Unable to create string group with the characters "<" and ">" in the value.

Products

• VMware Avi Load Balancer

Issue/Introduction

If you try to create a string group and include the characters "<" and ">" in the value, the following error may appear:

{"kv":"{"value":"Field check for value failed : String field value cannot contain special characters"}"}

Cause

This is due to a field input check in protobuf that is preventing these characters from being used in a string group.

A fix is planned, but workarounds can be used.

Resolution

• Percent encoding can be used when sending the characters (%3C and %3E instead of "<" and ">") which would allow them to go through. The string group would need to match on %3C and %3E
• You can specify a range of characters in the string group, where the "<" and ">" characters would be included in that range. For example ";-?" (this would include all characters from ";" to "?" to cover for "?", "<", "=", ">", "?"
• Byte code can be used as well, so \x3c and \x3e can be included in a string group which would be "<" and ">" respectively.