[LON-CAPA-admin] Cookie problems but still switched?

[Lucas, Mark]

Thanks Stuart. I realized it might be more general when I used firefox and my own
account and still got the message.

Mark
On Jan 30, 2013, at 11:46 AM, Stuart Raeburn wrote:

> Hi,
> 
>> *httpd error_log gives:  /home/httpd/html/adm/switchserver failed   
>> for xx.xx.xx.xx, reason: Cookie  not valid
> 
> This message is logged on a lonbalancer server each time a user  
> successfully authenticates, and is then internally redirected to  
> /adm/switchserver (i.e., it is logged for every successful log-in via  
> a lonbalancer server).
> 
> Accordingly, it is not really an error, despite its appearance in the  
> Apache ssl_error_log file (or error_log file for non-SSL Apache), and  
> the use of the word "failed".
> 
> What is happening here is that lonauth.pm authenticates the user, and  
> then checks if the server should offload the user session (which will  
> be yes, if it's a lonbalancer server). If yes, an internal redirect  
> occurs to /adm/switchserver.
> 
> Because there was no lonID from a cookie in the original request (the  
> user was authenticating) when lonacc.pm is called during handling of  
> the request for /adm/switchserver it finds no user session, and logs  
> the message you see.
> 
> Anyway, lonacc.pm (see rev. 1.142 --  
> http://source.loncapa.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/loncom/auth/lonacc.pm?rev=1.142 )  
> now skips logging in this particular case.  However, it may be  
> preferable to actually log this event (calling switchserver after  
> successful authentication on a lonbalancer server), in some other way.
> 
> 
> Stuart Raeburn
> LON-CAPA Academic Consortium
> 
> Quoting "Lucas, Mark" <lucasm at ohio.edu>:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I'm doing some forensics on a student who (1) claims to have   
>> problems logging in, and (2) when she
>> does get in she can't submit problems.
>> 
>> She is using Safari/536.25, and I think the issues is cookies, but   
>> what confuses me is the following:
>> * she logged into our lonbalancer, capa5, authenticated, and was   
>> switched to capa10.
>> 
>> *httpd error_log gives:  /home/httpd/html/adm/switchserver failed   
>> for xx.xx.xx.xx, reason: Cookie  not valid
>> 
>> * ... but her session seems to transfer to capa10 'just fine',   
>> outside of the fact that she gets strange
>>   behavior trying to submit problems.
>> 
>> Has anyone else seen something like this?  Any quick insights from anyone?
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Mark
>> 
>> --
>> Mark Lucas 								email: lucasm at ohiou.edu
>> 252D Clippinger Lab						phone: (740)597-2984
>> Department of Physics and Astronomy		fax: (740)593-0433
>> Ohio University
>> Athens, OH 45701
>> 
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> 
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-- 
Mark Lucas 								email: lucasm at ohiou.edu
252D Clippinger Lab						phone: (740)597-2984
Department of Physics and Astronomy		fax: (740)593-0433
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701