Apache Proxying Setup

Question

I have a scenario as below:

I have a URL with DNS Entry, say http://example.com When the user enters http://example.com/portal, (s)he lands on Apache (2.2) Web Server (say AWS 1). There I have a VirtualHost Entry which proxies the request to another Apache Web Server (say AWS 2) running on LAN, say IP 192.168.1.1 using reverse proxy. The Apache Web Server on 192.168.1.1 then forwards the request to JBoss Application Server, using reverse proxy.

On doing so, the URL of the resultant page is changed to the LAN IP https:\\192.168.1.2\portal.

I want the original URL to be intact, as the external users' system doesn't know what 192.168.1.2 is.

This is my first question. Please bear with me if it wasn't self-explanatory.

Below is the snippet of vhost file from AWS 1:

<VirtualHost 192.168.10.179:80> ServerAdmin [email protected] DocumentRoot "D:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs" ServerName example ServerAlias example ErrorLog "logs/example-error.log" # use always https Redirect pernament / https://example.com/ </VirtualHost> 

Below is the snippet from ssl file of AWS 1 (its not the complete config):

<VirtualHost 192.168.10.179:443> ServerAdmin [email protected] DocumentRoot "D:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs" ServerName example ServerAlias example ErrorLog "logs/example-ssl-error.log" ProxyRequests Off ProxyPreserveHost On ProxyPass / http://192.168.1.1/ ProxyPassReverse / http://192.168.1.1/ </VirtualHost> 

Below is the code snippet from vhost file of AWS 2:

<VirtualHost 192.168.1.1:80> ServerAdmin [email protected] DocumentRoot "D:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs" ServerName aws2 ServerAlias aws2 ErrorLog "logs/aws2.log" # use always https Redirect pernament / https://192.168.1.1/ </VirtualHost> 

Below is the snippet from ssl file of AWS 2 (its not the complete config):

<VirtualHost 192.168.1.1:443> ServerAdmin [email protected] DocumentRoot "D:/Program Files/Apache Software Foundation/Apache2.2/htdocs" ServerName aws2 ServerAlias aws2 ErrorLog "logs/aws2-ssl-error.log" ProxyRequests Off ProxyPreserveHost On ProxyPass / http://192.168.1.2/ #This is where JBoss is running ProxyPassReverse / http://192.168.1.2/ </VirtualHost> 

Answer 1

Why are you redirecting to http:// from AWS1 to AWS2 again, when you have https:// enabled on AWS2? Change you ProxyPass and ProxyReverse setting in AWS1 to https://.

Answer 2

The Redirect permanent should not reference the internal IP but the full actual URL of the site as the redirect is done in the browser:

Either use the full site URL in the Redirect clause or use mod_rewrite for a dynamic redirect.

Answer 3

Use this: ProxyPreserveHost On on both proxies.

From this link:

"When enabled, this option will pass the Host: line from the incoming request to the proxied host, instead of the hostname specified in the ProxyPass line.

This option should normally be turned Off. It is mostly useful in special configurations like proxied mass name-based virtual hosting, where the original Host header needs to be evaluated by the backend server."

Edit: Ah, then you have chained proxies with a gateway! Then you should also use ProxyVia On directive setup on aws2, or maybe on both proxies. Try that.