Re: Apache + Tomcat = no session management

Sander Temme <sctemme@xxxxxxxxxx> · Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:05:59 -0800

On Jan 23, 2007, at 1:30 PM, Wm.A.Stafford wrote:

   Thanks for replying to my query.  I don't really know anything  

about Apache.  How would I go about determining how Apache and  

Tomcat interact?  I have the httpd.conf file for the Apache in  

question, can  I  tell from that?

   I have looked through the file and I do not see mod_jk being  

loaded so I think we can rule out that.

   I see the lines below in httpd.conf does this mean communication  

is  via HTTPProxy? (our app is OBISDEV)

   ProxyPass /OBISBETA http://localhost:8082/OBISDEV
   ProxyPassReverse /OBISBETA localhost:8082/OBISDEV

Yes, that looks promising. So, when you connect to your application,  

you type in the browser something like:

http://yourhostname/OBISBETA/somewebapppath

Any request that starts with /OBISBETA will be forwarded to the  

latter URL, with whatever came after /OBISBETA (/somewebappath in  

this case) tacked on.

If the web app decides to write a cookie to the browser, it may  

choose to include a path.  Tomcat thinks it's running at /OBISDEV,  

which is different from the path seen by the browser.

When the browser sends the next request, it'll send any cookie along  

that it has cached for the hostname and path under consideration.  

Since the browser connects to a different path (/OBISBETA instead of / 

OBISDEV), your cookie wont't get sent which your Tomcat will see as  

an opportunity to create a brand new session all over again.  If you  

open your browser's cookie cache, you should find the orphaned cookie  

that you received but didn't send back.

Which version of Apache are you using? As of Apache 2.2, we have a  

configuration directive 'ProxyPassReverseCookiePath' that can rewrite  

such a Cookie path on the proxy. If you are running Apache 2.2.x,  

have a look at

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/ 

mod_proxy.html#proxypassreversecookiepath

(hint: put ProxyPassReverseCookiePath /OBISDEV /OBISBETA next to the  

ProxyPassReverse directive and restart your Apache)

   I'm sorry to be so clueless but I have absolutely no experience  

with Apache.

That's OK, we're here to help.  If you need any more info, perhaps  

you can paste us the contents of such an orphaned cookie... don't  

worry about the contents (a session ID is just random data as far as  

we are concerned), but the cookie name (probably JSESSIONID), domain  

and path would be good info.  If you can't find it, clear your  

browser cache (on your test machine, don't want you to lose all your  

saved logins), access your app and then look what the cat dragged in.

S.

--
sctemme@xxxxxxxxxx            http://www.temme.net/sander/
Open Source Software Consultant
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