topic DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts in ArcGIS JavaScript Maps SDK Questions

DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 19:03:16 GMT

Hey guys, I am having a situation where the login prompt randomly shows when using v1.1.0 of the DotNet proxy against secured services (using login-based authentication).

I am unable to reproduce consistently - there's no rhyme or reason - and logging hasn't helped to tamp-down the culprit. I see others have encountered this as well:

I had to many problems with login based authentication I just gave up. It seems to be extremely buggy and inconsistent.

Has anyone had any luck in resolving the issue? Bjorn Svensson, do you have any recommendations for me to try, or maybe some caveats/known issues not indicated on GitHub? If I reload the page, the prompt will disappear and authenticate without having to manually enter credentials. Additionally, manually entering creds allows the app to continue functioning when the prompt displays. Really, it works the majority of the time, but... we need it to work 100% of the time!

A little bit about my set-up, if helpful:

* ArcGIS 10.3 on a Win 2k12 VM

* Web adaptor sourced on another Win 2k12 VM

* v1.1.0 of the DotNet API

* v3.16 of the JSAPI

* secured map service using login auth; xy event layer view from an MS SQL Server slice

* multiple maps embedded within iFrames on the host page; iFrames are hosted from the same server/project

* map service used as a FeatureLayer in the mapping app

Thanks!

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 18:58:54 GMT

Just a couple things to check...more to do with ArcGIS Server than JS:

Make sure the password for the account you have doing the AD validation for ArcGIS Server has not expired. I always get weird results when this happens.
Check the Lifespace for short-lived tokens under the AGS Manager Security Settings. Maybe up it so once logged in for the day, it remains active (not sure how switching browsers of software works since testing this myself right now). I think the default is 60 minutes.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 19:29:04 GMT

Thanks, Rebecca. That has me thinking... Could this be a quirk of the way we load balance?

We have one GIS server, and one web adaptor, but quite a few host apps, each on their own server, with at least two server mirrors a piece. So, when a user visits one of our sites, they will hit app server A (or another), but on the next page, or refresh, they may hit app server B (or C, D, etc). Each web site embeds an iframe hosted from within the same code base on the same app server, calling out to their centralized GIS server/web adaptor for its resources.

I bet this is mucking with persistence of authentication! We have run into other issues load balancing this way, but unfortunately, this is something I can't change. We've found workarounds persisting stuff through the db rather than rely on .NETs built-in handling.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 19:39:15 GMT

Definitely can't help you there since we have a pretty basic, one server setup.....but it does sound like you might be on to something. Maybe there is a setting somewhere to make sure they sync their credentials more often? I'm not even sure that is a thing, but I know our AD changes always have a lag, so maybe there is something you can look into.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 21:32:50 GMT

I went ahead and upped the token timeouts - I'll report back once we have a clear understanding as to whether or not it worked!

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 15:34:57 GMT

Unfortunately, the issue remains. If I can't figure this out, I might need to look into intercepting the log-in and reloading the map since everything appears to work again after this.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

BjornSvensson — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 17:35:47 GMT

Chris, you might want to try contacting Esri Support - they have a lot of experience helping customers with the resource proxy.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 17:40:00 GMT

Thanks, I was seriously contemplating doing so, but I wasn't sure if it was something Esri would provide support for over the phone since it is an ASL project on GitHub.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 17:46:39 GMT

Yes, they do help with the proxy from git hub. I had a case in a couple weeks ago and they helped. It is sometimes hard to get the correct group however...ArcGIS Server vs ArcGIS Online vs Desktop which I think is where I ended up. I started using the -referrer option of the proxy which works, as long as it is being called from a web page (e.g. WAB or JavaScript page). I have not been able to get it to work with something like OpenData which doesn't have a way to specify a proxy.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ArtemisFili — Tue, 05 Jul 2016 17:51:29 GMT

Chris, feel free to contact technical support and let them know that you are using the resource-proxy in the JavaScript API so that your question is routed to the right team.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 15:27:15 GMT

I opened a case - I'll follow-up with any resolution as soon as I have one. Hopefully, someone else out there has encountered a similar issue and has already gone through the trobuleshooting!

Something else I can rule-out - load balancing of our host app - I just realized this isn't a factor for localhost, where it occasionally manifests. Esri seems to preliminary think it may be related to the usage of the web adapter in our set-up

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 19:05:21 GMT

Esri seems to think it's related to IIS/GIS server token timeout disconnects, so they are asked me to recycle the app pool one minute before the token expires. Instead, I am going to set the token timeout to one minute AFTER the recycle since I cannot make this change across all of our servers, but can adjust the ArcGIS server.

I am not entirely convinced this will resolve the issue - I'll try it, and create a test harness along the way to see if I can force it to reproduce under load.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:01:01 GMT

So, it doesn't seem to be an issue any longer! I'm going to mark this as "assumed answered."

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 15:20:22 GMT

Chris, do you think this is what fixed it?

I am going to set the token timeout to one minute AFTER the recycle since I cannot make this change across all of our servers, but can adjust the ArcGIS server.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Wed, 27 Jul 2016 15:37:18 GMT

It appears so - I haven't encountered the prompt since making the adjustment, and I haven't heard any issues from our users as of the moment.

When I chatted with Esri, they identified one similar case from their kb where this type of adjustment proved to be the resolution. I tried increasing the timeout before as you recommended, to 600 minutes... In hindsight, this ended-up not being enough since the token was still expiring before IIS recycled. Our recycle time in IIS is 1440 minutes, so bumped-up the token timeout on the GIS server to 1441, and problem solved! (I think...)

I'm not sure if we should mark this as the answer, or leave as assumed answered... It seems like a definitive resolution thus far, although perhaps a bit nebulous.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 19:43:02 GMT

I reverted the "Assumed Answer" status. While the adjustment seems to have decreased the occurrences, we are still encountering the issue occasionally.

Esri support is recommending we try the following:

1. Can you please try to access the application by providing the token in the proxy instead of using username and password and see if the issue is still occurring?

I have been very busy of late and have had to put this on the back-burner. As soon as I have more notes, I'll add them here.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

MikeWynne — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 18:37:20 GMT

I did exactly the same thing (changed the token timeout to 1441) and, unfortunately, the prompt still randomly appears. I notice it a couple of times a week.

Mike

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 22:07:35 GMT

Mike,

It ended-up not working out satisfactorily, but I really still haven't had a chance to look at it (and we haven't released the feature, yet).

If I can't get it resolved 100%, I have a kludge in mind... since we embed the maps as iframes in our product, and I've never had the prompt show up after a page reload, I was going to intercept the pop-up and reload the embedded map portion only.

The way we show this on the front end, the users would never know any difference. In the case where it does get into a reload loop, I'd stop after x number of reload attempts and allow the user to use the map (with this feature disabled).

Not ideal by any means - I'm also holding out hope that the next time I get back to this, a new proxy version will be available that resolves the issue.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

MikeWynne — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 01:33:21 GMT

Thanks Chris. That got me thinking and I implemented this messy option that seems to be working - I used some jQuery to repeatedly check for the div of the popup becoming visible within the first couple of seconds after the page loads. If it does appear the cancel button is programmatically "clicked" so it disappears immediately.

Re: DotNet Proxy - Random login prompts

ChrisSmith7 — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 20:44:11 GMT

Mike Wynne‌,

I ended-up implementing something similar... I have a global, empty JS object array created on a .NET masterpage, so it's available everywhere. When a page loads with embedded maps, I create a look-up of the map IDs and the number of reload attempts; if the map loads with the log-in pop-up, I attempt a reload of the affected, embedded map only... a max of three attempts, then I give-up and hide the dialog, which is actually never seen by the user the way my workaround is coded.

This is really a kludge for sure, and I feel like I need to take a shower, but it seems to be working flawlessly, and the user isn't any the wiser, so I think it's a win.

If I get a chance to figure out a better solution, or Esri updates the proxy and the issue resolves, I'll post back here.