HTTP Redirection

Chapter 12

Available only in PopChart Server Enterprise.

Many web servers allow for special modules that make it possible for the web server to interact with other applications and servers. The PopChart HTTP Redirector is one such module.

When installed on a web server, the HTTP Redirector allows the web server to handle requests from clients for PopChart images. The web server receives the request and redirects it to PopChart Server. PopChart Server returns the generated image to the web server, which then redirects it to the client's browser.

Note: PopChart Embedder cannot communicate with PopChart Server via HTTP redirection (except for the JavaScript version). This does not mean that you can't use HTTP redirection with PopChart Embedder, though. See "Using HTTP Redirection" in Chapter 12 for details.

There are two major reasons for using HTTP redirection with PopChart Server:

To avoid exposing a new port through a firewall. If PopChart Server is behind a firewall on a port other than 80, users outside of the firewall will probably be unable to see images created by PopChart Server unless you specifically open its port to the outside world. HTTP redirection allows you to work around this.
To work with Secure Socket Layer (SSL). If have an SSL web server, you can redirect requests to PopChart Server through the web server using the HTTP redirector adapters, thus taking advantage of SSL for communication with PopChart Server.

For general information about using HTTP Redirection, refer to the first section of this chapter, "Using HTTP Redirection" in Chapter 12.

HTTP redirectors for PopChart Server are easy to set up, and are available for the following web servers:

The last three sections talk about setting up HTTP redirection with these web servers.