I needed only one Apache HTTPD server visible over the Internet, and subdomains provided by internal webservers. I proceeded with mod_proxy.

On SLES10, go to /etc/apache2 and create a file named proxy.conf:

# Sample configs
# by hardwyrd
# 05/22/2009
#
# Disclaimer:
# Use at your own risk. It works for me, it might not work for you.
# If you decide to use or follow this config, you agree that I am not responsible for the damage
# to your system.

# Listen on internal interface only. Only mod_proxy uses this.

Listen 192.168.10.1:8080

# Set the user for mod_proxy
User nobody
Group nobody

# Turn on proxy requests
ProxyRequests On

Order deny,allow
Deny from all

# Declare your subdomain rechable from the internet.

Order deny,allow
Deny from all

# Allow only from specific IP addresses or allow all if this is accessible from the net.
Allow from all

# You can add as many
declarations as you can.

Create a virtual host on the public-facing Apache server. In SLES10, the config is at /etc/apache2/vhosts.d:

# Sample configs
# by hardwyrd
# 05/22/2009
#
# Disclaimer:
# Use at your own risk. It works for me, it might not work for you.
# If you decide to use or follow this config, you agree that I am not responsible for the damage
# to your system.

# A virtual host config is needed so that we can redirect the subdomain requests coming in at port 80 to the internal Apache server.
# Create equivalent virtual host entries for every
declaration in the proxy.conf .


ServerName your-subdomain.your-domain.tld
ServerAlias your-subdomain.your-domain.tld
ProxyPass / http://your-subdomain.your-domain.tld/
ProxyPassReverse / http://rspace.focusoutsourcing.com/


To enable the public Apache server forward the requests to the proper internal Apache server, you can use an internal DNS server with the correct A record for the domain pointing to the IP of the internal Apache server. Or, the quickest way is to add the subdomain to the hosts file (/etc/hosts).

#/etc/hosts
192.168.10.22 your-subdomain.your-domain.tld

On the internal Apache server, create a standard virtual host for the subdomain.

That’s it! Only one apache server will be visible to the public, and yet serve multiple subdomains, spread among various internal Apache servers.

Enjoy!

Technorati : apache, mod_proxy, web+server, linux
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Funny as it may seem, I fell for it (yet again perhaps?). I’ve installed CentOS5 on top of VirtualBox 2.2.2 on my Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 for the sole purpose of testing out ASP.NET hosting using Mono, XSP, and Apache. And I was in for a surprise that I could not access my virtual machine’s Apache web server instance.

I was able to install VirtualBox 2.2.2 vanilla (not the official Ubuntu package) without any problems. I followed it up by installing CentOS5 as a virtual machine. I then proceeded and configured the network interface for the virtual machine on the VirtualBox Management panel, and set it up to use “Bridged” networking.

I proceeded by booting the virtual machine and watched every boot message zip by without a hitch. I then logged into the virtual machine as root and configured the IP address for the network interface. After which, I pinged the IP address and got the reply I want. I then tried to log in via SSH, ang was able to get in. “Hmm… everything seems to be in order. Might as well continue.” I said to myself. Boy was I in for a surprise.

I proceeded and configured the web server, enabling name-based virtual hosting, started Apache and tried to browse the test page. And then… nothing! ACCKK!!! I checked the IPTables rules if there’s something a-miss. So far everything seems to be in order (really?) . Tried a couple more times, and still get a failure from Firefox. Hmmm.. what could it be. Pondering for hours what could have been missed. A colleague suggested to flush the entire set of IPTables rules, which I did and tried accessing the web server. What do you know! I was able to browse the basic landing page. “Hmmm.. there must be something wrong with the IPTables rules” I said whispering.

I proceeded and checked again /etc/sysconfig/iptables and sure enough, I found the culprit. I mistakenly added the IPTables rule that opens port 80 AFTER the reject rule! No wonder port 80 doesn’t open up. I edited the /etc/sysconfig/iptables again, and place the port 80 rule on top of the reject rule, which will then allow it to take effect first, before the reject rule is activated. And then everything worked as it should.

Lesson? Sometimes the obvious things are really hard to find and double checking definitely will prevent the unnecessary debugging for when your system goes to production. I’m just glad this is a simulation system and not production.

I think it was stupid of me not to notice the order of the rules in the iptables file. What do you think?

Technorati linux, virtualization, virtualbox, centos5, apache, webserver, iptables
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Now that my Linux box is kinda stable, I finally decided to put up my own webserver.

The decision didn’t come easy for me. First, there’s the thought of security and abuse. However, as far as I’m concerned, this is one project that I have been dreaming of for a long time. Now that I have the gear, the software, the little knowhow, I guess its high time to be on the roll.

What I have implemented so far is Apache 2.2. I think it is the latest stable (not sure), PHP 5.1 (latest stable), PHPMyAdmin 2.7, and I am still going to implement MySQL 5.0 Community Edition.

Im thinking of using Mambo or Plone. And Drupal also seems to be a good CMS. And sometimes, due to responsibilities and obligations, I rarely have time to evaluate a lot of good CMS and other tools. Maybe you guys can enlighten me on this. I could surely use your opinions .

Sure hope this setup will go along fine. CIAO!