GCP HTTP Load Balancer returns 502 error if POST data is large

Question

We have an API server and are using HTTP Load Balancer. We found that the L7 Load balancer returns 502 error if HTTP request's data is large.

We have confirmed that it works when accessing the API without the Load Balancer (accessing the API Server directly.)

This question might be a similar issue. HTTP Load Balancer cuts out part of a large request body

Someone said that using L4 Network Load Balancer is a possible solution but we don't want to use it for some reasons e.g. URL based load balancing and cross-region load balancing.

// Response OK (data size is 1024)
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"xx": "000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"}' https://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com/xx/xxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxx

// Response NG (data size is 1025)
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"xx": "00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"}' https://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com/xx/xxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxx

It seems that LB has some limitation about the size of post data. Tests show the limit is around 1024 bytes.

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Update1

@chaintng saved me. Someone on the linked post says that curl adds "Expect: 100-continue Header" if the post data is over 1024 byte.

// Response NG (data size is 1025. without "Expect: ")
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"xx": "00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"}' https://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com/xx/xxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxx

// Response OK (data size is 1025. with "Expect: ")
curl -H "Expect: " -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"xx": "00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"}' https://xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com/xx/xxxxxxxxxxxx/xxxxxxxxx

Answer 1

reference from this question Curl to Google Compute load balancer gets error 502

It's because CURL has default value when request large POST body defining header as Expect: 100-continue

Which is not support in Google L7 Load Balancing (stated in this document https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/load-balancing/http/)

All you have to do is ignoring this behaviour by set the header before execute curl.

For e.g. in PHP curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['Expect:']);