Configuring the WSM using Device Manager

Content precedence lookup

WSM Layer 7 content precedence lookup lets you give precedence to one Layer 7 request over another and decide which should be analyzed first. For the server service, you can specify which of the following types of Layer 7 content the WSM combines and examines, the order in which they are examined, and a logical operator (And/Or) for their evaluation.

URL SLB
HTTP Host
Cookie
Browsers (User agent)
URL hash
Header hash

Using this combination, WSM refines HTTP-based server load balancing multiple times on a single client HTTP request for binding to a server. When you combine two content types with an operator (And/Or), URL hash and Header hash are combined with host, cookie, or browser content types.

For example, the WSM can load balance the following types of content using precedence lookup:

Virtual host and/or URL-based load balancing
Cookie persistence and URL-based load balancing
Cookie load balancing and/or URL-based load balancing
Cookie persistence and HTTP SLB together in the same service
Multiple HTTP SLB process type on the same service

Note: Cookie persistence can also be combined with the Layer 7 content types. For more information on cookie persistence, see Maintaining session persistence.

Content precedence lookup can be used as follows:

If the client request is sent without a cookie and if no HTTP SLB is configured, then the WSM binds the request to the real server using normal SLB.
If the client request is sent without a cookie, but HTTP SLB is configured on the WSM, then the request is bound to real server based on HTTP SLB.
If the client request is sent with a cookie, and a real server associated to the cookie is found in the local session table, then the request will stay bound to that real server.