Configuring content routes

You can use the content routes configuration to select the backend server pool based on matches to TCP/IP or HTTP header values.

Layer 7 content route rules are based on literal or regular expression matches to the following header values:

• HTTP Host
• HTTP Referer
• HTTP Request URL
• SNI
• Source IP address

You might want to use Layer 7 content routes to simplify front-end coding of your web pages or to obfuscate the precise server names from clients. For example, you can publish links to a simple URL named example.com and use content route rules to direct traffic for requests to example.com to a server pool that includes server1.example.com, server2.example.com, and server3.example.com.

Layer 4 content route rules are based on literal or regular expression matches to the following header values:

• Source IP address

Before you begin:

• You must have a good understanding of HTTP header fields.
• You must have a good understanding of Perl-compatible regular expressions (PCRE) if you want to use them in rule matching.
• You must have Read-Write permission for Load Balance settings.

After you have configured a content routing rule, you can select it in the virtual server configuration.

Note: You can select multiple content routing rules in the virtual server configuration. Rules you add to that configuration are consulted from top to bottom. The first rule to match is applied. If the traffic does not match any of the content routing rule conditions specified in the virtual server configuration, the system behaves unexpectedly. Therefore, it is important that you create a “catch all” rule that has no match conditions. In the virtual server configuration, this rule should be ordered last so it can be used to forward traffic to a default pool.

To configure a content route rule:

1. Go to Server Load Balance > Virtual Server.
2. Click the Content Routing tab.
3. Click Create New to display the configuration editor.
4. Complete the configuration as described in Content routes configuration guidelines.
5. Save the configuration.

Content routes configuration guidelines

Settings	Guidelines
Name	Configuration name. Valid characters are A-Z, a-z, 0-9, _, and -. No spaces. You reference this name in the virtual server configuration. Note: After you initially save the configuration, you cannot edit the name.
Type	Layer 4 Layer 7
Real Server	Select a real server pool.
Persistence Inherit	Enable to use the persistence object specified in the virtual server configuration.
Persistence	If not using inheritance, select a session persistence type.
Method Inherit	Enable to use the method specified in the virtual server configuration.
Method	If not using inheritance, select a load balancing method type.
Comments	A string to describe the purpose of the configuration, to help you and other administrators more easily identify its use.
Layer 4 Specifics
IPv4/Mask	Address/mask notation to match the source IP address in the packet header.
IPv6/Mask	Address/mask notation to match the source IP address in the packet header.
Layer 7 Match Condition
Object	Select content matching conditions based on the following parameters: HTTP Host Header HTTP Referer Header HTTP Request URL SNI Source IP Address Note: When you add multiple conditions, FortiADC joins them with an AND operator. For example, if you specify both a HTTP Host Header and HTTP Request URL to match, the rule is a match only for traffic that meets both conditions.
Type	String Regular Expression
Content	Specify the string or PCRE syntax to match the header or IP address. Note: An empty match condition matches any HTTP request.
Reverse	Rule matches if traffic does not match the expression.
Ignore Case	Allows user to let the match be case sensitive. Default is ignore case, disabled.