diff --git a/server/src/main/java/com/cloud/network/router/NetworkHelperImpl.java b/server/src/main/java/com/cloud/network/router/NetworkHelperImpl.java
index 4baa19f8f845..92253a6d76e7 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/com/cloud/network/router/NetworkHelperImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/com/cloud/network/router/NetworkHelperImpl.java
@@ -945,26 +945,8 @@ public boolean validateHAProxyLBRule(final LoadBalancingRule rule) {
 
                 }
             } else if (LbStickinessMethod.StickinessMethodType.AppCookieBased.getName().equalsIgnoreCase(stickinessPolicy.getMethodName())) {
-                String length = null; // optional
-                String holdTime = null; // optional
-
-                for (final Pair<String, String> paramKV : paramsList) {
-                    final String key = paramKV.first();
-                    final String value = paramKV.second();
-                    if ("length".equalsIgnoreCase(key)) {
-                        length = value;
-                    }
-                    if ("holdtime".equalsIgnoreCase(key)) {
-                        holdTime = value;
-                    }
-                }
-
-                if (length != null && !containsOnlyNumbers(length, null)) {
-                    throw new InvalidParameterValueException(String.format("Failed LB in validation rule id: %s Cause: length is not a number: %s", rule.getLb(), length));
-                }
-                if (holdTime != null && !containsOnlyNumbers(holdTime, timeEndChar) && !containsOnlyNumbers(holdTime, null)) {
-                    throw new InvalidParameterValueException(String.format("Failed LB in validation rule id: %s Cause: holdtime is not in timeformat: %s", rule.getLb(), holdTime));
-                }
+                throw new InvalidParameterValueException(String.format("Failed LB in validation rule: %s Cause: AppCookie based stickiness "
+                        + "(HAProxy 'appsession') is not supported on a Virtual Router, as this directive was removed in HAProxy 1.6", rule.getLb()));
             }
         }
         return true;
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/com/cloud/network/router/NetworkHelperImplTest.java b/server/src/test/java/com/cloud/network/router/NetworkHelperImplTest.java
index 4237ef7f6f65..9680b3cebe22 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/com/cloud/network/router/NetworkHelperImplTest.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/com/cloud/network/router/NetworkHelperImplTest.java
@@ -29,7 +29,15 @@
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
+import com.cloud.configuration.Config;
+import com.cloud.exception.InvalidParameterValueException;
+import com.cloud.network.lb.LoadBalancingRule;
+import com.cloud.network.rules.LbStickinessMethod;
+import com.cloud.network.rules.LoadBalancer;
+import com.cloud.utils.Pair;
+import com.cloud.utils.net.Ip;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.engine.orchestration.service.NetworkOrchestrationService;
+import org.apache.cloudstack.framework.config.dao.ConfigurationDao;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.network.router.deployment.RouterDeploymentDefinition;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -57,6 +65,10 @@
 import com.cloud.vm.dao.DomainRouterDao;
 import com.cloud.vm.dao.NicDao;
 
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
 
 @RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
 public class NetworkHelperImplTest {
@@ -91,10 +103,15 @@ public class NetworkHelperImplTest {
     @Mock
     private VMTemplateVO template;
 
+    @Mock
+    private ConfigurationDao configDao;
+
     @Before
     public void setUp() {
         nwHelper._networkDao = networkDao;
         nwHelper._networkModel = networkModel;
+        nwHelper._configDao = configDao;
+        lenient().when(configDao.getValue(Config.NetworkLBHaproxyStatsPort.key())).thenReturn("8081");
         when(template.getId()).thenReturn(1L);
         when(template.isDynamicallyScalable()).thenReturn(true);
         when(virtualProvider.getId()).thenReturn(1L);
@@ -268,4 +285,33 @@ public void testUpdateDomainRouter() {
         assertEquals(Hypervisor.HypervisorType.KVM, result.getHypervisorType());
         assertTrue(result.isDynamicallyScalable());
     }
+
+    @Test(expected = InvalidParameterValueException.class)
+    public void testValidateHAProxyLBRuleRejectsAppCookieStickiness() {
+        LoadBalancer lb = mock(LoadBalancer.class);
+        when(lb.getSourcePortStart()).thenReturn(80);
+
+        List<Pair<String, String>> params = new ArrayList<>();
+        params.add(new Pair<>("cookie-name", "JSESSIONID"));
+        LoadBalancingRule.LbStickinessPolicy stickinessPolicy =
+                new LoadBalancingRule.LbStickinessPolicy(LbStickinessMethod.StickinessMethodType.AppCookieBased.getName(), params);
+        LoadBalancingRule rule = new LoadBalancingRule(lb, new ArrayList<>(), Collections.singletonList(stickinessPolicy), new ArrayList<>(), mock(Ip.class));
+
+        nwHelper.validateHAProxyLBRule(rule);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testValidateHAProxyLBRuleAllowsSourceBasedStickiness() {
+        LoadBalancer lb = mock(LoadBalancer.class);
+        when(lb.getSourcePortStart()).thenReturn(80);
+
+        List<Pair<String, String>> params = new ArrayList<>();
+        params.add(new Pair<>("tablesize", "200k"));
+        params.add(new Pair<>("expire", "30m"));
+        LoadBalancingRule.LbStickinessPolicy stickinessPolicy =
+                new LoadBalancingRule.LbStickinessPolicy(LbStickinessMethod.StickinessMethodType.SourceBased.getName(), params);
+        LoadBalancingRule rule = new LoadBalancingRule(lb, new ArrayList<>(), Collections.singletonList(stickinessPolicy), new ArrayList<>(), mock(Ip.class));
+
+        assertTrue(nwHelper.validateHAProxyLBRule(rule));
+    }
 }