WebLogic: The Definitive Guide

Web Server Plug-ins

Let us now examine the scenario where an industry-strength web server is configured as the primary HTTP server, proxying certain client requests (usually requests for servlets and JSPs) through to WebLogic Server. WebLogic implements this configuration by providing web server plug-ins that augment the primary server with proxying logic. As mentioned in Chapter 2, a proxy plug-in enhances the web server by allowing it to delegate requests for dynamic content to WebLogic Server. Currently, WebLogic supports plug-ins for three web servers: the Apache HTTP Server, IIS, and NES.

The web server continues to serve static content, such as HTML pages, images, text files, and other web resources, and uses the plug-in to redirect requests for servlets and JSPs to WebLogic Server, which may be running on a different process, or may even be located on a different host. This internal delegation of requests for dynamic content to WebLogic Server occurs transparently. The client browser remains unaware of the existence of WebLogic Server. Configuring the proxy plug-in is a two-stage process:

1. First, the proxy plug-in has to be installed on the web server. Refer to the WebLogic documentation for more information on how to install the plug-in on your web server. After that, you need to specify the conditions under which the web server will delegate client requests to the plug-in.

2. Second, the proxy plug-in itself has to be configured. You must supply a list of name-value pairs ...