RE: FN-FORUM: IIS Forward Request to Another Server

date posted 8th February 2008 10:15

>
> > Anyhow, here's the scenario a client of ours has several Windows
> based
> ...
> > re-direct some traffic on port 80 to one server and some traffic to
> another
>
> >What they want cannot be done at the networking level because you
> cannot
> >route a port to two different machines. You would need some sort of
> >proxy, however IIS doesn't do this without adding something.
>
> I didn't catch the full message so i may be off the mark here but.....
>
> If you are using a dynamic website why not use the homepage to randomly
> add
> a redirect of visitors to the alternative server?

>Absolutely, use the port 80 server with the host header to simply redirect
the user to the other server using a >different port. Ugly but do-able..

I was thinking even simpler...
Get a second very similar domain name (eg .com if you use .co.uk for main
site) then add a bit of simple code to your homepage (or even all
non-consequential pages) that on page load does a little randomisation like
flipping a coin. Heads we redirect you to the other server / website with
the .com domain - Tails you stay on the site you are on.

Easy.

Mind if i ask why you need to share the load anyway? Do you really have that
much traffic? Would it not be easier to host externally on dedicated web
servers?

Phill Healey
Munklefish - multimedia for the masses