How to Set Up an Apache Reverse Proxy for Multiple Web Services

Описание: Learn how to efficiently configure an Apache reverse proxy to route requests to different web services, enhancing your server’s functionality.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/62854681/ asked by the user 'kevinzf' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/12260862/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/62856906/ provided by the user 'Pandurang' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/12112116/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Introduction

Are you hosting multiple web services on a single server and struggling to direct traffic appropriately? Managing services like WordPress and Flask on different ports can become cumbersome if you don't have a proper setup to differentiate their traffic. This guide provides you with a step-by-step guide on how to set up an Apache reverse proxy to route requests efficiently, ensuring every service receives the correct data.

The Challenge

You are operating two web services:

WordPress on Port 8080

Flask on Port 8081

Your goal is to configure the server so that:

Any requests starting with /admin should be routed to the Flask service.

All other requests should go to the WordPress service.

For example, requests to:

http://aa.mcmaster.ca/admin/aa should go to Port 8080 (Flask)

http://aa.mcmaster.ca/page1 should go to Port 8081 (WordPress)

You've tried setting up multiple <VirtualHost> blocks, but it’s not behaving as expected. Let’s dig deeper into the solution for this problem.

Solution

The solution lies in properly configuring the reverse proxy in a single <VirtualHost>. Using two separate virtual hosts can lead to confusion and misrouting of requests. Here’s how you can set it up effectively.

Configuration Steps

Open your Apache configuration file.
This could be found in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf or similar, depending on your server setup.

Replace your existing Virtual Host configurations with the following:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Restart the Apache server for the changes to take effect.
Use the following command in your terminal:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation of the Configuration

ProxyPass and ProxyPassReverse: These directives set up the proxy rules for incoming requests.

ProxyPass /admin/ http://aa.mcmaster.ca:8080/ will route any request starting with /admin to your Flask application.

ProxyPass / http://aa.mcmaster.ca:8081/ will catch all other requests and forward them to your WordPress application.

DocumentRoot: This specifies the root directory for your content and doesn't play a role in the proxy routing but is important for serving non-proxied content.

ProxyPreserveHost: This ensures that the original Host header is sent to the proxied server, preserving the user's input.

Conclusion

To successfully manage multiple web services with Apache, using a well-structured reverse proxy configuration is vital. By directing /admin requests to your Flask service and all others to your WordPress service, you enhance the functionality and organization of your server. Using the configuration provided above, you should now see a smooth operation of both services without any conflicts.

If you have any questions or face issues, feel free to reach out in the comments!