About HTTP automatic configuration settings
Server Subnet or Hostname specifies an IP address and mask pattern for the server subnet, or a hostname, on which to set up the HTTP optimization scheme. Use standard formats for an individual subnet IP address and netmask. Use 0.0.0.0/0 or ::/0 as the wildcards for all IPv4 and all IPv6, respectively.
Strip Compression marks the accept-encoding lines from the HTTP compression header so they’re not returned in calls. An accept-encoding directive compresses content rather than using raw HTML. Enabling this option improves SDR performance. Enabled by default.
Insert Cookie adds a cookie to HTTP applications that don’t already have one. HTTP applications frequently use cookies to keep track of sessions. SteelHead uses cookies to distinguish one user session from another. If an HTTP application doesn’t use cookies, the client appliance inserts one so that it can track requests from the same end user. Disabled by default.
Insert Keep Alive uses the same TCP connection for multiple requests and responses, as opposed to opening a new one for every single request and response. Specify this option when using the URL Learning or Parse and Prefetch with applications that use the Connection Close method. Enabled by default.
Object Prefetch Table prefetches and stores the specified object types from HTTP GET requests. When the browser performs If-Modified-Since (IMS) checks for stored content or sends regular requests, the client-side appliance responds, cutting back on round-trips across the WAN. Configure on client-side appliances.
Stream Splitting Enables stream splitting. Enable on client-side appliances. Disabled by default.
URL Learning learns associations between a base URL request and follow-on requests. The appliance stores information about which URLs have been requested and which URLs have generated a 200 OK response from the server. It then fetches URLs embedded in style sheets or any JavaScript associated with the base page and located on the same host as the base URL. Best suited to nondynamic content that doesn’t contain session-specific information. Enabled by default.
Requires cookies and persistent connections. You can force the use of cookies by using the Add Cookie option, and force the use of persistent connections by also enabling the Insert Keep Alive option.
Parse and Prefetch parses the base HTML page and prefetches any embedded objects to the client-side appliance. This feature complements URL Learning by handling dynamically generated pages and URLs that include state information. When the browser requests an embedded object, the appliance serves the request from the prefetched results, eliminating the round-trip delay to the server. Prefetched objects can be images, style sheets, or any Java scripts associated with the base page and located on the same host as the base URL. Requires cookies. Also enable the option to insert a cookie if the application doesn’t use them.
Reuse Auth, Force NTLM, and Strip Auth Header are now only configurable through the CLI. For the strip authentication header feature, if the web server is configured to use per-request NTLM authentication, enabling this option might cause authentication failure.
Gratuitous 401 prevents a WAN round trip by issuing the first 401 containing the realm choices from the client-side appliance. We recommend enabling Strip Auth Header along with this option. Most effective when the web server is configured to use per-connection NTLM authentication or per-request Kerberos authentication.
If the web server is configured to use per-connection Kerberos authentication, enabling this option might cause additional delay.
FPSE enables Microsoft Front Page Server Extensions (FPSE) acceleration. SteelHead caches and responds locally to some FPSE requests to multiple round-trips per each request, resulting in significant performance improvements. SSL connections and files smaller than 5 MB can experience even better acceleration. Disabled by default.
WebDAV enables Microsoft Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) acceleration. SteelHead predicts and prefetches WebDAV responses, which saves multiple round-trips, improving the responsiveness of SharePoint file repositories. Disabled by default.