Apache rewrite with intermediate proxy server (with authentication)

apache-2.2mod-proxymod-rewritePROXY

Using Apache 2.2, I'd like to access an external server (reachable through the Internet) from one of my internal servers. The URLs will be rewritten to change the host so I'll either use mod_rewrite or mod_proxy, not sure yet which one is better for the task.

The problem is that to access the Internet with HTTP, we must use a proxy with authentication.

As I'm probably not very clear, here is a small diagram:

             -----      ---------      -----
clients ---> - A - ---> - proxy - ---> - B -
             -----      ---------      -----

A is the internal server, B is the external server.

I'd like URLs like http://A/fu/bar to be redirected to http://B/fu/bar , knowing there is a proxy requiring authentication in between.

I've tried using ProxyRemote using this syntax:

ProxyRemote * http://proxy.mynetwork.com:8080

It seems to go trough the proxy correctly: when I enter an URL http://A/fu/bar, I get the error "HTTP/1.1 407 proxy authentication required". I just don't know how I can specify the credentials for the proxy.

Best Answer

Looks like a no-go right now with stock Apache, but there's a half-decade-old proposed feature add (with a source patch) outstanding.

If you're feeling enterprising, it should be workable to get this ported to current Apache and recompiled.

Related Solutions

Tomcat – Pretty URLs when using Tomcat behind an Apache proxy

If you're rewriting everything to a common location, you would typically do something like this:

ProxyPass        / http://localhost:8080/foo/
ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8080/foo/

If you need different rules for different paths, you would probably use the Proxy flag on a series of RewriteRules:

RewriteRule /bar/(.*) http://localhost:8080/foo/app/bar/$1 [P]
RewriteRule /api/qux/(.*) http://localhost:8080/foo/api/qux/$1 [P]
RewriteRule /quux/(.*) http://localhost:8080/foo/quux/$1 [P]
RewriteRule /(.*) http://localhost:8080/foo/app/$1 [P]

The this will send things to the appropriate place in Tomcat.

The only complication is if the application dynamically generates URLs with fully qualified paths. In this case, you need to either fix the application, or use something like mod_proxy_html to rewrite links in your HTML content.

Apache Mod-Proxy – Alternatives with Query String

My suspicions turned out to be correct. I had to modify the query string with mod_rewrite and then proxy it to my destination. In the end:

I enabled mod_rewrite and mod_ssl
I added an SSLProxyEngine directive to my vhost definition:
SSLProxyEngine On
I turned on rewrite and added a rule in my vhost def. I also turned on logging for debugging. I learned that I wouldn't be able to rewrite a request for the directory so I had to point to a script. I also had to use the QSA and P options:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^/lookup.php /lookup?key=MYKEY [QSA,P]
I set up my proxy rules. Since the query string is constructed, simple proxying rules apply:
ProxyPass /lookup https://path.to.remote/search.php
ProxyPassReverse /lookup https://path.to.remote/search.php
Don't forget to restart apache! (I did)
I now connect to http://localhost/lookup.php?term=SEACRHTERM

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