Converting some Apache host-based routing and reverse proxy

[jiehong]

Hello,

1. The problem I’m having:

None, just wondering how to convert some Apache configuration to Caddy, perhaps in a better way.

In particular, I have the following apache.conf part that handles some rewrite rules depending on the value of the hostname being served, and doing some path rewrite and reverse proxy:

RewriteCond  %{HTTP_HOST} !p1.company.net
RewriteRule . - [S=6]
RewriteRule    plnext/rest/(.*)$                                     https://domain-1.company.net/core/$1                                                             [P,NC]
RewriteRule    core/(.*)$                                            https://domain-1.company.net/core/$1                                                             [P,NC]
RewriteRule    xbox/(.*)$                                            https://domain-2.company.net/xbox/$1                                                             [P,NC]
RewriteRule    acpui/maestro/?$                                      https://domain-3.company.net/acpui/maestro/index.html                                          [P,NC]
RewriteRule    acpui/maestro/(.*)$                                   https://domain-3.company.net/acpui/maestro/$1                                                  [P,NC]
RewriteRule    /(.*)$                                                https://domain-4.company.net/acpui/home/$1                                           [P,NC]

This section reads as:

1. If host is not p1.company.net
2. Skip the next 6 rules
   n+1: if path match this, capture the end of the path, and reverse proxy it to a specific domain and path

I have about 10 sections like that, each containing not 6 but 19 rules.

See section on caddy file for the way I’m tackling this.

2. Error messages and/or full log output:

N/A

3. Caddy version:

2.6.4

4. How I installed and ran Caddy:

via brew (brew install caddy), and running it as “caddy run”.

a. System environment:

Mac OS, Apple M2.

b. Command:

caddy run

c. Service/unit/compose file:

N/A

d. My complete Caddy config:

:8080 {
	@p1 {
		host p1.company.net
	}

	handle @p1 {
		handle_path /plnext/rest/* {
			rewrite * /core/*
			reverse_proxy https://domain-1.company.net {
				header_up Host {upstream_hostport}
			}
		}
		handle_path /core/* {
			rewrite * /core/*
			reverse_proxy https://domain-1.company.net {
				header_up Host {upstream_hostport}
			}
		}
        # Same for each and every rule
	}
}

5. Links to relevant resources:

N/A

Would you see a different way?

I thought about writing a section p1.company.net:8080 instead of @p1 matcher, but this causes too much duplication (because some handlers not shown here are the exact same for all domains).

[francislavoie]

@jiehong

but this causes too much duplication (because some handlers not shown here are the exact same for all domains).

That’s what snippets are for:

Caddyfile Concepts - Caddy Documentation

@jiehong

rewrite * /core/*

This won’t work, this will rewrite the URL to literally /core/*. You probably want rewrite * /core{uri}

@jiehong

		handle_path /core/* {
			rewrite * /core{uri}

You can use handle instead of handle_path + rewrite here, it’s redundant to strip /core from the URL and then re-add it.

@jiehong

reverse_proxy https://domain-1.company.net {

If each route may change the upstream address, you could set the upstream address with vars (Caddyfile directive) — Caddy Documentation and then only have one reverse_proxy at the end which reads the address with {vars.upstream} or whatever.

Make sure to configure reverse_proxy > transport http > tls though, because https:// scheme can’t be used when using a placeholder for the address (see the last paragraph in this section of the docs: reverse_proxy (Caddyfile directive) — Caddy Documentation)

[jiehong]

Thank you very much for all those suggestions!

[jiehong]

Thanks again for the suggestions, as it’s working nicely!