Functional Details of Virtual Multihosting

The virtual multihosting feature works by specifying the DNS host and domain names (or aliases), and then giving a target URL prefix where requests sent to that host name should be directed. As an example, you can have two mappings:

• engr.domain.com -> http://int-engr.domain.com

• mktg.domain.com -> http://int-mktg.domain.com

Mappings do not have to go root-to-root; you may specify an additional URL path prefix in the target URL:

• engr.domain.com -> http://internal.domain.com/engr

• mktg.domain.com -> http://internal.domain.com/mktg

Same applies to virtual domain mappings. For example, you could use:

• www.domain-1.com -> http://int-engr.domain.com

• www.domain-2.com -> http://int-mktg.domain.com

The system will look at the HTTP “Host:” header, and based on that header, it will choose the matching Virtual Multihosting mapping. If none of the multihosting mappings match, the server will continue looking at other mappings in the order that they appear in the configuration file, or perform no mappings if no matches are found. If there are no matches, the proxy will typically respond with the “Proxy denies fulfilling the request” response.