Defining your web servers & load balancers : Defining your web servers : Configuring session persistence
 
Configuring session persistence
After FortiWeb has forwarded the first packet from a client to a pool member, some protocols require that subsequent packets also be forwarded to the same back-end server until a period of time passes or the client indicates that it has finished transmission.
A session persistence configuration specifies a persistence method and timeout. You apply the configuration to Server Balance server pools to apply the persistence setting to all members of the pool.
To create a persistence configuration
1. Go to Server Objects > Server > Persistence.
2. Complete the following settings:
Setting name
Description
Name
Type a unique name that can be referenced in other parts of the configuration. Do not use spaces or special characters. The maximum length is 63 characters.
Type
Specifies how FortiWeb determines which pool member to forward subsequent requests from a client after it has forwarded the client’s initial request. For the initial request, FortiWeb selects a pool member using the load balancing method specified in the server pool configuration.
• Persistent IP — FortiWeb forwards subsequent requests with the same client IP address as the initial request to the same pool member.
• Persistent Cookie — If an initial request contains a cookie whose name matches the Cookie Name value, FortiWeb forwards subsequent requests that contain the same cookie value to the same pool member as the initial request.
• Insert Cookie — FortiWeb inserts a cookie with the name cookiesession2 to the initial request and forwards all subsequent requests with this cookie to the same pool member. FortiWeb uses this cookie for persistence only and does not forward it to the pool member.
• ASP Session ID — If a cookie in the initial request contains an ASP .NET session ID value, FortiWeb forwards subsequent requests with the same session ID value to the same pool member as the initial request. (FortiWeb preserves the original cookie name.)
• PHP Session ID — If a cookie in the initial request contains a PHP session ID value, FortiWeb forwards subsequent requests with the same session ID value to the same pool member as the initial request. (FortiWeb preserves the original cookie name.)
• JSP Session ID — FortiWeb forwards subsequent requests with the same JSP session ID as the initial request to the same pool member. (FortiWeb preserves the original cookie name.)
Cookie Name
When the value of Type is Persistent Cookie, specifies the cookie name to match in an initial request from a client. If the cookie name in the initial request matches Persistent Cookie, FortiWeb forwards any subsequent requests with that cookie value the same pool member as the initial request.
Persistence Timeout
Specifies the maximum amount of time between requests that FortiWeb maintains persistence, in seconds.
FortiWeb stops forwarding requests according to the established persistence after this amount of time has elapsed since it last received a request from the client with the associated property (for example, an IP address or cookie). Instead, it again selects a pool member using the load balancing method specified in the server pool configuration.
3. Click OK.
For information on applying the configuration to a pool, see “Creating a server pool”.