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Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 12:26:27 +0200
From: Graham Leggett <minfrin@sharp.fm>
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To: Tomcat Developers List <tomcat-dev@jakarta.apache.org>
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Subject: Re: Invitation to HTTPD commiters in tomcat-dev
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Mladen Turk wrote:

> I don't think that it is necessary for a mod_ajp to be included inside the
> mod_proxy, although they are sharing some common concepts.

I think it's very necessary - sharing those common concepts ultimately 
makes for doing things in a consistent way. It makes a big difference to 
the usability of httpd.

Right now proxy is able to talk HTTP and FTP (and CONNECT, but it's a 
special case). It makes the most sense for AJP to be added to these 
three protocols, as there is already an established way to do this.

Consistency is very important.

> Having load
> balancer on top of mod_proxy would be a nice feature, but the main purpose
> for them is different.

Different to what? Load balancing is load balancing, whether the backend 
protocol is HTTP, AJP or FTP.

I see no point on making significant effort in a feature that can only 
be used for one protocol, that's a huge waste of an opportunity to solve 
the load balancing problems of backends other than tomcat.

> The purpose of mod_ajp is to communicate with the (one or more of them in a
> cluster) application servers using ajp13+ protocol; simple as that. Proxy
> module has a conceptually different approach, and it is meant to be used for
> different purposes.

I rewrote proxy, so I know - proxy has the exact same conceptual 
approach and is used for the exact same purposes. Proxy allows you to 
communicate with (one or more in a cluster) applications servers using 
HTTP or FTP. The only difference is the protocol.

The development of proxy_ajp could see the development of modules like 
proxy_loadbalance or proxy_sticky, which have general application 
outside of the AJP protocol.

Just rewriting mod_ajp for v2.0 isn't anything different to what exists 
now, so I don't see the point.

Regards,
Graham
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