If I may add:
1. Assuming you have DNS entries for both "jde" and "jde.example.com", you could definitely use an iRule to redirect the user to the FQDN:
----------------------
when HTTP_REQUEST {
if { [string tolower [HTTP::host]] equals "jde" } {
HTTP::redirect "http://jde.example.com[HTTP::uri]"
}
}
----------------------
2. 100% agree. Just make sure port translation is enabled in the virtual server configuration.
3. There is practically no condition where the URI will be blank. In the absence of a URI, any modern browser will simply send "/". You can then simplify the iRule logic to look for this minimal URI.