After consulting the Coyote Point tech support and upper level engineers we have concluded that our configuration of 1 Coyote E550si with 2 Windows 2003 IIS Servers is setup properly. However, our ASP.NET web application does not function properly. The symptom that we are encountering when the equalizer switches the user's connection from server A to server B is the following error in different frames of the application. Please note that we have not been able to reproduce the error using the Microsoft Network Load Balancer configuration.
Server Error in '/rnt_Proj' Application.
--------------------------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.NullReferenceExcept
ion: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Stack Trace:
[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
rnt_Proj.rntGlobals.GrabSe
ssionVarUs
er(String sessionVarName, UserRecordType& aVar) +44
rnt_Proj.rntCollaboration.
Page_Load(
Object sender, EventArgs e) +173
System.Web.UI.Control.OnLo
ad(EventAr
gs e) +67
System.Web.UI.Control.Load
Recursive(
) +35
System.Web.UI.Page.Process
RequestMai
n() +739
--------------------------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----------
----
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:1.1.4322.2379; ASP.NET Version:1.1.4322.2379
Furthermore, we are able to reproduce the error using the following steps.
Case I:
1. Go to the URL Login page of the application using IE. (screen shows server A responded)
2. Login
3. Main page will open and the Menu frame or the Collaboration frame will display the error. (screen shows server B responded)
Case II:
1. Go to the URL Login page of the application using IE. (screen shows server A responded)
2. Login
3. Main page will open looking normal. (screen shows server A responded)
4. Press F5 to refresh this is normal and the application will remain in the Main page.
5. Main page will appear and the Menu frame or the Collaboration frame will display the error. (screen shows server B responded)
Lastly, Coyote Point Support explained to us that the error occurs due to three reasons.
1. Undeclared variables (Exterior, not observed by the compiler).
2. Bad scripting.
3. Bad programming.
However, they ruled out 2 and 3, because our application works fine using the Microsoft Network Load Balancing configuration. Therefore, to troubleshoot #1 they advised us to use a packet analyzer or packet sniffer, such as Ethereal (
http://www.ethereal.com/download.html) to find a good packet and a bad packet so we can find what variables are missing when the error appears in the application.
Our experiences with packet sniffers has not been very positive, because of the vast information they can return which is practically looking for a needle in a hay stack. Therefore, if anyone in this forum can provide us with some insight incase you've ran into a similar issue or if any can provide us a second opinion that will help us to move forward it will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,