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Jim
Asked: 2012-11-27 23:02:47 +0800 CST

Can I use apache http server as forwarder to Tomcat?

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I have a Tomcat server that listens in 8080(http), 443(https), 7443(https). Note that the connectors for 443 and 7443 use different certificates.
I am interested in using httpd for load balancing.
Is it possible to configure httd so that it simply forwards the requests to Tomcat without needing to install any certificate to httpd itself. I.e. not act as a proxy but as forwarder?
So the SSL end to end is handled by Tomcat.

linux

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    No, Apache isn't capable of being a TCP load balancer; it always expects to handle HTTP requests.

    For the behavior you want, take a look at HAProxy instead; it can load balance those TCP connections without being involved in the SSL layer.

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  2. Another option is to have a look at pound http://www.apsis.ch/pound.

    This actually does https offloading as well. Setting up pound is trivial and is also very lightweight and offers good performance.

    Cheers, dexter

    PS: I thought apache had a load balancing module, but again, apache will not have the performance in load balancing as pound.

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