Running Aurea CRM web in a Windows Server Network Load Balancing Cluster

There are various hard- and software based means to build up web farms. If you are running the application on Windows Server, consider using the Windows Server Network Load Balancing, offered by Microsoft as part of the Windows Server operating system family.

For details on Network Load Balancing, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831698.aspx.

To run Aurea CRM web in a Windows Server Network Load Balancing Cluster, you must:

  • Change the machineKey element in machine.config file
  • Define a StateServer or SQL Server in the web.config file.

In the machine.config file, change the validationKey and the decryptionKey attributes of the machineKey element and provide keys for validation and encryption/decryption of the view state.

In a default installation of the Microsoft.NET Framework you find the machine.config file under c:\%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\CONFIG.

For further information, >> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/w8h3skw9(v=vs.100).aspx.

The value of validationKey must be manually set to ensure a consistent configuration across a network of a web farm. decryptionKey is used for form authentication encryption and decryption and for view state encryption when validation is 3DES.

You can find a <machineKey> generator at http://aspnetresources.com/tools/machineKey. This is an online tool for creating keys for view state validation and encryption.

Example: 
<machineKey
   validationKey="9441C18D5B8069B38180CA289B53FF6568AB5EEBB987A7F7
B88923127BD8BCCAC2DA174E86D2B9E6F9D4B89AA2E37BE0AB0482FBF6595B42A5516F45C9E6C7F0"
   decryptionKey="5352DD79A88B194B645F2E6B3099D2DEA20EF351C45A0F72"
   validation="SHA1"/>

If Aurea CRM web is running in a load balancing scenario you have to ensure that all requests of a session are handled by the same host in the cluster ("Session Affinity"). In other words: the load balancing server has to assure that all connections that are part of the same client session are handled by the same host in the cluster.

In a Windows Server Network Load Balancing Cluster you need to enable client affinity (in the Port Rules) by setting Affinity to "Single".

Note: Running Aurea CRM web in a web garden (multiple worker processes for one application pool) is not supported.