Forwarding session and cookie requests from httpd to Tomcat

For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))

If you're using mod_proxy to forward requests that use sessions to other servers, you need to ensure that the cookies get correctly rewritten as they're sent to the browser for setting, in order to reflect the URL of the customer facing server rather than the back end server.

Here's an example where we have forwarded all requests to our front facing server for a web application called /henry to a back end server on our internal network at 192.168.200.218, on port 5050, to a web application called /latmjdemo.

ProxyRequests Off

<Proxy *>

  Order deny,allow

  Allow from all

</Proxy>

ProxyPass /henry http://192.168.200.218:5050/latmjdemo

ProxyPassReverse /henry http://192.168.200.218:5050/latmjdemo

ProxyPassReverseCookiePath /latmjdemo /henry

The ProxyPassReverse is required in order for redirect URLs (such as the sort you generate if you leave the trailing slash off a directory request), and the ProxyPassReverseCookiePath is required in order to allow the back end server to correctly set cookies in the user's browser.

Here's an example of a test page that we've accessed via an httpd process running on 192.168.200.215, which has called up a session / cookie based application running on Tomcat on 192.168.200.218 - the configuration file above is off 192.168.200.215

The source code for that .jsp page may be found here. Example written in answer to a training customer's query / during a practical session. See course details.
(written 2008-12-14, updated 2008-12-15)

Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles

A657 - Web Application Deployment - Using httpd to front Tomcat
  [576] Why run two different web servers - (2006-01-25)
  [631] Apache httpd to Tomcat - jk v proxy - (2006-03-03)
  [1377] Load Balancing with Apache mod_jk (httpd/Tomcat) - (2007-10-02)
  [1566] Strange behaviour of web directory requests without a trailing slash - (2008-03-06)
  [1939] mod_proxy_ajp and mod_proxy_balancer examples - (2008-12-13)
  [1940] URL rewriting with front and back servers - (2008-12-14)
  [2483] Clustering on Tomcat - (2009-10-30)
  [3018] Tuning Apache httpd and Tomcat to work well together - (2010-10-27)
  [3999] Handling failures / absences of your backend server nicely - (2013-02-08)

A655 - Web Application Deployment - Using Tomcat and Apache httpd Together
  [436] Linking Apache httpd to Apache Tomcat - (2005-09-05)
  [1376] Choosing between mod_proxy and mod_rewrite - (2007-10-02)
  [1383] Monitoring mod_jk and how it is load balancing - (2007-10-07)
  [1549] http, https and ajp - comparison and choice - (2008-02-22)
  [1552] Extra public classes in deploying Apache httpd and Tomcat - (2008-02-24)
  [1771] More HowTo diagrams - MySQL, Tomcat and Java - (2008-08-24)
  [1938] Predictive Load Balancing - PHP and / or Java - (2008-12-13)
  [2482] Load balancing with sticky sessions (httpd / Tomcat) - (2009-10-29)

A608 - Web Application Deployment - Apache httpd mod_proxy
  [934] Clustering, load balancing, mod_rewrite and mod_proxy - (2006-11-21)
  [1006] Apache httpd and Apache Tomcat together tips - (2006-12-24)
  [1121] Sharing the load with Apache httpd and perhaps Tomcat - (2007-03-29)
  [1767] mod_proxy and mod_proxy_ajp - httpd - (2008-08-22)
  [2062] Virtual hosting and mod_proxy forwarding of different domains (httpd) - (2009-03-01)
  [2273] Three recent questions on Tomcat Convertors - (2009-07-07)
  [2325] Apache, Tomcat, mod_proxy - (2009-08-06)
  [3293] Distributing the server load - yet ensuring that each user return to the same system (Apache httpd and Tomcat) - (2011-05-18)
  [3339] Simplest ever proxy configuration? - (2011-06-28)
  [3680] How can I run multiple web servers behind a single IP address? - (2012-04-02)
  [3892] Distributed, Balanced and Clustered Load Sharing - the difference - (2012-10-13)

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Summary - Apache httpd build on Linux
Forwarding session and cookie requests from httpd to Tomcat
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