Tunnel HTTP through HTTPS using Apache

Question

Is it possible to have an HTTPS frontend for an HTTP server?

Let me elaborate. Say I have an app running on a tomcat instance and this app only understands HTTP. Is it possible to have Apache sit in front of the tomcat app and proxying the requests as shown below:

        http://example.com/proxied_app                     http://localhost:8080
                       +----------+                        +----------+
                       |          |                        |          |
                       |          |                        |          |
Internet <----HTTPS--->|  APACHE  |<---------HTTP--------->|  TOMCAT  |
                       |          |                        |          |
                       |          |                        |          |
                       +----------+                        +----------+

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 17 '12 at 14:58

9

Yes. That's what mod_proxy is for.

answered Jul 17 '12 at 14:58

Jenny D

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If you're connecting to a Tomcat instance, consider using [`mod_proxy_ajp`](http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_proxy_ajp.html). Same configuration but uses a Tomcat connector for better performance. – Tom Marthenal Jul 23 '12 at 02:47
If you choose to use HTTP between webserver and tomcat, consider replacing apache by varnish for real performance reason – Dec 16 '13 at 21:29

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 17 '12 at 17:12

1

Jenny D answer is fine: just to add that in this case you can also use mod_jk when connecting Apache Httpd with Apache Tomcat.

answered Jul 17 '12 at 17:12

Mixmar

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These days mod_ajp is a much better option. – bahamat Jul 17 '12 at 20:05
@bahamat do you mean `mod_proxy_ajp`? – Tom Marthenal Jul 23 '12 at 02:46
@TomMarthenal: Yes, that's the one. (I didn't look it up, just wrote that from memory and I haven't used it in a while). Thanks. – bahamat Jul 23 '12 at 15:15

Tunnel HTTP through HTTPS using Apache

2 Answers2