how to force a http webapp so use https (ssl)?

Question

On our Linux Server we got some sort or WebApp running its own little webserver using http ONLY. That means it does not support ssl by itself. So im looking for a way to have "something" packed in front of this little Webserver/WebApp, so it is talking https to the User (required) and have it keep on talking http to the WebApp locally (server internal).

i tried to find something like that. but the fact that i found A LOT stuff covering apache, ssl and reverse proxy didnt clear things up really. im more confused than before.

Need some Hint, Keywords or an example of a configuration that does achieve that.

thanks

Answer 1

Setup a NGINX or similar server in front of your webapp that proxies the traffic. Then setup the NGINX with a SSL certificate.

Setup your webapp to run on fx. port 8080 and use this snippet of code to proxy it in NGINX:

location / {
  proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
}

The whole server block with SSL enabled should look something like this:

server {
        listen 80 default_server;
        listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on;

        listen 443 ssl;

        server_name example.com;
        ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.crt;
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/nginx.key;

        location / {
                proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
        }
}

Example Apache virtual host config:

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName example.com
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    LogLevel warn
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/ssl_access.log combined

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile    /path/to/certificatefile
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /path/to/keyfile

        <Location />
            ProxyPass          http://your-webserver:8080/
            ProxyPassReverse   http://your-webserver:8080/
        </Location>
</VirtualHost>

It has not been tested and may need some adjustments, but should give you an idea of how to set it up.

Answer 2

You can try doing a rewrite with apache. Theres a similar question that was asked before that explains how. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8371/how-do-you-redirect-https-to-http