(70014)End of file found: SSL input filter read failed or Timeout occured

[Bharmal]

We have an Apache 2.2 server which receives SSL client authentication
requests (https requests) from other servers on the network across the
country. All Apache servers seem to connect within acceptable times
(within 1-2 secs). However, for Microsoft servers (using ISA 2004), the
SSL handshakes takes upto 6-8 secs. Not only is the time for SSL
handshake higher, but while running in debug mode, Apache spits out
plenty of "SSL timeout occurred" or "(70014)End of file found: SSL
input filter read failed" when a Microsoft ISA server tries to connect
to the Apache server.

The defaut ssl.conf contains the nokeepalive etc settings. When those
setting were active, the ISA server recored abortive shutdowns from
Apache. Without the settings, the ISA server seems to be have less
abortive shutdowns, but the time to complete SSL handshake is very
high. The ISA users are able to see the pages over SSL but with delays.

In the APACHE LOGS, the ISA server uses RC4-MD5 Ciphers. Is that a
problem?
How much slow should SSL with client authentication be over non-ssl
connections? Is there a general thumd-rule that can be followed given a
size of the requests(GETs)?

I am using a self-signed CA.

If you have experienced a similar situation, please share your
solution(s) which can assist in improving the response and fixing the
error messages.

Regards
Shabbir