google app engine java backend _ah/start

Question

I read in the google app engine backend documentation for java and it's said that we need to give the url for the backend to be _ah/start. Is the java backend url-pattern in web.xml needs to be _ah/start? Can I change that into my custom url name?

Thanks.

Answer 1

From the App Engine documentation:

A backend instance can be targeted with HTTP requests to
http://[instance]-dot-[backend_name]-dot-[your_app_id].appspot.com,
or at your application's custom domain.

So you can use whatever domain is configured for your app. _ah/start is a way to start the backend, i.e. a simple request sent to:

backend1-dot-myapp.appspot.com/_ah/start

will start the backend. You don't have to do it - you can send any request to a backend, and the App Engine will start it for you if no instances are running.