How To Use Apache HTTP Server

As Reverse-Proxy Using
mod_proxy Extension
TAGGED IN: UBUNTU , APACHE , MISCELLANEOUS

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
1.
2.
3.

Updating The Operating-System

Getting The Essential Build Tools
Getting The Modules And Dependencies

4. Configuring Apache To Proxy Connections

1.
2.
3.
4.

Activating The Modules

Modifying The Default Configuration
Enabling Load-Balancing
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, 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.

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:
aptitude
update
aptitude -y upgrade

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 build-essential package:

aptitude install -y build-essential

Getting The Modules And Dependencies

Next, we are going to get the module and dependencies.
Run the following command to install them:
aptitude install -y libapache2-mod-proxy-html libxml2-dev

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.
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
# You will be presented with an output similar to:
# Your choices are: access_compat actions alias allowmethods asis
auth_basic auth_digest auth_form authn_anon authn_core authn_dbd
authn_dbm authn_file authn_socache authnz_ldap authz_core
authz_dbd authz_dbm authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner
authz_user autoindex buffer cache cache_disk cache_socache cgi
cgid charset_lite data dav dav_fs dav_lock dbd deflate dialup dir
dump_io echo env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers
heartbeat heartmonitor include info lbmethod_bybusyness
lbmethod_byrequests lbmethod_bytraffic lbmethod_heartbeat ldap
log_debug log_forensic lua macro mime mime_magic mpm_event
mpm_itk mpm_prefork mpm_worker negotiation proxy proxy_ajp
proxy_balancer proxy_connect proxy_express proxy_fcgi
proxy_fdpass proxy_ftp proxy_html proxy_http proxy_scgi
proxy_wstunnel ratelimit reflector remoteip reqtimeout request
rewrite sed session session_cookie session_crypto session_dbd
setenvif slotmem_plain slotmem_shm socache_dbm socache_memcache
socache_shmcb speling ssl status substitute suexec unique_id
userdir usertrack vhost_alias xml2enc
# Which module(s) do you want to enable (wildcards ok)?

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:
proxy proxy_ajp proxy_http rewrite deflate headers proxy_balancer
proxy_connect proxy_html

Or alternatively, you can run the following commands to enable the

modules one by one:
a2enmod
a2enmod
a2enmod
a2enmod
a2enmod
a2enmod
a2enmod
a2enmod
a2enmod

proxy
proxy_http
proxy_ajp
rewrite
deflate
headers
proxy_balancer
proxy_connect
proxy_html

Note: Some modules are likely to be enabled by default. Trying to

enable them twice will just ensure that they are active.

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/sites-enabled/000-default.conf

Here, we will be defining a proxy virtual host

using mod_virtualhost and mod_proxytogether.
Copy-and-paste the below block of configuration, amending it to suit
your needs:
<VirtualHost *:*>
ProxyPreserveHost On
#
#
#
#
#
#

Servers to proxy the connection, or;

List of application servers:
Usage:
ProxyPass / http://[IP Addr.]:[port]/
ProxyPassReverse / http://[IP Addr.]:[port]/
Example:

ProxyPass / http://0.0.0.0:8080/
ProxyPassReverse / http://0.0.0.0:8080/
ServerName localhost
</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
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:
<Proxy balancer://mycluster>
# Define back-end servers:
# Server 1
BalancerMember http://0.0.0.0:8080/
# Server 2
BalancerMember http://0.0.0.0:8081/
</Proxy>
<VirtualHost *:*>
# Apply VH settings as desired
# However, configure ProxyPass argument to
# use "mycluster" to balance the load
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:
Listen 443

NameVirtualHost *:443
<VirtualHost *:443>
SSLEngine On
# Set the path to SSL certificate
# Usage: SSLCertificateFile /path/to/cert.pem
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/file.pem
# Servers to proxy the connection, or;
# List of application servers:
# Usage:
# ProxyPass / http://[IP Addr.]:[port]/
# ProxyPassReverse / http://[IP Addr.]:[port]/
# Example:
ProxyPass / http://0.0.0.0:8080/
ProxyPassReverse / http://0.0.0.0:8080/
# Or, balance the load:
# 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:
service apache2 restart

And that's it!

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