Deploying static content to an edge server

You can deploy static content to multiple web servers, also known as edge servers, to improve responsiveness in a large production system.

Note: To forward static content requests to an edge server, all static content references in the target application must use static JavaServer Page (JSP) tags and binaryfile JSP tags, rather than manually entering HTML tags to reference the static content file. For more information, see static JavaServer Page tag and binaryfile JavaServer Page tag.
  1. Identify an application ( Rule-Application instance) that is used by target end users, and log in to Dev Studio as a developer that has access to the application.
    1. In the header of Dev Studio, click Configure > System > Assembly > Extract Edge Server Files.
  2. In the Extract Edge Server Files window, complete the following fields:
    1. In the Select Rule Application field, select the Application Name key part of an application rule.
    2. In the Application Version field, select the Version key part of an application rule.
    3. Enter a file name for the .zip file output.
    4. Click Create ZIP file. The activity runs and creates a .zip file that contains the static content in a subdirectory in the ServiceExport directory named RemoteWebServers of your system.
  3. Copy the .zip file to each edge server by identifying the host name, TCP/IP port, and URL path of the edge server to which you want to deploy the static content by using FTP or a similar file transfer program.
  4. In Dev Studio, copy the empty extension point activity Code-Security.ApplicationProfileSetup into a new ruleset that is made available to application users, keeping both key parts.
  5. Update the Pages & Classes tab of the new Activity form to add a row for the page name pxRequestor in the Code-Pega-Requestor class.
  6. Replace the first step of the activity with a Property-Set method that sets the pxRequestorpyEdgeServerURI property to the appropriate path, such as http://edgeserver1:8080/EdgeServer.
  7. Save the Activity form.
  8. Update the application rule (identified in step 1) to include the new ruleset version.
  9. Log in as a user who belongs to the updated access group.
  10. Clear your browser cache, and then use an HTTP sniffer program, such as Fiddler 2, to verify that static content is served from the edge server.
  11. Use the Application Explorer to access and review log entries to verify that the extraction tool records each execution as an instance of the Log-EdgeServer class and records any errors in instances of the Log-EdgeServer-Error class.
  12. If the static content changes, repeat steps 1 to 4.