Can not access Tomcat servlet using httpd ajp proxy in Docker

Question

Docker, httpd and tomcat is new to me.

What I want to do: Access tomcat servlet through httpd ajp reverse proxy.

I am making two containers under same bridge network, one runs httpd, another tomcat.

Problem: I can not access tomcat through httpd. Httpd returns 403 error. I can access through port 8080 if I expose it to the host. I have read many articles but do not understand what I am doing wrong. Current configuration should work according to my understanding but surely I am missing something.

Screenshot of error page

Kindly give me pointers what am I doing wrong.

My configurations and dockerfiles Please see the Git repository here. I run the container by first creating image and run by following

# Start web container
docker run -dit --name httpd.container -p 80:80 --network extope-network httpd-101-image
# Start AP container
docker run -dit --name tomcat.container -p 8080:8080 --network extope-network --add-host=host.docker.internal:host-gateway tomcat-101-image

The 403 error comes from tomcat, not httpd. Your httpd is working fine. — Gerald Schneider, Oct 08 '21 at 09:56
Why would tomcat return 403 when accessed via httpd? As accessing by 8080 port works fine. — Mirza Prangon, Oct 08 '21 at 11:21
@GeraldSchneider, you may be mistaken, with the current configuration. — Gerard H. Pille, Oct 08 '21 at 11:29

Gerard H. Pille · Answer 1 · 2021-10-08T12:06:57.803

0

Your server.xml redirects traffic to port 8443, but,

doesn't handle that port (the handler is commented out)
the container doesn't accept traffic for that port.

In the httpd.conf I see "Include conf/httpd_extope.conf", but there is no httpd_extope.conf. The http_proxy.conf tries to contact the container on port 8009, for which the above two remarks are also valid.

edited Oct 08 '21 at 12:06

answered Oct 08 '21 at 11:01

Gerard H. Pille

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Thank you, I tried removing redirect port line on ajp connector, but the problem persists. By the way, in the connector configuration for 8080 port, there is also a line for redirection to same 8443 port, but i am able to access through 8080 port. Why is that? – Mirza Prangon Oct 08 '21 at 11:15
Port 8080 is handled correctly. See another problem you have above. – Gerard H. Pille Oct 08 '21 at 11:28
Sorry i changed the file names before sharing. The file names are correct in my environment. I will fix that – Mirza Prangon Oct 08 '21 at 11:34
That doesn't change the problem with port 8009. – Gerard H. Pille Oct 08 '21 at 12:05

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 08 '21 at 12:04

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Remove the quotes from the secret in your httpd config.

ProxyPass "/docs" "ajp://tomcat.container:8009/docs" secret=test_ajp_secret
ProxyPass "/manager/" "ajp://tomcat.container:8009/manager/" secret=test_ajp_secret

Afterwards it works.

answered Oct 08 '21 at 12:04

Gerald Schneider

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This actually solved my problem! The documents can be more clear in this regards saying to not to use double quotes. – Mirza Prangon Oct 12 '21 at 02:27

Can not access Tomcat servlet using httpd ajp proxy in Docker

2 Answers2