Patent ID: 8533333

Claim:
A method for responding to a request corresponding to a host name in a shared hosting environment that includes a network farm comprising a plurality of content servers, the method comprising: a routing server receiving a request from a client, the request to be processed by at least one server in the plurality of content servers; the routing server identifying a host name corresponding to the request; determining whether or not the host name is affinitized to an affinitized subset of servers within the plurality of content servers; when it is determined that the host name is affinitized to an affinitized subset of servers: identifying the affinitized subset of the plurality of servers that is host name affinitized to the host name, wherein the affinitization is based upon the individual host name such that two host names which resolve to the same IP address can be affinitized to distinct subsets of servers, wherein the plurality of servers comprises a distinct second subset affinitized to a distinct second host name, wherein each server in the affinitized subset is affinitized to the host name, and wherein each server in the affinitized subset is capable of processing the request corresponding to the host name; when it is determined that the host name is not affinitized to an affinitized subset of servers within the plurality of content servers, the routing server identifying a new affinitized subset of servers corresponding to the hostname, the new affinitized subset of servers being servers within the plurality of content servers; determining that a particular content server is to process the request corresponding to the host name, the particular content server within the affinitized subset of the plurality of servers when it is determined that the host name is affinitized to an affinitized subset of servers and the particular content server within the new affinitized subset of servers when it is determined that the host name is not affinitized to an affinitized subset of servers; the routing server dispatching the request corresponding to the host name to the determined particular content server for processing; determining that a prior affinitized server has lost its affinitization to the hostname; and in response to determining that a prior affinitized server has lost its affinitization to the hostname, the routing server selecting a new content server to affinitize to the hostname.