I am developing a Java EE web app running on JBOSS. I want users to authenticate in my web app using their smartcard's X.509 authentication certificate yo access the web content.
I have decided to use Apache http server with JBOSS using mod_proxy, to be able to use Apache's mod_ssl. I would like to know if mod_proxy and mod_proxy_http is the same? If not what are the differences?
According the documentation:
Apache Module mod_proxy
This module implements a proxy/gateway for Apache. It implements proxying capability for AJP13 (Apache JServe Protocol version 1.3), FTP, CONNECT (for SSL), HTTP/0.9, HTTP/1.0, and HTTP/1.1. The module can be configured to connect to other proxy modules for these and other protocols.
Apache's proxy features are divided into several modules in addition to mod_proxy: mod_proxy_http, mod_proxy_ftp, mod_proxy_ajp, mod_proxy_balancer, and mod_proxy_connect. Thus, if you want to use one or more of the particular proxy functions, load mod_proxy and the appropriate module(s) into the server (either statically at compile-time or dynamically via the LoadModule directive).
Apache Module mod_proxy_http
This module requires the service of mod_proxy. It provides the features used for proxying HTTP and HTTPS requests. mod_proxy_http supports HTTP/0.9, HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1. It does not provide any caching abilities. If you want to set up a caching proxy, you might want to use the additional service of the mod_cache module.
Thus, in order to get the ability of handling HTTP proxy requests, mod_proxy and mod_proxy_http have to be present in the server.
In summary, mod_proxy_http can be used only to handle HTTP and HTTPS requests proxying and this required mod_proxy (provide features to other modules)
