Re: What to call that direction/redirection/routing thing

[Laurent Gautier <Laurent.Gautier@activia.net>]

I'm confortable with "redirection" as this is the de facto standard word.

About the difference between "direction" and "redirection":

- "redirection" is defined by HTTP (and RTSP) as a mechanism to redirect
a user agent on the web server having the ressource.
HTTP redirection is a redirection mechanism that is considered in the architecture draft.

If we consider that a user agent can be redirected and not only directed,
would we say in general that he is directed or redirected? I prefer the B).

- The standard DNS (as an example) can be considered as a direction mechanism.
  The CDN DNS add a "not unic location" feature to the standard DNS, that need
  the "re" prefix in order not to confuse.

- The redirection mechanism say: don't go to the source, go to the distribution point,
  (and you don't have to know the source location, but it exists).
  In fact, the user agent may think it is directed, but the CDN knows it is redirected.

- The content provider point of vue may be that its users are redirected by itself to
its CDN provider.


Laurent Gautier
ActiVia Networks