Network Deployment (Distributed operating systems), v8.0 > Set up intermediary services > Set up the proxy server > Administer proxy virtual hosts
Proxy virtual hosts
Virtual hosting allows a single proxy server to host multiple domains and ports on a single IP address and port.
A proxy virtual host consists of the name and port of a web domain and a set of proxy rule expressions that perform proxy actions for specific criteria. Additionally, each proxy virtual host can override the proxy server configuration to have configuration elements defined specifically for that virtual host. The following settings can specify virtual host settings in place of the server scope settings:
- Log
- Custom error pages
- Static file serving
Proxy virtual hosts use proxy server actions and proxy rule expressions. Proxy rule expressions and proxy server actions are only used for proxy virtual hosts. When the proxy virtual host receives inbound requests, the proxy rule expressions are evaluated. If the expression is evaluated to be true, any proxy server actions specified by the proxy rule expression are performed. The following proxy server actions can be specified when an expression evaluates to true:
- Route rules
- Cache rules
- URL rewriting rules
- Header modification rules
- Compression rules
A different proxy virtual host can be created for the proxy server to represent each web domain that the proxy server is hosting. For example, a request for www.proxy1.com on port 80 uses the configuration specified for www.proxy1.com:80. A request for www.proxy2.com on port 80 uses the configuration specified for www.proxy2.com:80. We can use a wild card character to specify that a proxy virtual host can be used for all web domains or all ports. For example, www.proxy1.com:* specifies that a proxy virtual host can be used for all requests for the web domain www.proxy1.com regardless of the port. A proxy virtual host for *:80 specifies that it can be used for all requests on port 80 regardless of the web domain.
After creating a proxy server with the needed proxy virtual hosts, the HTTP protocol allows multiple web domains to be hosted by a single server process. When an inbound request is received by the proxy server, it matches the proxy virtual host located in the inbound request message to the appropriate configuration for that proxy virtual host. If a request matches multiple proxy virtual hosts because wild card characters were used, the proxy virtual host that is first in the list of proxy virtual hosts is used.
Proxy server actions
Proxy rule expressions
Administer proxy actions
Administer proxy virtual hosts
Related
Proxy virtual hosts collection
Proxy actions collection