SSLVPN connection appears to hang for 2 minutes using IE32 bit on Windows 7 64-bit

  • 7008392
  • 18-Apr-2011
  • 26-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell Access Manager 3.1 SSLVPN Server

Situation

SSLVPN server setup to protect internal resources. Testing from Windows and Firefox shows all working fine. Some clients running Windows 7 report delays of up to 2 minutes connecting to the SSLVPN server. Once the connection goes through, all works fine. Troubleshooting the problem, the issue is specific to Windows 7 64 bit machines running 32-bit IE with ActiveX enabled.

Resolution

Enable the 'ForceJRE' option under the global settings for SSLVPN. This will avoid using ActiveX and use the applet mode, which works fine.

Additional Information

The HttpSendrequest windows API hangs while trying to download one of the SSL VPN client component. One solution could be to use another set of APIs (winhttp instead of wininet). The issue has only been seen with one Windows platform so far and cannot be duplicated on any others. Workaround will be considered if the scenario becomes more common.