The {@link org.apache.webapp.balancer.BalancerFilter Filter} is how the webapp is typically used: see the web.xml file in this distribution for an example.
A {@link org.apache.webapp.balancer.RuleChain} is simply a list of rules to be evaluated in order.
The {@link org.apache.webapp.balancer.RulesParser} uses Digester to parse the rules configuration file.