problem w/ serialization of java.rmi.Remote pointer across HTTP through firewall

I built an HTTP proxy servlet to enable a local rmi
app to communicate to a computing cluster on the other
side of a Cisco Pix firewall. It works, with one
caveat: if the local client makes a request whose
return type includes a java.rmi.Remote reference, it
takes literally 20 seconds to receive the data back
from the proxy. This is bad enough for a response
object with a single java.rmi.Remote reference. But
some of the requests are Directory-style requests,
that could return hundreds of these references in a
single response.

It's confirmed that it's not a data volume issue (each
of these references takes around 1K). Also, sending
the java.rmi.Remote reference INBOUND to the firewall
as a parameter to a different client request does not
cause any delays.

If I run the proxy under tomcat on my local WinXP
machine, no transmission delays occur.

I suspect the delay has something to do with the Pix
firewall sniffing the outgoing packets (with its
"Adaptive Security" algorithm), but I don't have  any
experience in this area.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any ideas on what
could be causing the slowdown?

Regards,

George



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