The useHTTPSessions option in PASOE/tomcat (for APSV over HT

Posted by dbeavon on 16-Apr-2020 00:11

Is the "useHTTPSessions" a fully-supported feature for APSV over HTTP?

https://docs.progress.com/bundle/pas-for-openedge-admin/page/Enable-HTTP-sessions-for-the-APSV-transport.html

I continue to struggle with the behavior of these "HTTP sessions", in the context of APSV.  One limitation of PASOE is that an ABL programmer is not able to reach out to interact with the tomcat session API - because the ABL code is running out-of-process and we live beneath several layers of abstraction.  So we rely heavily on the PASOE "session manager" to do the right thing.  And if it does not do the right thing then our apps are negatively affected.

I think APSV transport has been able to integrate with HTTP sessions for a long time (maybe three years or so).  In 11.7.x I think the use of HTTP sessions is the default for APSV applications.  But I still have lots of troubles that are directly related to the session-manager's use of HTTP sessions, and it still feels like this feature is not fully implemented.

When I have described various problems in the past, it seems like the recommendation is to turn off that option ("useHTTPSessions" for APSV).  This may have been an acceptable workaround in the past, but I'm wondering if that is still the case, given the need for industry-standard features like load balancing.  Here is a quote from another forum where the workaround is mentioned:

It is possible to disable the use of HTTP Sessions in the conf/openedge.properties configuration (useHTTPSessions) and test your application. Note: this setting does not affect any transport other then APSV.  If changing that property does not affect, or resolve, this bad behavior for you we need to know.

This quote is taken a bit out of context.  And I'm reading between the lines a bit.  But the message seems to be that APSV transport is fully supported and bug-free when useHTTPSessions is *disabled*.  But once it is enabled then we are using APSV at our own risk. 

Is that how we should understand this?  Here is the link:

https://community.progress.com/community_groups/openedge_development/f/19/t/57378

Here is another KB link where the first workaround that is given is to disable HTTP sessions:

https://knowledgebase.progress.com/articles/Article/pasoe-failures-after-a-period-of-inactivity

We are running PASOE on 11.7.x and are not likely to be able to upgrade to 12.x for a couple of years.

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