tomcat7 and apache2 on ubuntu in integration with some sort of proxy

Question

I am running php5, apache 2.2 and tomcat7 on ubuntu 12.10 all installed by apt-get.

I need to run both .php and .jsp files. I can run them separately on each each (tomcat and apache httpd)

I have search google but can't find a comprehensive and understandable solution for the above said versions.

Friends tell me I need a proxy (user first hits apache httpd and it forwards to tomcat if its a .jsp, then back to apache and then to the user. php is served by apache in the normal way)

1. what modules do I need? 2. what settings (*ALL) like proxy (many iam not aware of), virtual host for multiple sites do i need for both tomcat and apache.*

I think there a lack of specific guides on google or forums itself.

research:

mod_proxy_ajp replaces mod_jk

mod_php is dead

mod_php for legacy systems, fcgid for 2.2, and proxy_fcgi for 2.4

edit:

1 and 2 solved. 3 is left

I have the following vhost file below. but i have already tomcate running on 8080 for aplpinema "ROOT.war" in /home/ubuntu/tomcat/www/alpinemadotcom (which is not extracted in webapps folder but in cache folder (despite auto deploy:true)

3-. where and how do I put similer of this:

ProxyPass /apps/jira ajp://backend.example.com:8009/jira
ProxyPassReverse /apps/jira http://www.example.com/jira



<VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerAdmin [email protected]
        ServerName  www.alpinema.com
        ServerAlias alpinema.com

        DocumentRoot /home/ubuntu/apache/www/alpinemadotcom
        <Directory />
                Options FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride None
        </Directory>
        <Directory /home/ubuntu/apache/www/alpinemadotcom/>
                Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
                AllowOverride None
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all
        </Directory>

        ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
        <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
                AllowOverride None
                Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
                Order allow,deny
                Allow from all
        </Directory>

        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

        # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
        # alert, emerg.
        LogLevel warn

        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Answer 1

I've done similar items to this quite frequently. There is no longer a need for mod_jk as mod_proxy_ajp replaces it as you already mentioned.

First things first, get your application fully up and running as a LAMP stack first, so all your PHP is working correctly. Once that is done there are 2 modules that you would need to make the rest work correctly mod_proxy and mod_proxy_ajp!

Add them to your LoadModule list and then you can create an alias of sorts for your vhost

Something along the lines of:

ProxyPass /apps/jira ajp://backend.example.com:8009/jira
ProxyPassReverse /apps/jira http://www.example.com/jira 

By having your apache setup for php first, everything should work normally, however once someone enters the path of http://www.example.com/jira/* then it automatically proxies through to your tomcat server. The ProxyPassReverse is useful for rewriting urls etc that the backend tomcat server sends to be more relative to your actual hosted location.

One thing that is extremely important to keep in mind is that you will need to secure your apache before you even think about using the proxy module. As an open proxy on the internet can be a very bad thing!

See this page: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_proxy.html#access

That same page also explains more about all the different modifications you could do with proxy module.

========= Updated Example =========

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin [email protected]
    ServerName www.alpinema.com
    ServerAlias alpinema.com
    DocumentRoot /home/ubuntu/apache/www/alpinemadotcom

    ProxyPass /alpinemadotcom http://www.alpinema.com:8080/
    ProxyPassReverse /alpinemadotcom http://www.alpinema.com/alpinemadotcom 

    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
    </Directory>

    <Directory /home/ubuntu/apache/www/alpinemadotcom/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/

    <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
        AllowOverride None
        Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
    # alert, emerg.
    LogLevel warn
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>