FIX: ASP Incorrectly Delivers SSL Data in 32K Segments

ID: Q170985

The information in this article applies to:

Active Server Pages

SYMPTOMS

When accessing Active Server Pages (ASP) pages using SSL, Netscape Navigator may encounter I/O Errors. Internet Explorer does not display an obvious error; however, other problems may occur in your application as a result of this problem.

CAUSE

Internet Information Server 3.0 incorrectly segments SSL data into 32 K segments. This is in violation of the SSL 3.0 specification, which calls for a maximum SSL segment size of 16 K. Browsers that assume a 16 K maximum segment size may have problems accepting 32 K chunks. This problem has been addressed in Internet Information Server 4.0. If you are using Active Server Pages, you may use the below information to workaround this issue.

RESOLUTION

The only workaround for this problem is to prevent ASP from sending segments of data greater than 16K. The following tips may be helpful in reducing the SSL segment size sent by ASP:

Try turning on ASP buffering (this may be difficult for pages using Response.Redirect). This may work, depending on the length of the ASP page.

If your ASP page has very large sections of HTML code, try the following:
- Turn on buffering by adding the following line before the <HTML> tag at the top of the ASP file.
```
     <% Response.Buffer = True %>
   
```
- Next, insert the following line of code periodically in the file to break the HTML into chunks of less than 16K.
```
     <% Response.Flush %>
   
```

This breaks up the HTML into multiple writes to the browser.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem has been corrected in a recent HotFix to Active Server Pages. For more information on obtaining this HotFix to ASP, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q172217 : ASP Returns Invalid Application Name Error Message

NOTE: Q172217 describes a different problem that is also resolved by this HotFix.

REFERENCES

For the latest Knowledge Base articles and other support information on Visual InterDev and Active Server Pages, see the following page on the Microsoft Technical Support site:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/vinterdev/

Additional query words:


Keywords          : kb3rdparty kbASP kbASPObj kbGrpASP 
Version           : winnt:
Platform          : winnt 
Issue type        : kbbug

Last Reviewed: May 26, 1999