The new Process Request Data Into Headers feature, recently added to the Azion Marketplace, allows critical data to be transferred in the request headers, enabling a safer, more efficient request and response dynamics.
What Is the Process Request Data Into Headers Solution?
This new solution allows the inclusion of additional information from requests or responses in a key-value format into the request header. This information can be used for a wide range of purposes, such as authentication, caching, and customizing content delivery.
As headers are usually smaller than the request body, using them for data transmission can help reduce network latency and improve performance.
In addition, this new solution allows you to quickly verify the information contained in the body of requests, blocking those that do not contain mandatory fields or that contain suspicious information.
Use Cases
E-commerce platforms receive orders from their customers all the time. Typically, these companies have a set of required fields for the order, such as “customer name”, “shipping address” and “payment information”. But if any of these required fields are missing from the request body, it will be impossible to process the order, causing inconvenience to the company and, of course, to its customer.
The Process Request Data Into Headers feature can ensure that all incoming requests have the required fields filled, blocking requests in which those are missing. For example, if a customer tries to sumbmit an order without filling in the delivery address, this function can block this request and return an error message to the customer.
Besides that, this solution enables a series of other use cases to enhance the communicability and security of your applications:
API Security: With this function, you can add custom headers to API requests based on fields in the request body. For example, you can add an authentication token header only if a specific field is present in the request body.
Request Routing: Headers can be used to route requests to different backend services based on their properties. It’s possible to forward requests to different backend services depending on the value of a specific field in the request body.
Traffic Management: You can use headers based on the request fields to control the rate of requests sent to different back-end services. The solution makes it possible to limit the number of requests sent to a specific back-end service if the request body has a certain field.
Content Delivery: The feature allows optimizing content delivery to customers by adding specific headers based on the fields present in the requests. This makes it possible for you to add headers to indicate the type of content requested by the customer, for example.
How Does This Feature Work?
Transferring request data in headers is a safer, more efficient, and flexible way to validate information between client and server. By including data as part of the header, confidential information can be encrypted and sent securely and faster, as headers are smaller than the request body.
Furthermore, as demonstrated, headers can also be used for a wide range of purposes, providing greater flexibility in how requests are structured and managed. This approach is particularly beneficial when working with APIs and servers that require certain data to be sent in headers.
How to Implement the Process Request Data Into Headers Feature on the Azion Platform
The Process Request Data Into Headers feature is available on the Azion Marketplace for all Azion customers, and can be added to Edge Functions in a few clicks:
- Access the Real-Time Manager;
- Access the Azion Marketplace from the platform menu;
- Search for the Process Request Data Into Headers solution;
- On the solution page, perform the subscription (launch);
- Now, you just need to instantiate to start using the feature in your edge function.
In our documentation you will also find detailed step-by-step instructions, as well as information on configuring and activating the feature in Rules Engine.
Discover the Azion Marketplace and Our Ready-To-Use Solutions
The Azion Marketplace is a digital catalog created to simplify the way you find, test and implement ready-made solutions on Azion’s Edge Computing Platform. With a variety of proprietary, partner and independent vendor code, our customers can create, enhance or customize applications with just a few clicks.
The Process Request Data Into Headers function and others made available by Azion in the Marketplace can be implemented free of charge in applications developed on our platform. Only the invocations and computing time of the solution in Edge Functions will be charged.
If you want to learn more about this and other features available on the Azion Marketplace, talk to one of our experts or create a free account to receive US$ 300.00 in service credits and test the power of edge computing for yourself.
