Serving of web pages according to web site launch times

1. method, comprising:

receiving, by one or more servers, a request identifying a first Uniform Resource Locator (URL);

ascertaining, by the one or more servers, whether a launch time associated with the first URL has been attained, wherein ascertaining, by the one or more servers, is performed based, at least in part, upon a) configuration information including a scheduled date and scheduled time of at least one launch associated with the first URL and b) a current date and current time, wherein the configuration information further identifies a second URL and indicates that a redirect response identifying the second URL is to be transmitted prior to the launch time associated with the first URL;

ascertaining that the launch time associated with the first URL has not been attained; and

sending, by the one or more servers, a cacheable redirect response identifying the second URL without sending an ESI response including instructions to fetch a web page associated with the first URL from an origin server.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

retrieving the cacheable redirect response from a cache.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the cache expires at the launch time associated with the first URL.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

sending the Edge Side Includes (ESI) response upon ascertaining that the launch time associated with the first URL has been attained.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , further comprising:

obtaining the ESI response;

fetching the web page associated with the first URL from the origin server according to the instructions provided in the ESI response; and

providing the web page.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the ESI response is a cacheable ESI response, wherein obtaining the ESI response comprises:

retrieving the cacheable ESI response from the cache.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon computer-readable instructions for performing operations, comprising:

receiving, by one or more servers, a request identifying a first Uniform Resource Locator (URL);

ascertaining, by the one or more servers, whether a launch time associated with the first URL has been attained, wherein ascertaining, by the one or more servers, is performed based, at least in part, upon a) configuration information including a scheduled date and scheduled time of at least one launch associated with the first URL and b) a current date and current time, wherein the configuration information further identifies a second URL and indicates that a redirect response identifying the second URL is to be transmitted prior to the launch time associated with the first URL;

ascertaining that the launch time associated with the first URL has not been attained; and

sending, by the one or more servers, a cacheable redirect response identifying the second URL without sending an Edge Side Includes (ESI) response that includes instructions to fetch a web page associated with the first URL from an origin server.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 7 , further comprising:

after ascertaining that the launch time associated with the first URL has been attained, sending the Edge Side Includes (ESI) response when it is ascertained that the launch time associated with the first URL has been attained.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 8 , wherein the ESI response is a cacheable ESI response.

10. A system, comprising:

one or more servers, each of the servers including a processor and a memory, the servers being configured for:

receiving a request identifying a first Uniform Resource Locator (URL);

ascertaining whether a launch time associated with the first URL has been attained, wherein ascertaining, by the one or more servers, is performed based, at least in part, upon a) configuration information including a scheduled date and scheduled time of at least one launch associated with the first URL and b) a current date and current time, wherein the configuration information further identifies a second URL and indicates that a redirect response identifying the second URL is to be transmitted prior to the launch time associated with the first URL;

ascertaining that the launch time associated with the first URL has not been attained; and

sending a cacheable redirect response identifying the second URL without sending an Edge Side Includes (ESI) response that includes instructions to fetch a web page associated with the first URL from an origin server.

11. The system as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:

a second server including a processor and a memory, the second server being configured for:

receiving the cacheable redirect response; and

storing the cacheable redirect response in a cache, thereby enabling the cacheable redirect response to be retrieved from the cache in response to subsequent requests identifying the first URL that are received prior to the launch time.

12. The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the cache expires at the launch time associated with the first URL.

13. The system as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:

a second server including a processor and a memory, the second server being configured for:

ascertaining that the launch time associated with the first URL has been attained;

obtaining the ESI response;

fetching the web page associated with the first URL from the origin server according to the instructions provided in the ESI response; and

providing the web page.

14. The system as recited in claim 10 :

the one or more servers being further configured for:

retrieving the cacheable ESI response from the cache.