Posting large files over SSL
When posting a file in a complex setup with several layers I encountered a problem in a Java->Apache interaction. I got this error message:
[Tue Nov 11 14:55:57 2014] [error] [client <ip>] request body exceeds maximum size (131072) for SSL buffer, referer: <referrer-url>
[Tue Nov 11 14:55:57 2014] [error] [client <ip>] could not buffer message body to allow SSL renegotiation to proceed, referer: <referrer-url>
After some googling where this stackoverflow post proved the most informative I learned that the upper limit for file size over SSL is rather low - just some 131702 bytes. The post lists several ways of solving the problem. I thought the header way was the neatest. I just added the header Expect: 100-continue to the call and the problem disappeared. The value of the header is rather cryptic but well documented in the specs. Basically it tells the server to finish SSL negotiations before downloading the full request body from the client.