validateEntityTag

Property Manager name: Validate Entity Tag (ETag)
Behavior version: The v2026-05-05 rule format supports the validateEntityTag behavior v1.3.
Rule format status: Deprecated, outdated rule format
Access: Read/Write
Allowed in includes: Yes

This behavior enables edge servers to validate cached objects using entity tags (ETags).

When a request arrives at the edge with an If-None-Match header, the edge server compares it to the ETag value of the cached object. If the values match, the requesting client receives a lightweight 304 Not Modified response with no body. If they differ, the client receives a new copy of the object from either the Akamai cache or your origin. This revalidation occurs in addition to the default validation of Last-Modified and If-Modified-Since headers.

When enabled, you can specify whether this behavior should support only strong ETag values (default), or if weak ETag values prefixed with W/ should also be accepted. For details on strong vs. weak ETags, see RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics - 8.8.3: ETag.

Option Type Description Requires

Option	Type	Description
`enabled`	boolean	Enables the Validate Entity Tag (ETag) behavior. Allows edge servers to perform conditional revalidation using `If-None-Match` and `ETag` headers.	{"displayType":"boolean","tag":"input","type":"checkbox"}
`nonStrictEnabled`	boolean	Whether you want to allow matching on strong `ETag` values that are not enclosed in double-quotes. While these values are technically malformed, they appear frequently in real-world origin responses. Enable this if your origin generates unquoted `ETag` values.	{"displayType":"boolean","tag":"input","type":"checkbox"} {"if":{"attribute":"enabled","op":"eq","value":true}}
`weakEnabled`	boolean	Whether you want to allow matching on weak `ETag` values that are prefixed with `W/`. Weak `ETags` indicate semantic equivalence rather than byte-for-byte identity. When disabled, requests with weak `ETag` values always receive a full `200 OK` response from the edge server.	{"displayType":"boolean","tag":"input","type":"checkbox"} {"if":{"attribute":"enabled","op":"eq","value":true}}

enabled

boolean

Enables the Validate Entity Tag (ETag) behavior. Allows edge servers to perform conditional revalidation using If-None-Match and ETag headers.

{"displayType":"boolean","tag":"input","type":"checkbox"}

nonStrictEnabled

boolean

Whether you want to allow matching on strong ETag values that are not enclosed in double-quotes. While these values are technically malformed, they appear frequently in real-world origin responses. Enable this if your origin generates unquoted ETag values.

{"displayType":"boolean","tag":"input","type":"checkbox"}

{"if":{"attribute":"enabled","op":"eq","value":true}}

weakEnabled

boolean

Whether you want to allow matching on weak ETag values that are prefixed with W/. Weak ETags indicate semantic equivalence rather than byte-for-byte identity. When disabled, requests with weak ETag values always receive a full 200 OK response from the edge server.

{"displayType":"boolean","tag":"input","type":"checkbox"}

{"if":{"attribute":"enabled","op":"eq","value":true}}