Forum Discussion

Nimbostratus

Feb 02, 2005

XML exception when calling ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer.get_virtual_address_list()

I'm writing some iControl code (using iControl 4.6.2) for use against a

540 running 4.5.9 Build 2 and a 2400 running 4.5 PTF3. When I call

ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer.get_virtual_address_list() from the 540, I get the following exception (XML error), but the same code works from the 2400. Is there a known bug in 4.5.9 Build 2? I looked through the release notes for later releases but didn't find any references to this problem.

TIA.

System.InvalidOperationException: There is an error in XML document (11,

2). ---> System.InvalidOperationException: The specified type was not

recognized: name='ITCMCommon.IPAddress', namespace='urn:iControl', at xmlns=''>.

System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializationReader.GetPrimitiveType(XmlQualifiedNam

e typeName, Boolean throwOnUnknown)

at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializationReader.ReadArray(String

typeName, String typeNs)

System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializationReader.ReadReferencingElement(String

name, String ns, Boolean elementCanBeType, String& fixupReference)

System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializationReader.ReadReferencingElement(String

name, String ns, String& fixupReference)

Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReader1.Read390_ge

t_virtual_address_listResponse()

--- End of inner exception stack trace ---

at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader

xmlReader, String encodingStyle, XmlDeserializationEvents events)

at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader

xmlReader, XmlDeserializationEvents events)

at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(XmlReader

xmlReader)

System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.ReadResponse(SoapClientMess

age message, WebResponse response, Stream responseStream, Boolean asyncCall)

at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String

methodName, Object[] parameters)

BigIpPoC.F5VirtualServer.ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer.get_virtual_address_list(Strin

g[]& vlan_wildcard_addresses) in c:\workspace\bigippoc\web

references\f5virtualserver\reference.cs:line 1974

at BigIpPoC.Class1.Main(String[] args) in c:\workspace\bigippoc\class1.cs:line 51

dev

devops

iControl

12 Replies

Loc_Pham_101863
Historic F5 Account
Feb 02, 2005
As far as I could tell, the code for this method is identical between the 2 releases, 4.5.9 Build 2 and 4.5 PTF3.

I don't know for sure yet whether this is the culprit, but from what I see in the exception stack below:

BigIpPoC.F5VirtualServer.ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer.get_virtual_address_list(String[]& vlan_wildcard_addresses) in c:\workspace\bigippoc\web

references\f5virtualserver\reference.cs:line 1974

it shows you only have 1 parameter in the call to get_virtual_address_list, where it should have taken 2 parameters. Can you post a snippet of the code calling this method? It would help us track down the issue better.

Thanks,

Loc

Mark_Scattergoo

Nimbostratus

Feb 03, 2005

Loc - thanks for the response. According to the documentation I have, get_virtual_address_list takes one argument and returns a string[]. Here is some sample code to reproduce the problem. I can take this code, change the IP address in the webservice URL from the 540 to the 2400, and have it work fine.

 using System;  
  using System.Net;  
  using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;  
  using System.Web;  
    
  namespace BigIpPoC  
  {  
  class Class2  
  {  
  [STAThread]  
  static void Main(string[] args)  
  {  
  ServicePointManager.CertificatePolicy = new CertPolicy();  
    
  F5VirtualServer.ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer bigIpVirtualServer = new F5VirtualServer.ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer();  
  bigIpVirtualServer.Url = "https:///iControl/iControlPortal.cgi";  
  bigIpVirtualServer.PreAuthenticate = true;  
  bigIpVirtualServer.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("", @"", "");  
    
  string[] bigIpVlanWildcardArresses;  
    
  try  
  {  
  string[] virtualAddressList = bigIpVirtualServer.get_virtual_address_list(out bigIpVlanWildcardArresses);  
  }  
  catch (Exception e)  
  {  
  Console.Write(e.ToString());  
  }  
  }  
  }  
    
  public class CertPolicy : ICertificatePolicy   
  {  
  public CertPolicy()  
  {  
  // Nothing to do.  
  }  
    
  public bool CheckValidationResult(  
  ServicePoint srvPoint,   
  X509Certificate certificate,   
  WebRequest request,   
  int certificateProblem)   
  {  
  return(true);  
  }   
  }   
  }

Loc_Pham_101863
Historic F5 Account
Feb 03, 2005
According to 4.6.2 SDK documentation, the signature for get_virtual_address_list is:

void get_virtual_address_list( in SessionCredentials creds, <== CORBA Specific out String[] virtual_addresses, out String[] vlan_wildcard_addresses );

I'll try to reproduce this problem against a BIG-IP 4.5.9 and will let you know what I find.

Thanks,

Loc
Mark_Scattergoo
Nimbostratus
Feb 03, 2005
I would guess that the definition that you show is for the CORBA interface. I'm using SOAP/XML. The web method is declared as:

[System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapRpcMethodAttribute("urn:iControl:ITCMLocalLB/VirtualServer", RequestNamespace="urn:iControl:ITCMLocalLB/VirtualServer", ResponseNamespace="urn:iControl:ITCMLocalLB/VirtualServer")]

[return: System.Xml.Serialization.SoapElementAttribute("virtual_addresses")]

public string[] get_virtual_address_list(out string[] vlan_wildcard_addresses) {

object[] results = this.Invoke("get_virtual_address_list", new object[0]);

vlan_wildcard_addresses = ((string[])(results[1]));

return ((string[])(results[0]));

}

Thanks for your assistance so far. Let me know what you find out.

-Mark
Loc_Pham_101863
Historic F5 Account
Feb 03, 2005
Mark,

According to the SDK documentation, the method signature is like below(ignore the param specific to CORBA). The WSDL will also have two params in the request:

void get_virtual_address_list( in SessionCredentials creds, <== CORBA Specific out String[] virtual_addresses, out String[] vlan_wildcard_addresses );

The signature you saw/gave is just how most SOAP client toolkits deserialize the OUT parameters.

Anyways, I've reproduced this problem internally. And we've put a fix in for this in 4.6.2. I don't know why it worked for you in 4.5 PTF 03.... BTW, this is a problem specific to the way .NET deserializes data, and our fix was a work-around for this MS-specific bug.

Loc

Loc_Pham_101863

Historic F5 Account

Feb 04, 2005

Mark,

I'm using VS.Net 2003, and I don't currently see the "Bad Request" problem. Using similar code framework (with different interfaces, of course) as below, I'm able to communicate with various versions of BIG-IP (4.x, 4.6.x, 9.x). I'm including some code below so you can reference. Please let us know if this helps.

This is my main C file, ITCMVirtualServerMain.cs

   
   using System;   
   using ITCMVirtualServer.ITCMVirtualServerWebRef;   
      
   namespace ITCMVirtualServer   
   {   
       ///    
       /// Summary description for Class1.   
       ///    
       class Class1   
       {   
           private ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer vsObj;   
              
           private System.Net.NetworkCredential creds;   
      
           private string sHostname = "";   
           private string sPort = "";   
           private string sUsername = "";   
           private string sPassword = "";   
              
           private string [] months = new string[12];   
              
           ///    
           /// The main entry point for the application.   
           ///    
           [STAThread]   
           static void Main(string[] args)   
           {   
               System.Net.ServicePointManager.CertificatePolicy = new iControlCertificatePolicy();   
      
               Class1 itcmVS = new Class1();   
               itcmVS.processArgs(args);   
      
               try    
               {   
                   itcmVS.getVirtualAddressList ();   
               }   
               catch (System.InvalidOperationException ioe)   
               {   
                   Console.WriteLine (ioe.ToString());   
               }   
           }   
      
           public void processArgs(string []args)   
           {   
               vsObj = new ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer();   
               creds = new System.Net.NetworkCredential();   
               vsObj.Credentials = creds;   
      
               if ( args.Length < 4 )   
               {   
                   usage();   
               }   
               else   
               {   
                   sHostname   = args[0];   
                   sPort       = args[1];   
                   sUsername   = args[2];   
                   sPassword   = args[3];   
      
                   months[0]   = "January";   
                   months[1]   = "February";   
                   months[2]   = "March";   
                   months[3]   = "April";   
                   months[4]   = "May";   
                   months[5]   = "June";   
                   months[6]   = "July";   
                   months[7]   = "August";   
                   months[8]   = "September";   
                   months[9]   = "October";   
                   months[10]  = "November";   
                   months[11]  = "December";   
      
                   updateConnectionInfo();   
               }   
           }   
      
           public void usage()   
           {   
               Console.WriteLine("Usage: ITCMVirtualServer host port username password");   
           }   
      
           private void updateConnectionInfo()   
           {   
               creds.UserName = sUsername;   
               creds.Password = sPassword;   
      
               string sProtocol = "http://";   
               if (sPort.Equals ("443"))   
                   sProtocol = "https://";   
      
               vsObj.Url = sProtocol + sHostname + ":" + sPort + "/iControl/iControlPortal.cgi";   
               vsObj.PreAuthenticate = true;   
           }   
      
           public void printException(System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHeaderException soapHdrEx)   
           {   
               Console.WriteLine(soapHdrEx.Message);   
           }   
      
           private void getVirtualAddressList()   
           {   
               try   
               {   
                   Console.WriteLine("==============================================");   
                   Console.WriteLine("Virtual address list");   
                   Console.WriteLine("-------------------");   
      
                   string [] vlanWildCardList;   
                   string [] virtualAddressList = vsObj.get_virtual_address_list (out vlanWildCardList);   
      
                   if (vlanWildCardList.Length == 0 && virtualAddressList.Length == 0)   
                       Console.WriteLine ("No virtual addresses");   
                   else   
                   {   
                       Console.WriteLine ("Virtual addresses:");   
                       if (virtualAddressList.Length == 0)   
                           Console.WriteLine ("   None");   
                       else   
                       {   
                           for (int i = 0; i < virtualAddressList.Length; i++)   
                           {   
                               Console.WriteLine("   [" + i + "] " + virtualAddressList[ i ]);   
                           }   
                       }   
      
                       Console.WriteLine ("VLAN wildcard addresses:");   
                       if (virtualAddressList.Length == 0)   
                           Console.WriteLine ("   None");   
                       else   
                       {   
                           for (int i = 0; i < vlanWildCardList.Length; i++)   
                           {   
                               Console.WriteLine("   [" + i + "] " + vlanWildCardList[ i ]);   
                           }   
                       }   
                   }   
      
                   Console.WriteLine("==============================================");   
               }   
               catch (System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHeaderException soapHdrEx)   
               {   
                   printException(soapHdrEx);   
               }   
           }   
      
       }   
   }

This is the file that handles certificate and authentication, iControlCertificatePolicy.cs:

   
   using System;   
   using System.Security;   
   using System.Net;   
   using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;   
       
       
      
   namespace ITCMVirtualServer   
   {   
       ///    
       /// Summary description for iControlCertificatePolicy.   
       ///    
       public class iControlCertificatePolicy : System.Net.ICertificatePolicy    
       {   
           public iControlCertificatePolicy()   
           {   
               //   
               // TODO: Add constructor logic here   
               //   
           }   
      
           public bool CheckValidationResult(System.Net.ServicePoint sp,    
                                             System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate certificate,   
                                             System.Net.WebRequest request, int problem)   
           {   
               return true;   
           }   
              
       }   
   }

Joe_Pruitt
Feb 04, 2005
You are dealing with 2 different problems here.

1. WSDL indicates incorrect return type of long[] instead of string[].

This is a problem with the WSDL in the 4.6.2 SDK. The server will return the correct type of "string" for IPAddresses but the WSDL specifies an incorrect value of "long". I'm working on an update to the 4.6.2 SDK and this issue will be fixed with version 4.6.3. I'll post here when I get an updated SDK posted to DevCentral.

2. Upgrading to 4.6.2 caused Invalid web requests

This is a known issue in Apache in it's handling of keep-alives with POST data. VS.NET will use a Keep-Alive connection by default and your trace indicates a HTTP format error which is what we have reproduced here.

This has been fixed in 4.6.3. As a temporary measure you can turn off Keep-Alives by modifying the following line in the /config/bigconfig/httpd.conf file on your BIG-IP.

KeepAlive On

to

KeepAlive Off

-Joe
Loc_Pham_101863
Historic F5 Account
Feb 04, 2005
Since I was testing against Joe's BIGIP, and w/ his Apache's KeepAlive setting being Off, that's probably why I didn't see the "Bad Request" problem which Mark described.

Loc

Mark_Scattergoo

Nimbostratus

Feb 04, 2005

Joe - thanks for the response. Turning off KeepAlives is not (to me) a really great solution for obvious performance reasons. Overiding the WebRequest object and manually setting the authentication header in each request works fine, and is probably a better work around. I hate to appear that I have been labouring the point, but I

wanted to be sure that F5 understood that there were three problems, which are:

1. get_virtual_address_list() is broken in 4.5.9 Build 2 (and possibly others).

Loc explained that this was a known interop issue with Microsoft's XML parser, and that a patch had been implemented in 4.6.2, so I have upgraded to 4.6.2.

2. The return type of get_virtual_address_list() had changed incorrectly from string[] to long[] in the WSDL in the 4.6.2 firmware.

I had already fixed that by modifying the proxy class to specify the correct return type (and pinning a reminder note on my forehead to not update the web reference...). Incidentally, the WSDL in 4.5.9 Build 2 is correct so I could also have imported it.

3. 4.6.2 introduces Apache changes which breaks Basic authentication with a Microsoft .Net web services client due to the web services client's incorrect handling of a 401 response. As you suggest, this could be fixed by disabling KeepAlives, or implementing the following code.

 using System;   
   using System.Net;   
   using System.Web;   
      
   namespace BigIpPoC   
   {   
      
   public class F5VirtualServerWebRequest : F5VirtualServer.ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer   
   {   
   private string username = null;   
   private string password = null;   
      
   public F5VirtualServerWebRequest(   
   string Username,   
   string Password)   
   {   
   if (Username == null || Username.Length == 0)   
   throw(new Exception("Username parameter is null or empty"));   
   else if (Password == null || Password.Length == 0)   
   throw(new Exception("Password parameter is null or empty"));   
   else   
   {   
   username = Username;   
   password = Password;   
   }   
   }   
      
   protected override WebRequest GetWebRequest(   
   Uri uri)   
   {   
   HttpWebRequest webRequest = (HttpWebRequest) base.GetWebRequest(uri);   
      
   string authInfo = username + ":" + password;   
   char[] authBuffer = authInfo.ToCharArray();   
   byte[] byteArray = new byte[authBuffer.Length];   
      
   for (int i = 0; i < authBuffer.Length; i ++)   
   {   
   byteArray[ i ]= Convert.ToByte(authBuffer[ i ]);   
   }   
      
   webRequest.Headers.Add("Authorization: BASIC " + Convert.ToBase64String(byteArray));    
   return webRequest;   
   }   
   }   
      
   class Class1   
   {   
   [STAThread]   
   static void Main(string[] args)   
   {   
   F5VirtualServer.ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer bigIpVirtualServer = new F5VirtualServerWebRequest("", @"");   
   F5VirtualServer.ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer a = new F5VirtualServer.ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer();   
   bigIpVirtualServer.Url = "http://10.8.0.3/iControl/iControlPortal.cgi";   
      
   try   
   {   
   string[] bigIpVlanWildcardAdresses;   
   string[] virtualAddressList = bigIpVirtualServer.get_virtual_address_list(out bigIpVlanWildcardAdresses);   
   Console.WriteLine("Virtual address list contained " + virtualAddressList.GetLength(0) + " entries.");   
   }   
   catch (Exception e)   
   {   
   Console.Write(e.ToString());   
   }   
   }   
   }   
   }

It appears that everyone is on the same page now, so I'm happy and my application is working as expected.

Thanks to yourself and Loc for your input.

-Mark

Joe_Pruitt
Feb 04, 2005
Thanks for the tip on overriding the WebRequest Object. I'll make sure to pass this along to other users that experience the same issues.

And thanks for being understanding on the issues, it's unfortunate that they cascaded into the 4.6.2 upgrade.

I'm working on an update to the 4.6.2 SDK that will address the WSDL issue on the BIG-IP and will post when I've got it uploaded.

Lastly, glad to hear things are working for you now. Keep us up to date on what you are working on...

-Joe

Forum Discussion

XML exception when calling ITCMLocalLBVirtualServer.get_virtual_address_list()

12 Replies

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