I'm sorry; I should have provided more context for my comments about the unstable nature of ad_conn in context of host-node mapping:
Since Uri is using aolserver 4.5, I mentioned our local experience with using host-node mapping with aolserver 4.5 --not naviserver.
site_node::conn_url was developed (in 2009 and submitted to acs-core) in order to work around the inconsistent behavior of ad_conn. It was meant to provide a consistent url depending on if it is called from a main site or when called from a host-node. However, changes in core dependencies caused it to break soon after also. A fix was again provided that worked locally, but it again broke on next release. iirc. CVS browser highlights some of the history and forum discussion on it.
Part of the issue had to do with inconsistent view of the purposes of some of the underlying code between core developers.
The core and maintenance process has matured significantly since then. I'm sure a re-examination and development of regression tests will stabilize the feature into something quite useful. I'll file a bug/suggestion shortly.
@Gustaf,
Yes. Regression tests should be added at some point to stabilize feature(s). I was going to re-visit this and provide regression tests with bug report/suggestion; Alas regression tests are a few months away still.
