SwitchPipe 
Posted on February 04, 2008
A process manager and proxy for web app deployment
SwitchPipe is a proof of concept “Web application server” or, more accurately, a Web application process manager and request proxy. Backend Web applications are loaded into their own processes, making SwitchPipe language agnostic. HTTP requests are proxied at the TCP level using information extracted from the headers to establish which backend application is being demanded.
SwitchPipe manages and forwards HTTP requests to Web application processes, automatically managing balancing, port numbers, monitoring and timeouts.
SwitchPipe can:
- automatically manage clusters of multiple applications, including port number management
- maintain and update application configurations “on the fly”
- timeout any backend app instances that haven’t been used for a certain period of time
- keep process and memory usage to a minimum, as backend app clusters don’t need to run constantly
- adhere your personal choices for timeouts and maximum numbers of processes
Furthermore, it’s:
- super easy to configure
- the easiest way to deploy multiple HTTP-talking backend applications
- a real step forward in multi-app, clustered, multi-language, multi-framework Web application deployment!
- for Linux and OS X only so far
- easiness over performance (although it’s not slow!)