Routing rules

Use this page to set the advanced configuration routing rules to ensure work requests arrive at the proper generic server cluster. From this page you are able to create, delete, or modify a routing rule.

To view this administrative console page, click Servers > Proxy Servers > server_name > Proxy Server Properties > Routing Rules.

Before you create routing rules, which are used to route requests to servers, define a generic server cluster (Server > Generic Server Clusters ), a URI group (Environment > URI Groups ), and optionally appropriate
virtual hosts (Environment > Virtual hosts > default host ). The generic server cluster, the URI groups, and virtual hosts are also accessible in the
administrative console using the Related Items of the proxy server in a similar manner as routing rules.

Routing rules are used to assist the routing of work requests to non-IBM WebSphere Application Server nodes. In addition, routing rules allow a system administrator to reroute work without heavily impacting the environment. This is extremely useful when nodes are taken down for maintenance.

For example, the system administrator may set up a routing rule to route

/images/* to the generic server cluster, ImageServerCluster . ImageServerCluster may have to be taken down, so the administrator can then route

/images/* to another cluster with similar capability, or use a redirect rule. This explains why the URI group can be defined independently of the generic server cluster. If at any point the generic server cluster must be taken down, the URI group can easily be rerouted elsewhere. Once you create the generic server cluster by providing a name, you can configure the cluster by using the ports link to create the actual cluster members. Routing rules function by using the configured virtual hosts and URIs as matching criteria. The proxy server scans all incoming requests and compares the URI and host header from it and matches it against the virtual host and URIs configured in the rule. You must create the URI Group for a routing rule before creating the routing rule. If you are routing to a generic server cluster, then also create the cluster before defining the routing rule. You can create the URI Group by completing the following tasks:

Create the routing rule name.
Determine if you will enable this rule. You may create routing rules and not enable them. This is useful when planning for maintenance of nodes or for emergency planning.
Select the virtual host name from the drop down menu. The virtual host name field is a selectable field that is pre-configured with the defined virtual hosts in the cell. If you do not see the virtual host you want in the menu, select Environment > Virtual Hosts and define it there.
Select the URI group for the routing rule. The URI group field is populated with all pre-configured URI groups in the cell. If you do not see the URI group you are looking for, then you should select Environment > URI Groups and create one.
Select and define routing rule. This option specifies how to route a request that matches the defined virtual host and URI group. The three options for this field are:
- Generic Server Cluster â€“ routes requests to a pre-configured generic server cluster. Use the drop down box to select the generic server cluster.
- Fail - reject requests by returning the specified HTTP status code.
- Redirect â€“ redirects client to the specified URL. This option may be used to ensure a request is routed via secure sockets layer (SSL).

Name

The name field is required and is a user defined field.

The name field cannot contain the following characters: # \ / , : ; " * ? < > | = + & % '

The name defined must be unique among routing rules and cannot begin with a . or a space. A space will not generate an error, but leading and trailing spaces will be automatically deleted.