ID. If this number has to be different, we would have to alter the CSW Policy to reflect the right number of characters. The csw-policy “CSW_JSESSION” would have to be utilized within the Virtual Server.

Brocade ADX – CSW HTTP Method

When using CSW Rule with POST method and load balancing based on incoming URI, you could run into a defect that prevents the right configuration. By default, “case-insensitive” CSW Rules would have to be added to “case-insensitive” CSW Policies. However, “case-insensitive” key word at the end of the CSW Rule for HTTP Method is NOT recognized by the Brocade ADX. Most browsers send the HTTP Method in Uppercase and hence, Brocade Engineers did not design the CSW Rule for HTTP Method to work with “case-insensitive” keyword.

Virtual ADX(config)#csw-rule “POST_Method” method eq “POST” case-insensitive

Virtual ADX(config)#csw-policy “CSW_POLICY” case-insensitive

Virtual ADX(config-CSW_POLICY)#match “POST_Method” forward 1

Rule “POST_Method” does not match policy “CSW_POLICY” case sensitivity type

What if you want to combine HTTP Method related CSW Rule (case-sensitive) with normal L7 load balancing rules based on case-insensitive URI ?

In this case, you can only create “case-sensitive” CSW Policy and not “case-insensitive” CSW Policy as the CSW Rule for Method doesn’t have a “case-insensitive” option. In effect, the URI that is utilized within the CSW Rule has to be “case-sensitive” and won’t match any case.

I wanted this configuration (case-insensitive):

csw-rule “POST_Method” method eq “POST” case-insensitive
csw-rule “URI_ADMIN” url pattern “/ADMIN/” case-insensitive
csw-rule “URI_STAGE” url pattern “/STAGE/” case-insensitive

csw-policy “CSW_POLICY” case-insensitive 
match “URI_ADMIN” forward 1026
match “URI_STAGE” forward 1026
match “POST_Method” forward 1027

Settled For This Configuration (case-sensitive):

csw-rule “POST_Method” method eq “POST”
csw-rule “URI_ADMIN” url pattern “/admin/” 
csw-rule “URI_STAGE” url pattern “/stage/” 

csw-policy “CSW_POLICY” 
match “URI_ADMIN” forward 1026
match “URI_STAGE” forward 1026
match “POST_Method” forward 1027

Issue seen: 12.4D code.

Brocade ADX – TCP Profile & Slowness

With the newer Brocade ADX code versions (12.4G+), it is possible to alter the TCP profile settings that is associated with the Virtual Server.

Why Change the TCP Profile:

I have run into issues when there is slowness in data transfer between the client and the Brocade ADX. Usually, I have seen this happen under 2 configuration setting:

  • CSW (Layer 7 rule is enabled)
  • SSL is terminated on the Brocade ADX

When we enable CSW or terminate SSL on the Brocade ADX, it tends to act as a “Full Proxy” device with TCP stack for Client-Side connection and another TCP stack for Server-Side connection. Somehow this setting will result in sub-optimal performance.

A sample TCP Profile:

tcp profile CLIENT_TCP
nagle off
delayed-ack off
rxbuf-size 524288
txbuf-size 2516544
tcp-wnd-scale 6

tcp profile SERVER_TCP
nagle off
rxbuf-size 2516544
txbuf-size 524288
tcp-wnd-scale 6

SSH@vADX(config)#server virtual VS-1.1.1.1

SSH@vADX(config-vs-VS-1.1.1.1)#port http tcp-proxy CLIENT_TCP SERVER_TCP

“CLIENT_TCP” profile changes the TCP profile setting that is client facing and the “SERVER_TCP” profile changes the TCP profile setting that is server facing. We can utilize the same TCP profile settings for both client and the server side, if required.

Ideally, I would recommend using 12.4U code version with the following TCP profile:

tcp profile TCP-PROFILE
delayed-ack off
rxbuf-size 1024000
txbuf-size 1024000
tcp-wnd-scale 4
tcp-timestamp on
tcp-sack on

The last 2 options for “timestamp” and “sack” are provided in 12.4U code version and are not available in earlier code versions.

The TCP profile can also be altered at the SSL profile level as noted here.

ssl profile star.domain.com
keypair-file star.domain.com-key16
certificate-file star.domain.com-crt16
cipher-suite all-cipher-suites
enable-certificate-chaining
tcp-profile TCP-PROFILE
session-cache off

In the above case, the TCP profile is added to the SSL profile and this will be attached to the Virtual Server. With newer code version, we can directly attach to the TCP profile to the Virtual Server’s port using the “tcp-proxy” keyword as illustrated earlier.