Affinity-id (server alias) requirement of the reverse proxy server

Only reverse proxy servers that support the use of an affinity-id (or server alias) in the URLs that are associated with internal servers can be used with IBM® Sametime®.

Specifically, the reverse proxy server must support the following URL specification to access protected internal servers:

Http[s]://hostname:port/affinity-id/

where hostname represents the DNS name of the reverse proxy server and the affinity-id is an alias for an internal server that is protected by the reverse proxy server. A specific example of this URL format is:

Http[s]://reverseproxy.ibm.com/st01/servlet/auth/admin

where the text string "st01" is the affinity-id. The affinity-id is an alias for a specific Sametime server (such as sametime.ibm.com) that is protected by the reverse proxy server. The affinity-id is used by the reverse proxy server to direct incoming requests to the specific internal Sametime server.

For example, if the incoming URL from the Web browser is:

Http[s]://reverseproxy.ibm.com/st01/servlet/auth/admin

and the mapping rules on the reverse proxy server map the "st01" affinity-id to the Sametime server named "sametime.ibm.com," the affinity-id ensures the reverse proxy server rewrites the incoming URL to:

Http[s]://sametime.ibm.com/servlet/auth/admin

Essentially, the affinity-id is an administrator-defined alias for an internal Sametime server. The affinity-id is defined in the mapping rules of the reverse proxy server. If you have multiple Sametime servers deployed behind a reverse proxy server, each Sametime server must have an individual affinity-id as indicated:

It is mandatory that any reverse proxy server that operates with a Sametime server support the affinity-id (or server alias) in URLs.

For additional information about configuring mapping rules on reverse proxy server, see Example of URL mapping configurations on the reverse proxy server.