If I have two real servers in the server farm, and I like to check which source ip is getting stuck to which destination ip, where all should I place the sniffer trace (like Ethereal). Because sniffing after ACE would show me the BVI as the source IP. Is it correct ?

ACE module is configured in bridged mode.

No.

BVI IP address is just for management purpposes. Client source Ip is never translated to BVI IP.

You should see the Client source IP at the server.

Syed Iftekhar Ahmed

But when I do 'show conn' why do I see the BVI in the source column and real server in the destination.

that's a probe most probably.

Not traffic from client.

Gilles.

Isn't it quite cumbersome to setup a sniffer everytime the client traffic is to be identified. Probably, I will install a PC for sniffing purpose only (especially for remote checking)

If you know the client ip and just needs to know if there is a sticky entry for it, you can use the command

switch/Admin# sho stick da client 10.1.1.1

Gilles.

Its a helpful entry. But I noticed that the client here is the rserver. Is it correct ?

When I put in the client address, it gives out the rserver instances which is nothing other than the client IP in the entry, meaning it is the server IP and not client. Please clarify.

If there are more of such queries, please let me know.

Thanks.

No.

Client in this command is actual client.

for e.g following command shows that ACE has a sticky entry for client "x.x.x.x"

and this client is stuck to real server "Rserver2" due to sticky group "STICKY-GP1" and this sticky entry will remain in the sticky DB for 585 more seconds (if the connection remains idle).

switch/ACE# show sticky database client x.x.x.<

sticky group : STICKY-GP1

type : IP

timeout : 10

timeout-activeconns : FALSE

sticky-entry rserver-ints time-to-exp

---------------+--------------+------

2702367184 rserver2:8888 585

Syed

Ok. I will check it again.

Is there any debug command by any chance, which would show the client/server IP combination.

Do a sniffer trace on the ACE Server Vlan to get Client/Server IP combination.

In order to find that a single Client is connected to which Rserver "show sticky database client" is good enough.

I agree that Show sticky database showing IP addresses instead of hashes would be better (As it is available in CSM). There is already a bug (CSCsg58769) filed for this functionality.

Probably Gilles can tell us if we are going to get this functionality soon.

Syed Iftekhar Ahmed

Is it possible to see a list of all client IP's in the sticky database ?

In case I don't know the client IP before hand.

In F5 load balancers, iRules can be used to store certain cookie/persistence information in the logs.

Is it possible in ACE to do the same for e.g. tcl scripting etc.