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Posts tagged ‘IIS’

23
Nov

Tomcat IIS6 Reverse Proxy

Introduction

This article describes how to set up a reverse proxy between Tomcat and IIS 6.

A reverse proxy enables one web server to provide content from another web server transparently in addition to the following benefits:

  • Greater performance through caching
  • High-availability through load balancing
  • Controlled access to servers behind a firewall

It is assumed that your web application has been deployed to Tomcat and can be accessed using a browser. In this example the application deployed to Tomcat is called “orbiks” and for the sake of simplicity both the Tomcat and IIS servers are hosted on the server lynx.comdynamics.net therefore accessible at http://lynx.comdynamics.net:8080/orbiks

Configure Apache Tomcat Connector for IIS

Download the Apache Tomcat Connector for IIS from http://tomcat.apache.org/connectors-doc/

Create a directory on the filesystem that will be used to store the files required by the connector. For example: C:\Data\JKConnector

Save the isapi_redirect.dll file to the above directory.

Create a subdirectory for log files. For example: C:\Data\JKConnector\logs

Create three text files in the C:\Data\JKConnector directory:

isapi_redirect.properties
uriworkermap.properties
worker.properties

In the isapi_redirect.properties file add the following:

# Configuration file for the Jakarta ISAPI Redirector

# The path to the ISAPI Redirector Extension, relative to the website
# This must be in a virtual directory with execute privileges
extension_uri=/jakarta/isapi_redirect.dll

# Full path to the log file for the ISAPI Redirector
log_file=C:\Data\JKConnector\logs\isapi_redirect.log

# Log level (debug, info, warn, error or trace)
log_level=info

# Full path to the workers.properties file
worker_file=C:\Data\JKConnector\worker.properties

# Full path to the uriworkermap.properties file
worker_mount_file=C:\Data\JKConnector\uriworkermap.properties

In the uriworkermap.properties file add the following mapping so that all requests for a URL matching the orbiks web application will be forwarded to the worker:

/orbiks/*=orbiksWorker

In the worker.properties file add the worker which handles all incoming requests and forwards to Apache Tomcat:

worker.list=orbiksWorker
worker.orbiksWorker.port=8009
worker.orbiksWorker.host=lynx.comdynamics.net
worker.orbiksWorker.type=ajp13

Create IIS Virtual Directory for redirector

Start Internet Information Services Manager and expand the Web Sites folder

Create a new virtual directory called “jakarta” then press Next

When specifying the path that the virtual directory should use, browse to the location of C:\Data\JKConnector then press Next

Specify permissions of read, run, and execute then press Next then Finish

Add the ISAPI Redirector by performing a right-click on the website then selecting Properties from the menu item

Select the ISAPI Filters tab and press the Add button

Enter a filter name and browse to the location of the isapi_redirector.dll file. In this case the filter name should be “jakarta” and the file specified by browsing to isapi_redirect.dll

Press the OK button until you are back at the Internet Information Services dialog

Configure IIS to run Tomcat Connector extension

Within IIS, expand the Web Service Extensions folder

Right-click the folder and select “Add a new Web service extension”

Enter an extension name of Apache Tomcat Connector and click Add to include the required file. To do this, browse to the location of isapi_redirect.dll in C:\Data\JKConnector

Ensure the checkbox “Set extension status to Allowed” is selected

Click OK to dismiss the dialog

Once loaded you will see the newly added extension in the list with a green tick near the icon to indicate it is running

Restart IIS and confirm from the ISAPI Filters tab in the website properties that the isapi_redirect dll has a green arrow shown next to it

Validate that you can access your application deployed to Tomcat by browsing to the IIS virtual directory

In this example the application is accessible port 80 on at http://lynx.comdynamics.net/orbiks