User authentications fails randomly with error 18870 "text=Error 18870 occurred at VSAuthOTPFirstFactorImpl ... LDAP error

Products

• VIP Service

Issue/Introduction

User authentications fail randomly. The User Store setting can't be saved. 

User Store settings cannot be saves, and fails with the error:

"Test bind failed. Be sure you have the correct Host, Port, SSL (if selected), and Bind informatinon"

Validation server logs show the following error:

ERROR    "2013-03-14 08:28:52.859 GMT-0500"  192.168.170.24 ValidationEngine 0 18870 "text=Error 18870 occurred at VSAuthOTPFirstFactorImpl.c:512. Description: VSAuthOTPFirstFactorLDAPImpl._validatePassword() -- LDAP error., user=testuser, op=authenticate, bizCont=off" Thread-2300 VSValidationEngine.c
DEBUG    "2013-03-14 08:28:52.859 GMT-0500"  192.168.170.24 ValidationEngine 0 0 "text=VSValidationEngineProcessRequest() -- Writing reply attributes" Thread-2300 VSValidationEngine.c
AUDIT    "2013-03-14 08:28:52.859 GMT-0500"  192.168.170.24 ValidationEngine 0 18870 "text=Access DENIED Error 18870 occurred at VSAuthOTPFirstFactorImpl.c:512. Description: VSAuthOTPFirstFactorLDAPImpl._validatePassword() -- LDAP error., user=nrowley, op=authenticate, bizCont=off" Thread-2300 VSValidationEngine.c

Cause

The communication between the VIP Enterprise Gateway and the LDAP server is failing. LDAP load-balancing has errored out.

Resolution

From the load balancer, verify if a virtual forwarder is enabled and operational. Remove this forwarder to clear up the routing/layer2 issue affecting the traffic.