Setting up a basic web proxy in apache

Question

I'm looking to run Apache as a proxy for web development. I'm running Mac OS X 10.5.4, which already has Apache 2.2.8 installed and running.

I'd like to point my JavaScript files (which are running locally on my machine) to:

http://localhost/test.php

which would hit the local apache server, then have that apache instance forward to my real remote server:

http://www.mysite.com/test.php

I've looked at a few walkthroughs but they seem to be out of date. I'm wondering if there's a recent how-to on setting this up - the doc here:

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_proxy.html

gives a basic example, but I'm not sure where that text should be added - to http.conf? Do I simply add it there, then restart the server?

Thanks

Answer 1

The proxy setup that you describe is called a Reverse Proxy.

This is very easy to set up in Apache, by using the mod_proxy module.

The fundamental mod_proxy directive to set up a reverse proxy is the ProxyPass. You would typically add the following line to your local Apache configuration file (usually httpd.conf or apache2.conf):

ProxyPass     /remote/     http://www.mysite.com/

In this case, the browser would be requesting http://localhost/remote/test.php but your local Apache server would serve this by acting as a proxy to http://www.mysite.com/test.php.

You also need to make sure to have the following configuration lines uncommented in your Apache config file:

LoadModule proxy_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_proxy.so
LoadModule proxy_http_module /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_proxy_http.so

Make sure to restart your local Apache service after you do any changes to the config file.