How to configure a reverse Proxy

Configure Rdiffweb behind Apache Reverse Proxy with SSL

This documentation explains how to configure Rdiffweb behind an Apache reverse proxy with SSL. The Apache server will act as a gateway for requests to Rdiffweb, and SSL will provide additional security. The following steps can be used as a guide:

1. Install Apache and the required modules:

    sudo apt-get install apache2 python3-certbot-apache
    sudo a2enmod rewrite
    sudo a2enmod proxy
    sudo a2enmod ssl
    sudo a2enmod proxy_http
    sudo a2enmod headers
   

2. Request an SSL certificate for your domain

    sudo certbot certonly --expand -d rdiffweb.mydomain.com
   

   Follow the on-screen instructions to provide your email address, agree to the terms of service, and choose whether to share your email address with the EFF. Certbot will create certificates for you.

3. Basic configuration

   Add the following to your Apache configuration file:

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName rdiffweb.mydomain.com
        ProxyPass / http://localhost:8080/ retry=5
        ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8080/
        RequestHeader set X-Real-IP %{REMOTE_ADDR}s
    </VirtualHost>
   

   This will configure Apache to redirect requests to Rdiffweb, which is running on localhost:8080. The RequestHeader is used to set the X-Real-IP header, which is used by Rdiffweb to identify the client’s IP address.

4. SSL configuration:

   Add the following to your Apache configuration file:

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName rdiffweb.mydomain.com
        ServerAdmin me@mydomain.com
        # Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
        RewriteEngine on
        RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://rdiffweb.mydomain.com$1 [L,R=301]
        <Location />
            Order Allow,deny
            Allow from all
        </Location>
    </VirtualHost>
   
    <VirtualHost *:443>
        ServerName rdiffweb.mydomain.com
        ServerAdmin me@mydomain.com
   
        ProxyRequests Off
        ProxyPreserveHost On
        ProxyPass / http://localhost:8080/ retry=5
        ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8080/
        RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto https
        RequestHeader set X-Real-IP %{REMOTE_ADDR}s
   
        # SSL Configuration
        SSLEngine on
        SSLCertificateFile    /etc/letsencrypt/live/rdiffweb.mydomain.com/cert.pem
        SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/rdiffweb.mydomain.com/privkey.pem
        SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/rdiffweb.mydomain.com/fullchain.pem
        <Location />
            Order Allow,deny
            Allow from all
        </Location>
    </VirtualHost>
   

   This will configure Apache to listen on both port 80 and 443. The first virtual host redirects HTTP requests to HTTPS. The second virtual host proxies requests to Rdiffweb, preserves the original host header, and sets the X-Forwarded-Proto and X-Real-IP headers. The SSL certificate files must be specified in the configuration.

5. Define the external URL in Rdiffweb configuration:

   Edit /etc/rdiffweb/rdw.conf and add the following line:

    server-host=127.0.0.1
    external-url=https://rdiffweb.mydomain.com/
   

   This tells Rdiffweb that it is running on localhost and that the external URL is https://rdiffweb.mydomain.com/. This is used for email notifications and to redirect the user to the correct URL.

Configure Rdiffweb behind nginx reverse proxy

You may need a nginx server in case:

• you need to serve multiple web services from the same IP;

• you need more security (like HTTP + SSL).

This section doesn’t explain how to install and configure your nginx server. This is out-of-scope. The following is only provided as a suggestion and is in no way a complete reference.

Basic configuration

    location / {
            # Define proxy header for cherrypy logging.
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
            # Proxy
            proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
    }

Make sure you set X-Real-IP so that Rdiffweb knows the real IP address of the client. This is used in the rate limit to identify the client.

Make sure you set X-Forwarded-Proto correctly so that Rdiffweb knows that access is being made using the https scheme. This is used to correctly create the URL on the page.