HTTPD different vhost & reverse proxy settings for subfolders on same host&port

Question

Please, I have been trying to configure httpd with no luck. I need following behavior:

• if I access https://example.org/, https://example.org/anything/.../... -> I need proxy to localhost:8080 (tomcat) with preserved hostname "example.org" in http request ProxyPreserveHost On
• if I access https://example.org/api/system-a/... -> I need proxy to external server without preserved hostname "example.org" in http request ProxyPreserveHost Off

SSL settings, hostname, port, etc. should be the same for both URLs...

I haven't been able to find solution in httpd (in nginx, you just move the directive proxy_set_header Host $host/$proxy_host one level lower from http or server to location section of config, but in httpd, there is no such thing to my knowledge). I havent been able to run 2 vhosts with same server name and port...

Listen 443 https

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName  example.org

    SSLEngine On

    SSLProxyEngine On
    ProxyErrorOverride On
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyRequests Off
    SSLProxyVerify none
    SSLProxyCheckPeerCN off
    SSLProxyCheckPeerName off
    SSLProxyCheckPeerExpire off

    ProxyPass         /api/system-a/   https://external-domain.example2.org/system-a/
    ProxyPassReverse  /api/system-a/   https://external-domain.example2.org/system-a/

    ProxyPass        / http://localhost:8080/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8080/

    SSLEngine On
    SSLCipherSuite EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH
    SSLProtocol All -SSLv2 +TLSv1.2
    SSLCipherSuite HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5
    SSLHonorCipherOrder On
    RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto   "https"

    SSLCompression off
    SSLSessionTickets Off
    SSLCertificateFile      /etc/ssl/certs/server.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/server.key

    #websockets
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:UPGRADE} ^WebSocket$ [NC]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:CONNECTION} Upgrade$ [NC]
    RewriteRule .* ws://localhost:8080%{REQUEST_URI} [P]

    ProxyPass        /websocket/ "ws://localhost:8080/websocket/"
    ProxyPassReverse /websocket/ "ws://localhost:8080/websocket/"
</VirtualHost>

Answer 1

Solution is to turn off "ProxyPreserveHost" in section...

    ProxyPreserveHost On

    <Location "/api">
      ProxyPreserveHost Off
      ProxyErrorOverride Off
    </Location>

    ProxyPass        /api/system-a/   https://external-domain.example2.org/system-a/

    ProxyPass        / http://localhost:8080/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8080/