7-6 Px Series Application Switch Installation and Configuration Guide
Figure 7-4: More Complicated URL switching example
In Figure 7-4, buystuff.com decides to start selling electronic books online and they
need to store an entire publisher’s catalog on the site. Terabytes of storage are needed,
along with a flexible way of addressing all of the information. By using URL switching,
a highly scalable approach can be used. Expanding the website is as simple as loading
content onto servers and adding URL rules to the switch. In Figure 7-4, user requests
are directed as follows:
• www.buystuff.com/ebooks/ISBNXXXXXXX is directed to server group 1.
• www.buystuff.com/ebooks/ISBNXXXXXXX is directed to server group 2.
In fact, a unique rule could be used for each book in the catalog, with little danger of
exhausting the rules list. This approach simplifies the design of the website in many
ways:
• The need to track the location of the data is eliminated.
• The choice of where to store a book can be completely arbitrary.
• Content can be moved from one server to another quickly, without updating the
application server or any static web page links.
Alternatively, buystuff.com could use a more hierarchical approach to sorting content
and creating pattern rules, as shown in Figure 7-5.
WS_008
Server Group 1
/ebooks/
ISBNxxxxxxxx
www.buystuff.com
Server Group 2
/ebooks/
ISBNxxxxxxxy
Client
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