ProxyReverse

ProxyReverse is a very simple reverse proxy implementation that can proxy to servers which are themselves behind an HTTP forward proxy.

This is a common annoyance with corporate firewalls, and a nuisance to solve with standard tools.

Usage

Basic Reverse Proxy

Basic usage is simple: define your config file and run the reverse-proxy:

proxyreverse reverse-proxy

The included config file shows a simple example of presenting HTTPS Google on localhost:8080 - which isn't very useful, but illustrates the idea of what we're trying to make easier to do.

Wildcard Reverse Proxy

It is possible to configure the system to act as essentially a forward proxy by setting a wildcard site configuration. In this mode, one or more hostname components are replaced by wildcards. The most specific handler for each request is used - i.e. if the following config is used...

sites:
 - host: "*.com"
   listener:
   - http
   proxychain: default
 - host: "*.*.com"
   backend:
     target: "google.com:443"
     http_headers:
       set_headers:
         Host:
           - google.com
     tls:
       enable: true
       sni_name: google.com
       ca_certs:
         - system
   listener:
     - http
   proxychain: default

...then the result of this config will be that a request with a Host header of fake.example.com will be proxied directly to the google.com backend.

Whereas a request to example.com - in this case since no target field is set

• will be proxied directly (via the default chain) to example.com without modification.

This is a synthetic example: the original purpose of the wildcard functionality is to provide for setting up a quick and easy backend to a custom top-level domain behind a SOCKS proxy: e.g. routing *.onion addresses to Tor or routing *.internal addresses through an underlying SSH tunnel.

Note: Backend port selection matters and several parameters are provided to control it. By default proxyreverse will guess the backend port based on the port number of the listener it is attached to.

If an explicit target is set, then that port number will be used instead. target can be set to an empty host and just a port number by the following syntax:

target: ":80"

which will lead to all forwarded requests using port 80 for the outbound.

Path Proxying

There is limited support for controlling the selection of the backend target dynamically via the target_select directive. By using the path selector, the backend host can be chosen from a path element rather then via the Host header as per normal - this allows (in a very simple way) to front a backend as a sub-URL path.

Note: if you need advanced functionality including content adaptation, use a proper reverse proxy from nginx.