Regarding WebSync On-Demand and SSL

We've had a number of questions about SSL for WebSync On-Demand, so I thought I'd write up a quick post about what's actually going on behind the scenes.

First, let me clarify that WebSync Server works great over SSL. All you have to do is load the script tag over SSL, and everything else will be taken care of automagically; WebSync detects the secure connection, and all requests will immediately switch to SSL, no other changes required.

That said, with WebSync On-Demand, the issue is not so straightforward, and centers around load balancing algorithms and the need for sticky sessions while maintaining our "proxying" capability. To understand the problem, you have to know that typically, load balancers allow sticky sessions via several methods, two common methods being IP-based balancing and query parameter-based balancing.

IP-based load balancing works great with WebSync Server. However, with WebSync On-Demand, we have to account for proxying, which allows developers to add custom processing to the requests; this is what allows you to, for example, add authentication and authorization to your WebSync On-Demand requests. However, that also means that a given client's session isn't tied to a specific IP address, so that load balancing scenario goes out the window.

Enter query-based load balancing. This works very well, as the query is unique per-user, and follows along nicely with the request even if it has been proxied. The problem that comes up, however, is that if you introduce SSL, the query parameter is encrypted when it reaches the load balancer, so it can't use the query parameter to load balance the request. Whoops!

As a result, we have to place SSL decryption in *front* of our load balancer, so that when the load balancer gets the request, it's able to use the query parameter and maintain our sticky sessions. This is a bit more complicated, and we're still working though the details, but we are planning at some point in the near future to add SSL to the list of supported features for WebSync On-Demand!