Redirection of Subscriber Sessions When HTTP Local Server is Disabled or Not Configured

The HTTP local server on the router must always be enabled before the subscriber logs in for the redirect URL to be returned. If the HTTP local server is activated on the router after the subscribers have logged in, the URL to which the subscriber's Web browser session needs to be redirected is not returned to the users. Instead, the redirect engine opens a TCP port (8800 by default) and sends an HTTP 302 Found response to the subscriber's browser in response to the request. The subscriber must log out and log in again for the redirection URL to be returned to the subscriber in response to the initial request.

The HTTP redirect URL functionality works correctly only if the HTTP local server is running on the system before subscribers log in. Also, if the HTTP local server is disabled and reenabled, previously logged-in subscribers must log out and reestablish their sessions for the redirect URL to be returned. After you disable and reenable the HTTP local server on the router, the interface configuration details for previously logged-in subscribers are not retained.

Consider a scenario in which two subscribers, subscriber A and subscriber B, are logged in, the HTTP local server for both IP and IPv6 traffic is enabled on the router, and URL redirection functionality is configured. In such a topology, when subscriber A sends an HTTP GET request to the HTTP local server on the router, the subscriber's HTTP session is redirected to the configured URL. If you disable the HTTP local server for IP traffic by using the no ip http server command and reenable the HTTP local server by using the ip http server command, when subscriber B sends an HTTP GET request to the router, the session is not redirected to the configured URL. The user session is redirected to the correct configured site only when subscriber B logs out and logs back in again.