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Software

Forms Authentication Behind a Load Balancer - ASP.NET

Overview¶

When using Forms Authentication in a web farm situation, additional configuration must be done to ensure the Forms Authentication cookie will be accepted no matter which web server receives it.

Procedure¶

The following changes need to be made to the web.config file, both under the system.web node

1. A machineKey node needs to be created

Attribute	Value
validation	"SHA1"
validationKey	(a 128-hex-digit random key)
decryption	"AES"
decryptionKey	(a 64-hex-digit random key)

2. Under authentication/forms the protection attribute should be set to "All". The following code will generate a machine key node with cryptographically random keys.

Utility Code¶

private void GenerateWebConfigXml()
{
    var newLine = Environment.NewLine + "    ";
    var format ="<machineKey";
    format += newLine;
    format += "validation=\"SHA1\"";
    format += newLine;
    format += "validationKey=\"{0}\"";
    format += newLine;
    format += "decryption=\"AES\"";
    format += newLine;
    format += "decryptionKey=\"{1}\"";
    format += newLine;
    format += "/>";
            
    var dKey = GenerateRandomKey(64);
    var vKey = GenerateRandomKey(128);

    var result = string.Format(format, vKey, dKey);
    uxResultTextBox.Text = result;
}

/// <summary>
/// 
/// </summary>
/// <param name="len">KEY length (e.g., for a 32-byte key, pass 64)</param>
/// <returns></returns>
private string GenerateRandomKey(int len)
{
    byte[] buff = new byte[len / 2];
    var rng = new RNGCryptoServiceProvider();
    rng.GetBytes(buff);
    var sb = new StringBuilder(len);

    for (int i = 0; i < buff.Length; i++)
        sb.Append(string.Format("{0:X2}", buff[i]));

    return sb.ToString();
}

Reference¶

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3357850/does-forms-authentication-work-with-web-load-balancers
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms998288.aspx#paght000007_webfarmdeploymentconsiderations