To enable sticky sessions, you need to configure mod_proxy_balancer and related modules and set the correct session cookie. 1. Enable the necessary modules: mod_proxy, mod_proxy_http, mod_proxy_balancer, mod_lbmethod_byrequests and optional mod_session; 2. Configure the virtual host file, define the BalancerMember and specify the route identifier, use ProxySet to set the lbmethod load algorithm and stickysession parameters; 3. Set the correct cookie name such as JSESSIONID or PHPSESSID according to the backend application type, and use vertical symbols to enhance the matching; 4. Notes include cooperating with session replication or centralized storage to avoid state loss, monitoring load balancing, and testing session consistency through browser tools.
Configuring Sticky Sessions is very common when using mod_proxy_balancer
, especially when load-balanced multiple backend application servers. If sticky sessions are not enabled, user requests may be distributed to different backend nodes, resulting in session loss or inconsistent state issues.
Here are some key setup steps and precautions to help you configure sticky sessions correctly.
Make sure that the necessary modules are enabled
Apache's mod_proxy_balancer
is one of the core modules for load balancing, but to support sticky session, the following related modules are also required:
-
mod_proxy
-
mod_proxy_http
-
mod_lbmethod_byrequests
or other load balancing algorithm modules -
mod_session
(optional, for more advanced session management)
Make sure that these modules are enabled in the Apache configuration, you can usually check it by:
sudo a2enmod proxy sudo a2enmod proxy_http sudo a2enmod proxy_balancer sudo a2enmod lbmethod_byrequests
Basic configuration structure
A typical configuration is roughly as follows, placed in Apache's virtual host configuration file:
<VirtualHost *:80> ProxyRequests Off ProxyPreserveHost On <Proxy balancer://mycluster> BalancerMember http://192.168.1.10:8080 route=node1 BalancerMember http://192.168.1.11:8080 route=node2 ProxySet lbmethod=byrequests stickysession=JSESSIONID </Proxy> ProxyPass/balancer://mycluster/ ProxyPassReverse / balancer://mycluster/ </VirtualHost>
Explain several key points:
-
BalancerMember
: defines each backend server address and specifies a unique identifier throughroute=
. -
ProxySet
:-
lbmethod=byrequests
means load balancing by number of requests (can also bebytraffic
orbybusyness
). -
stickysession=JSESSIONID
means using a cookie namedJSESSIONID
to keep the session sticky.
-
Set the correct cookie name
Sticky sessions rely on session cookies returned by the backend. If you are using a Java application (such as Tomcat), the default session cookie is JSESSIONID
, so just configure this directly.
If it is another language or framework, such as PHP, the default is PHPSESSID
, then it needs to be changed to:
ProxySet stickysession=PHPSESSID
In addition, some applications will add path or domain name information after the cookie, such as JSESSIONID=abc123; Path=/; HttpOnly
. To ensure Apache is correctly recognized, you can add |
symbols to match the entire cookie value:
ProxySet stickysession=JSESSIONID|jsessionid
This way, even if the upper and lower case is different or there is additional information, it can be correctly identified.
Notes and FAQs
- Session Replication : If there is no session sharing mechanism between backend nodes, the user login status will be lost when the sticky session fails. It is recommended to use it with session replication or centralized session storage (such as Redis).
- Uneven load : Enable sticky sessions can cause excessive stress in some backend nodes, especially when the number of users is uneven.
- Test method : You can view the
Set-Cookie
field in the response header through the browser developer tool, confirm whether the correct session ID is returned, and observe whether the request is always forwarded to the same backend node.
Basically that's it. As long as you configure the route and stickysession parameters, combined with the session cookie name used by your backend application, you can achieve basic sticky session functions.
The above is the detailed content of How to configure sticky sessions with mod_proxy_balancer?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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