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Configuring Organize Space for Load Balancing

Some pages in Organize Space still exist as ASP.NET pages, operating under the ISHCM web application. If your implementation has a scaled-out Content Manager with the front-end is operating behind a load balancer, you may need to configure a machine key for all instances of the ISHCM web application to ensure the proper functioning of various security features including anti-forgery and other validations.

About this task

Under Network Load Balancing (NLB), all instances of the ISHCM must use the same machine key. You can use the Machine Key feature of IIS to generate a Validation key and Decryption key for one ISHCM instance and then copy them to other instances.

Procedure

  1. Log in to one of the machines on which Tridion Docs is installed. You must be logged on as an administrator user to perform this task.
  2. Open IIS Manager.
  3. Go to Sites > Default Web Site.
  4. Select the ISHCM web application.
  5. From the ASP.NET section (in the Features View), select Machine Key.
  6. For Encryption Method, select the AES.
  7. In the Actions panel, click Generate Keys.
    IIS adds the generated keys to both the Validation key and Decryption key fields.
  8. For both keys, clear the checkbox for Automatically generate at runtime.
  9. In the Actions panel, click Apply.
    Both keys will be added automatically to ISHCM's web.config file inside a MachineKey tag.
  10. Copy both keys so that, in the next step, you can paste the same keys from this instance of ISHCM to all other instances.
  11. Log in to the next Content Manager instance.
  12. Repeat steps 2 through 6 to go to the Machine Key page for this instance of ISHCM.
  13. Paste the respective keys to the Validation key and Decryption key fields.
  14. In the Actions panel, click Apply.
    Same as with the first instance, both keys will be added automatically to the web.config file for this instance.
  15. Repeat steps 11 through 13 for each additional instance.