6/10/2015 HowToUseApacheHTTPServerAsReverseProxyUsingmod_proxyExtension|DigitalOcean

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Contents
Feb 14, 2014
14 7

How To Use Apache HTTP Server As Reverse-Proxy

Using mod_proxy Extension
Tags: Apache Distribution: Ubuntu, Debian

Introduction
Apache is a tried and tested HTTP server which comes with access to a very wide range of
powerful extensions. Although it might not seem like the go-to choice in terms of running a
reverse-proxy, system administrators who already depend on Apache for the available rich
feature-set can also use it as a gateway to their application servers. In most cases, this will
translate to removing an additional layer from their server set up or the need to use yet
another tool just to redirect connections.

In this DigitalOcean article, we are going to see set up Apache on Ubuntu 13 and use it as a
reverse-proxy to welcome incoming connections and redirect them to application server(s)
running on the same network. For this purpose, we are going to use and work with the
mod_proxy extension and several other related Apache modules.

Glossary
1. Apache

2. Apache Working As A Reverse-Proxy Using mod_proxy

3. Installing Apache And mod_proxy

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1. Updating The Operating-System

2. Getting The Essential Build Tools
3. Getting The Modules And Dependencies

4. Configuring Apache To Proxy Connections

1. Activating The Modules

2. Modifying The Default Configuration
3. Enabling Load-Balancing
4. Enabling SSL Support
5. Restarting Apache

Apache
Apache HTTP server does not require an introduction, since it is probably the most famous
and popular web-server that exists. It is possible to run Apache very easily on many different
platforms and set ups. The application comes with a lot of third party modules to handle
different kind of tasks (modrewrite for rule-based URL rewriting) and one of them, albeit
nowadays relatively neglected, is *modproxy*: The Apache Module to implement a proxy (or
gateway) for servers running on the back-end.

Tip: According to some articles, Apache's name comes from server's "patchy"
nature - i.e. it being a collection of application patches (or modules).

Note: To learn more about Apache, you can check out the Wikipedia entry on the subject -
Apache HTTP Server.

Apache Working As A Reverse-Proxy Using

mod_proxy
modproxy is the Apache module for redirecting connections (i.e. a gateway, passing them
through). It is enabled for use just like any other module and configuration is pretty basic (or
standard), in line with others. modproxy is not just a single module but a collection of them,

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with each bringing a new set of functionality.

Some of these modules are:

mod_proxy: The main proxy module for Apache that manages connections and
redirects them.

modproxyhttp: This module implements the proxy features for HTTP and HTTPS
protocols.

modproxyftp: This module does the same but for FTP protocol.

modproxyconnect: This one is used for SSL tunnelling.

modproxyajp: Used for working with the AJP protocol.

modproxywstunnel: Used for working with web-sockets (i.e. WS and WSS).

modproxybalancer: Used for clustering and load-balancing.

mod_cache: Used for caching.

mod_headers: Used for managing HTTP headers.

mod_deflate: Used for compression.

Note: To learn more about Apache and mod_proxy, you can check out the official Apache
documentation on the subject here.

Installing Apache And mod_proxy

Note: Instructions given here are kept brief, since chances are you already have Apache
installed or know how to use it. Nonetheless, by following the steps below you can get a new
Ubuntu VPS running Apache in a matter of minutes.

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Updating The Operating-System

We will begin with preparing our virtual server. We are going to first upgrade the default
available components to make sure that we have everything up-to-date.

Update the software sources list and upgrade the dated applications:

aptitudeupdate
aptitudeyupgrade

Getting The Essential Build Tools

Let's continue with getting the essential package for application building - the build-essential.
This package contains tools necessary to install certain things from source.

Run the following command to install buildessential package:

aptitudeinstallybuildessential

Getting The Modules And Dependencies

Next, we are going to get the module and dependencies.

Run the following command to install them:

aptitudeinstallylibapache2modproxyhtmllibxml2dev

Configuring Apache To Proxy Connections

Activating The Modules
Before configuring Apache, we are going to enable the necessary modules that we will be
using in this tutorial, or which might come in handy in the future.

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First, let's verify that all modules are correctly installed and ready to be activated.

Run the following command to get a list of available Apache modules:

a2enmod

#Youwillbepresentedwithanoutputsimilarto:

#Yourchoicesare:access_compatactionsaliasallowmethodsasisauth_basicauth_digesta
#Whichmodule(s)doyouwanttoenable(wildcardsok)?

Once you are prompted with the choice of modules you desire, you can pass the below line
listing the module names:

The list of modules:

proxyproxy_ajpproxy_httprewritedeflateheadersproxy_balancerproxy_connectproxy_html

Or alternatively, you can run the following commands to enable the modules one by one:

a2enmodproxy
a2enmodproxy_http
a2enmodproxy_ajp
a2enmodrewrite
a2enmoddeflate
a2enmodheaders
a2enmodproxy_balancer
a2enmodproxy_connect
a2enmodproxy_html

Note: Some modules are likely to be enabled by default. Trying to enable them twice will just
ensure that they are active.

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Modifying The Default Configuration

In this step, we are going to see how to modify the default configuration file 000
default.conf inside /etc/apache2/sitesenabled to set up "proxying" functionality.

Run the following command to edit the default Apache virtual host using the nano text editor:

nano/etc/apache2/sitesenabled/000default.conf

Here, we will be defining a proxy virtual host using mod_virtualhost and mod_proxy
together.

Copy-and-paste the below block of configuration, amending it to suit your needs:

<VirtualHost*:*>
ProxyPreserveHostOn

#Serverstoproxytheconnection,or;
#Listofapplicationservers:
#Usage:
#ProxyPass/http://[IPAddr.]:[port]/
#ProxyPassReverse/http://[IPAddr.]:[port]/
#Example:
ProxyPass/http://0.0.0.0:8080/
ProxyPassReverse/http://0.0.0.0:8080/

ServerNamelocalhost
</VirtualHost>

Press CTRL+X and confirm with Y to save and exit.

Note: To learn more about virtual host configurations, you can check out the detailed Apache
manual on the subject by clicking here.

Enabling Load-Balancing

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If you have multiple back-end servers, a good way to distribute the connection when
proxying them is to use Apache's load balancing features.

Start editing the virtual-host settings like the previous step, but this time using the below
configuration example:

<Proxybalancer://mycluster>
#Definebackendservers:

#Server1
BalancerMemberhttp://0.0.0.0:8080/

#Server2
BalancerMemberhttp://0.0.0.0:8081/
</Proxy>

<VirtualHost*:*>
#ApplyVHsettingsasdesired
#However,configureProxyPassargumentto
#use"mycluster"tobalancetheload

ProxyPass/balancer://mycluster
</VirtualHost>

Enabling SSL Reverse-Proxy Support

If you are dealing with SSL connections and certificates, you will also need to enable a
secondary virtual host with below settings.

Repeat the steps from the previous steps but using these configuration options:

Listen443

NameVirtualHost*:443
<VirtualHost*:443>

SSLEngineOn

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#SetthepathtoSSLcertificate
#Usage:SSLCertificateFile/path/to/cert.pem
SSLCertificateFile/etc/apache2/ssl/file.pem

#Serverstoproxytheconnection,or;
#Listofapplicationservers:
#Usage:
#ProxyPass/http://[IPAddr.]:[port]/
#ProxyPassReverse/http://[IPAddr.]:[port]/
#Example:
ProxyPass/http://0.0.0.0:8080/
ProxyPassReverse/http://0.0.0.0:8080/

#Or,balancetheload:
#ProxyPass/balancer://balancer_cluster_name

</VirtualHost>

Restarting Apache
Once you are happy with your configuration, you will need to restart the cloud server for the
changes to go into effect.

Execute the following command to restart Apache:

serviceapache2restart

And that's it!

You can now visit your VPS and Apache shall reverse-proxy connections to your back-end
application servers.

Submitted by: O.S. Tezer

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7 Comments

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Leave a comment...

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enrico.caporossi April 7, 2014

here no php
Reply

Nerull June 17, 2014

Ive set up a reverse proxy as above to go to www.example.com/server1. That

works fine but when i click on any link in /server1 it bypasses the proxy and loads
up the original page
Reply

macr0n August 22, 2014

Can't activate gzip encoding. module deflate loaded, .htaccess edited with following:

<IfModulemod_deflate.c>
#Insertfilter
SetOutputFilterDEFLATE
AddOutputFilterByTypeDEFLATEapplication/atom+xml\
application/javascript\
application/json\
application/rss+xml\
application/vnd.msfontobject\
application/xfontttf\
application/xhtml+xml\
application/xml\
font/opentype\
image/svg+xml\
image/xicon\
text/css\
text/html\
text/plain\

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text/xcomponent\
text/xml

#Netscape4.xhassomeproblems...
BrowserMatch^Mozilla/4gziponlytext/html

#Netscape4.064.08havesomemoreproblems
BrowserMatch^Mozilla/4\.0[678]nogzip

#MSIEmasqueradesasNetscape,butitisfine
#BrowserMatch\bMSIE!nogzip!gziponlytext/html

#NOTE:Duetoabuginmod_setenvifuptoApache2.0.48
#theaboveregexwon'twork.Youcanusethefollowing
#workaroundtogetthedesiredeffect:
BrowserMatch\bMSI[E]!nogzip!gziponlytext/html

#Don'tcompressimages
SetEnvIfNoCaseRequest_URI\
\.(?:gif|jpe?g|png)$nogzipdontvary

#Makesureproxiesdon'tdeliverthewrongcontent
HeaderappendVaryUserAgentenv=!dontvary

#excludethefollowingfiletypes
SetEnvIfNoCaseRequest_URI\.(?:exe|t?gz|zip|iso|tar|bz2|sit|rar|png|jpg|g

#setcompressionlevel
DeflateCompressionLevel9

</IfModule>

wont work anyways

Reply

lelered September 25, 2014

Hi everyone,
in "Enabling SSL Reverse-Proxy Support", I added: "ProxyPreserveHost On" line
<VirtualHost *:443>
...
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass / http://0.0.0.0:8080/
ProxyPassReverse / http://0.0.0.0:8080/
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...
</VirtualHost>
I hope it can be useful.
Reply

N3RVE February 8, 2015

Hello, I need some help:

I have a Ruby application running on port:8550 and Apache on :80.
How do I serve requests to :8550 on a clean url?
Reply

PokerFace March 4, 2015

You need to use modproxy.so

Configure your:
ProxyPass and ProxyPassReverse.

PokerFace March 4, 2015

Hi,

I hope you can help with this because I am a little bit confused.

I'm an apache 2.2 httpd and want to communicate to a secured server which is also
HTTPS SSL by using ProxyPass and ProxyPassReverse.

Sample architecture:

Outside world ==> https ssl Apache 2.2 httpd (localhost) ==> Secured server Https ssl
(domain.com)
I am the middle man here.

What exactly do I need from them (domain.com) in order for me to configure Apache
2.2 httpd-ssl.conf properly?

Do I only need their public key? I don't think I also need their certificate, otherwise I can
generate their private key. I don't think that's handy...and insecured.

This is my current configuration when the outside world visit the middle man apache
server. Can you take a look and check what I am missing to get it working theoretically?

=======

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LoadModule sslmodule modules/modssl.so

LoadModule proxymodule modules/modproxy.so
LoadModule proxyhttpmodule modules/modproxyhttp.so

Listen 8443

<VirtualHost *:8443>
ServerName localhost.localdomain
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl/server.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl/server_priv.pem

ProxyRequestsoff
SSLProxyEngineon
Logleveldebug

ErrorLog/home/df/Desktop/errorLog_443.txt
TransferLog/home/df/Desktop/transferLog_443.txt

<Location/gd_endpoint/>
ProxyPasshttps://domain.com:45093/abc/1.1.0
ProxyPassReversehttps://domain.com:45093/abc/1.1.0
Orderdeny,allow
Denyfromall
Allowfromall
</Location>

Reply

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