Usage of IBM HTTP Server

1. Load Balancing. (Require of HTTP Plug-in)

In clustered Application Server environments, IBM HTTP Servers spray Web requests to the cluster members for balancing the work load among relevant application servers. The strategy for load balancing and the necessary parameters can be specified in the plugin-cfg.xml file. The default and the most commonly used strategy for workload balancing is ‘Weighted Round Robin’. For details refer to the IBM Redbooks technote, Workload Management Policies.

Most commercial Web applications use HTTP sessions for holding some kind of state information while using the stateless HTTP protocol. The IBM HTTP Server attempts to ensure that all the Web requests associated with a HTTP session are directed to the application server who is the primary owner of the session. These requests are called session-ed requests, session-affinity-requests, and so on. In this document the term ‘sticky requests’ or ‘sticky routing’ will be used to refer to Web requests associated with HTTP sessions and their routing to a cluster member.

For more information, refer to:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg21219567
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=180&uid=swg21219808

2. Support SSL/HTTPS connection and user authentication with LDAP.