Using SSL Offloading with EAS to Avoid Load Failures

It’s not uncommon these days to load balance the HTTP layer for the EPM Stack. This includes using a virtual ip address or ‘VIP’. Many of our clients are also implementing SSL offloading at the VIP.  When using SSL, sometimes EAS will fail to load the EAS Console correctly. It will usually show an error with three possible bad URLs.

• a URL that is not SSL
• or the URL may not use the correct VIP address
• or the URL may even be pointed to the default 10080 port

To force EAS to always call back to the correct SSL address, you can add a java argument for EAS “-DEAS_FE_URL.”
In Unix Environments:
The java argument should be added to the set CustomParamatersEssbaseAdminServices.sh (or bat). The file is found in the EPM_INSTANCE/bin/deploymentScripts/ directory. The argument can be added directly into “JAVA_OPTIONS” section of the file, or as its own entry. I prefer a separate entry so I can better see it has actually been applied.
I add these lines in the file:

• ###Added for SSL Offloading
• JAVA_OPTIONS=“-DEAS_FE_URL=https://myhost.corporate.com:443 ${JAVA_OPTIONS} ”
• export JAVA_OPTIONS
• ####

They can be added at the top or the bottom of the file.
In Windows Environments:
The java argument should be added appropriately in the Windows Registry.