Enrich the user experience while keeping control of your network Networking professionals: At last, comprehensive coverage of content switching technology is in your hands! Optimizing Network Performance with Content Switching: Server, Firewall, and Cache Load Balancing, by topic experts Matthew Syme and Philip Goldie, provides sharp insights into this wide-ranging, rapidly changing technology. You'll learn the concepts, the background, and the architectures of content switching, as well as how it works and where and why it should be deployed to maximize the performance of your networks and servers. Fueled by increasing bandwidth and ever-richer content, this technology is fast becoming a standard in enterprise and ISP networks. Inside you'll find: Full explanations of TCP/IP, HTTP, DNS, and other network fundamentals Vendor-independent coverage of the key content switching applications--server load balancing, Web cache redirection, application redirection, firewall load balancing, and more! Detailed diagrams that illustrate clearly the deployments and topologies for all applications and variations covered in the book A running fictional case study that translates theory into practice, with all applications demonstrated in example implementations Advanced topics including TCP/IP flows and sessions, delayed binding, URL parsing, cookie persistence, server health checking, and load balancing metrics The advanced topics in Optimizing Network Performance with Content Switching are tailored for engineers with layer 2 and layer 3 experience looking for a comprehensive explanation of the inner workings of content switching. This book is also ideal for managers, application developers, security administrators, sales people, and other professionals who require a firm understanding of the basics of the technology.