Josh, I think this would depend on how the proxy server is set up to communicate with the origin server and whether or not it modifies cookies. Proxy servers can do anything they are programmed to do, so I would call up the company to get this information on how cookies are handled. If the CDN provider is established and experienced, I would assume that they have programmed their proxy servers to handle the cookie issues seamlessly, which would mean that a cookie set for www.mysite.com would be modified and sent to origin.mysite.com in a way that origin.mysite.com could read it without any security issues. Clearly I'm speculating here. My experience with these CDNs mainly comes from caching static files like images or JavaScript files, which don't have any cookie issues. Someone else on this list might have more experience with this reverse proxy setup.
Good luck, Mike Chabot On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 5:22 PM, Josh Nathanson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Mike, > > All the requests will be going through www.mysite.com and intercepted by the > CDN via a cname directive. There are no requests from the end user to > origin.mysite.com. The CDN then decides, based on the expires header, > whether to go get fresh content from origin.mysite.com. It's called > "reverse proxy acquisition". So, only cookies from www.mysite.com will be > sent in the request, not cookies from origin.mysite.com. > > The dns will look like this: > www.mysite.com CNAME www.CDNsite.com > origin.mysite.com CNAME mysite.com > > As you say, only images and videos will be cached on the CDN, and all > dynamic content will be fetched by the CDN from origin.mysite.com (no > dynamic requests are cached). origin.mysite.com is where the sessions will > be living as well. > > My question is, given that scenario, if I start a session on the site and > then open up the cookies panel in Firefox, will the cookie folder say > www.mysite.com or origin.mysite.com? > > There is no information on their site as regards sessions. > > Thanks for your help. > > -- Josh > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Chabot" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "CF-Talk" <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 1:42 PM > Subject: Re: CDN and Cookies > > >> Josh, >> Your belief might not be correct, although it can depend on what >> content you are serving, how that CDN is set up, and how your sessions >> are set up. >> >> If a session is established on Server A, then activities on Server B >> generally won't impact Server A. If you are only serving cached >> content or images on Server B, then I doubt Server B benefits from >> session variables at all. Even with domain cookies set, activities on >> Server B won't prolong the Server A session since the session is >> maintained on the server, not in the cookie. Setting domain cookies >> would potentially be a mistake, since you would be adding overhead >> with no benefit. >> >> If a.site.com has all your dynamic content and sessions while >> b.site.com has all your images, the Web browser can not only load the >> site faster because this gets around the HTTP simultaneous connection >> limits, but it is also faster because you don't have to send pointless >> cookie information to b.site.com with every image request. So for many >> people looking to optimize network traffic, the goal is to avoid >> sending cookies to all the servers. >> >> The main uncertainty is what type of CDN you are using. Most often >> these are used to help deliver static Web content or files, as opposed >> to dynamic Web site content. >> >> I would expect that your CDN provider has a FAQ or technical guide >> that discusses how to handle session variables if you are serving >> dynamic content. That is where I would look for this information. >> >> For your second question, I would assume the answer is "no," but I >> would certainly test this if it is a concern for you. >> >> -Mike Chabot > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:310321 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
