Changing Host URL without Redirect - IRULE

I must have misread what you were needing.

In order to change the Browser URL from "gear.swimming.com" to "www.recreation.com" you are going to have to redirect. A 301 or 302 is your choice.

HTTP::redirect "http://www.recreation.com/swimming" = 302

HTTP::respond 301 Location "http://www.recreation.com/swimming" = 301

If www.recreation.com is using an alternate Virtual Server you will need to un-comment the bottom section and aim this iRule at the pool of servers that serve content for gear.swimming.com.

The HTTP::header replace will take care of any Host Header Issues.

If the content for gear.swimming.com is in the root directory of the site on the servers you will need to remove the "/swimming" URI, but allow any sub-directories to still function properly.

Try this and see if it works for you:

 
when HTTP_REQUEST {
 If sites exist on the same Virtual Server, this will change the Browser URL and redirect back to this
 Virtual Server.  If they occupy seperate Virtual Servers it will redirect the traffic away from this
 Virtual Server and the iRule will need to be split.  First if on one Virtual Server, Second if on the
 Second Virtual Server.
if { [HTTP::host] eq "gear.swimming.com" } {
HTTP::redirect "http://www.recreation.com/swimming"
}
if { [string tolower  [HTTP::host]] equals "www.recreation.com" && [HTTP::uri] starts_with "/swimming" } {
 In case of Host Headers, replace the Host Value
HTTP::header replace Host "gear.swimming.com"
 Remove /swimming subdirectory
HTTP::uri [URI::path [HTTP::uri] 1 1]
 You may or may not need to redirect the traffic to a different pool depending on your applicaiton setup
pool gear.swimming.com.server.pool
}
}