Transparent path junction concepts

For standard WebSEAL junctions, a link to a resource on a back-end junctioned server can only succeed if the URL in the request received by WebSEAL contains the identity of the junction. Junctions use both default and optional filtering solutions to force URLs found in HTML response pages to appear correct when viewed as a part of WebSEAL's single host document space. See Modification of URLs to junctioned resources.

There are three parts of a URL that must be considered in a filtering solution:

• protocol
• host name:port
• path

Of the three parts of a URL, the path is often the most problematic and restricting part to filter. The transparent path junction option (-x) implements a variation on the standard junction mechanism that eliminates the need to filter the path portion of a URL.

A transparent path junction observes a crucial requirement: the configured junction name must match the name of a subdirectory under the root of the back-end server document space. All resources accessed through this junction must be located under this subdirectory. The transparent path junction name represents the name of the actual subdirectory on the back-end server.

Transparent path junctions are really the same as standard junctions except that the junction name, instead of being an addition to the URL path, is based on the path already present on the back-end application. Transparent path junctions allow WebSEAL to route requests to a junction based on the URL path of the back-end server resources rather than based on a junction name added to the path.

For example, if the configured junction name is /docs, all resources controlled by this junction must be located on the back-end server under a subdirectory called /docs.

The transparent path junction mechanism prevents WebSEAL from filtering the path portion of links to the resources protected by this junction. The junction name has now become part of the actual path expression describing the location of a resource and no longer requires filtering. The junction name is not added to or removed from the path portion of URLs, as it is in junctions created without the transparent path option.

/financing/tools
/financing/tools/gars
/financing/tools/gars/custom