IIS URL re-write module

[Raoul_Villalpan]

This is not a clustering question per se, but related to our clustering implementation we would like to use the IIS URL re-write module.  Are there any issues or problems using this on our OnBase web server?

Thank you,

Raoul

[Doug_Kupec]

hi Raoul,

Thanks for your post.  Could you provide some background on what you are attempting to do and how the IIS URL re-write module would be implemented?

thanks,
Doug

[Raoul_Villalpan]

Sure, our users currently use a URL like http://Onbase1.domain.edu/AppNet/login.aspx to access the web client.  I'd like to use the URL re-write module so that requests are redirected to https://onbase.domain.edu/AppNet/login.aspx .  Onbase.pacific.edu is a virtual IP currently with one member (Onbase1) but will eventually have a second (Onbase2) so I want all request to go through the VIP address rather than the indivual servers.   Does that make sense?

Thanks,

     -Raoul

[Doug_Kupec · Accepted solution]

Raoul,

Thanks for the additional information and example. I apologize that I am not going to be able to try out the following suggestion, but it should do what you need based on the IIS documentation (http://www.iis.net/learn/extensions/url-rewrite-module/creating-rewrite-rules-for-the-url-rewrite-mo...)

Configure the IIS URL Rewrite rule to match on http://onbase1.domain.edu/appnet/ and replace that with https://onbase.domain.edu/AppNet/. I believe the action should be a redirect.

Then you will want to configure the dmsVirtualRoot value in the web.config to be the URL you want to use: https://onbase.domain.edu/AppNet

Adding a second machine and using the VIP may be more complicated. The reason being is that the Web Server requires sticky sessions (or persistent sessions). This means that a user that connects to the Web Server on onbase1 will need to send all requests to onbase1 until the user longs out. Depending on the VIP implementation it may not be possible to do what you desire with the IIS URL Rewrite, VIP, and multiple servers.

The functionality you are looking for is similar to Load Balancing and the requirements for the Web Server are documented in the Modular Reference Guide.

Technical Support should be able to provide additional guidance on the VIP concept and may be able to provide additional best practices on the IIS URL Rewrite module.

thanks,
Doug

[Raoul_Villalpan]

Thanks Doug.  I should have mentioned that our VIP is configured on an F5 load balancer which can be configured to handle sticky sessions, so I think we'll be okay.  I just wanted to make sure that the OnBase web service is compatible with the IIS re-write module and it sounds like it is

Thanks again,

      -Raoul