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About Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference

With origins reaching back to the industry's first computer science publishing program in the 1960s, and formally launched as its own imprint in 1986, Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference (PH PTR) has developed into the leading provider of technical books in the world today. Our editors now publish over 200 books annually, authored by leaders in the fields of computing, engineering, and business.

Our roots are firmly planted in the soil that gave rise to the technical revolution. Our bookshelf contains many of the industry's computing and engineering classics: Kernighan and Ritchie's C Programming Language , Nemeth's UNIX System Adminstration Handbook , Horstmann's Core Java , and Johnson's High-Speed Digital Design .

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PH PTR acknowledges its auspicious beginnings while it looks to the future for inspiration. We continue to evolve and break new ground in publishing by providing today's professionals with tomorrow's solutions.

Preface

There are not many books written about content switching and all the associated applications that make up this exciting technology. The reason for this we believe is twofold. First, content networking is a huge discipline with many different areas ranging from switching to caching and content routing, and this can often be seen as confusing. Second, there is a perceived shortage of skills in the marketplace .

While content networking does cover many areas, they are all still inextricably linked with the existing technologies of today. They might have dedicated hardware, more feature-rich software, and allow for unconventional configurations, but ultimately they come back to existing technology with which we are all familiar.

On the skills and understanding front there is no shortage or lack of knowledge. Content networking is merely an extension to those existing skills we have developed. Taking the time to dig deeper into the workings of a content switch and understanding how the applications work provides the foundation on which we can build our knowledge. Using our existing knowledge, however, is key to content networking.

This book does not try to explain every aspect associated with content networking as a whole, but rather it covers what is called content switching and discusses the associated applications.

The Audience and Purpose of This Book

The purpose of this book is to eliminate the confusion and conflicting views about this expanding topic and ensure that the fundamental theory and technologies are presented in a clear and concise manner. This is done in a two- tier approach.

Managers, sales personnel, and executive-level individuals who require an overall understanding of this new breed of networking will be able to get an introductory overview of the topics involved. This will provide them with insight into the benefits and pitfalls of each application; why the need for such things as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) offload, firewall load balancing, Web cache redirection, and so forth is a definite requirement for technology scaling; and the ability to understand the concepts of a technology that is continually changing. In short, this book will provide the individual with the basics of content switching, allowing them to make informed decisions in their day-to-day tasks and allow the sales and marketing personnel the ability to better position and sell these products.

For the engineering force, this book will provide a comprehensive explanation of the inner workings of content switching, allowing them to build on their Layer 2 and Layer 3 skills. A good understanding of Layer 2 and Layer 3 functionality will ensure that the individual benefits from the advanced topics in this book. These include TCP/IP flows and sessions, delayed binding, URL/URI parsing, cookie persistence, server health checking, and load-balancing metrics, among others. Any engineers exposed to these technologies will find that the material allows them to fully understand the core concepts and functionality behind the applications discussed, giving them a better understanding of what is happening "under the hood."