A method of routing a request corresponding to a host name in a shared hosting network farm comprising a plurality of content servers, the method, being performed by a routing server comprised in the shared hosting network farm, comprising the steps of: receiving a request corresponding to a host name in the shared hosting network farm; identifying the corresponding host name for the request; when the request is received in the shared hosting network farm, determining whether or not the corresponding host name is affinitized to any of the content servers; if it is determined that the corresponding host name is affinitized to any of the content servers, identifying an affinitized subset (231, 232) of the plurality of content servers that is or are host name affinitized to said host name, wherein requests corresponding to said host name will continue to be processed only by one of the content servers which are host name affinitized to said host name, unless and until the host name affinitization is terminated, wherein multiple content servers of the plurality of servers in the network farm, including the affinitized subset, are capable of processing the request corresponding to the host name; if it is determined that the corresponding host name is not affinitized to any of the content servers when the request is received in the shared hosting network farm, selecting a subset of content servers from said multiple content servers to affinitize to the host name corresponding to the request to thereby form the affinitized subset of content servers; determining that a particular content server of the affinitized subset (231, 232) is to process the request corresponding to the host name; and providing the request corresponding to the host name to the particular content server for processing. receiving a request corresponding to a host name in the shared hosting network farm; identifying the corresponding host name for the request; when the request is received in the shared hosting network farm, determining whether or not the corresponding host name is affinitized to any of the content servers; if it is determined that the corresponding host name is affinitized to any of the content servers, identifying an affinitized subset (231, 232) of the plurality of content servers that is or are host name affinitized to said host name, wherein requests corresponding to said host name will continue to be processed only by one of the content servers which are host name affinitized to said host name, unless and until the host name affinitization is terminated, wherein multiple content servers of the plurality of servers in the network farm, including the affinitized subset, are capable of processing the request corresponding to the host name; if it is determined that the corresponding host name is not affinitized to any of the content servers when the request is received in the shared hosting network farm, selecting a subset of content servers from said multiple content servers to affinitize to the host name corresponding to the request to thereby form the affinitized subset of content servers; determining that a particular content server of the affinitized subset (231, 232) is to process the request corresponding to the host name; and providing the request corresponding to the host name to the particular content server for processing.