Reverse Proxy in Apache2: Having Trouble Figuring it Out

Developer help Installation
1

If you’re looking for some help, it’s important to provide as much context as possible so that people are able to assist you. Try to always mention:

  • What’s your URL?

It’s supposed to be https://hoanews.jongriffith.com

  • What version of Ghost are you using?
    latest official docker image

  • What configuration?
    docker???

  • What browser?
    chrome

  • What errors or information do you see in the console?
    Proxy error

  • What steps could someone else take to reproduce the issue you’re having?
    ???

I have Ghost running in a docker container on an Unraid server. The local address is http://192.168.1.140:2368 and it works.

I have Apache2 running on 192.168.1.200 and I have successfully deployed many other reverse proxies back to the “140” host. I’m having trouble with Ghost.

My first clue was that perhaps the config.production.json file in /var/lib/ghost needed to be edited. I did that, although I don’t know if I did it right.

The 2nd clue was that there’s something about x-forwarded-proto on the Reverse Proxy configuration information for Ghost. I’m not sure what this is nor how to implement it, or if I even need to.

My config.production.json is as follows:

{
  "url": "http://localhost:2368",
  "server": {
    "port": 2368,
    "host": "::"
  },
  "mail": {
    "transport": "Direct"
  },
  "logging": {
    "transports": [
      "file",
      "stdout"
    ]
  },
  "process": "systemd",
  "paths": {
    "contentPath": "/var/lib/ghost/content"
  }
}

My apache configuration is as follows:

<VirtualHost 192.168.1.200:80 [fe80::41:f6ff:fe68:9051]:80>
    SuexecUserGroup "#1002" "#1002"

    ServerName hoanews.jongriffith.com

    DocumentRoot /home/hoanews/public_html

    ErrorLog /var/log/virtualmin/hoanews.jongriffith.com_error_log
    CustomLog /var/log/virtualmin/hoanews.jongriffith.com_access_log combined
    
    DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.php index.php4 index.php5

    <Directory /home/hoanews/public_html>
        Options -Indexes +IncludesNOEXEC +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch +ExecCGI
        allow from all
        AllowOverride All Options=ExecCGI,Includes,IncludesNOEXEC,Indexes,MultiViews,SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
        Require all granted
        AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
    </Directory>

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyRequests off
    ProxyVia On

    ProxyPass / http://192.168.1.140:2368/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://192.168.1.140:2368/

    RewriteEngine on
    RemoveHandler .php
    RemoveHandler .php7.4
    RedirectMatch ^/(?!.well-known)(.*)$ https://hoanews.jongriffith.com/$1
    IPCCommTimeout 31
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost 192.168.1.200:443 [fe80::41:f6ff:fe68:9051]:443>
    SuexecUserGroup "#1002" "#1002"

    ServerName hoanews.jongriffith.com
    DocumentRoot /home/hoanews/public_html

    ErrorLog /var/log/virtualmin/hoanews.jongriffith.com_error_log
    CustomLog /var/log/virtualmin/hoanews.jongriffith.com_access_log combined

    DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.php index.php4 index.php5

    <Directory /home/hoanews/public_html>
        Options -Indexes +IncludesNOEXEC +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch +ExecCGI
        allow from all
        AllowOverride All Options=ExecCGI,Includes,IncludesNOEXEC,Indexes,MultiViews,SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
        Require all granted
        AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
    </Directory>

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyRequests off
    ProxyVia On
    
    ProxyPass / http://192.168.1.140:2368/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://192.168.1.140:2368/

    RemoveHandler .php
    RemoveHandler .php7.4

    IPCCommTimeout 31
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/hoanews.jongriffith.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/hoanews.jongriffith.com/privkey.pem
    Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf
</VirtualHost>

I would love to know if there’s someone who can help me get this running correctly.

The goal is to be able to hit https://hoanews.jongriffith.com for the main ghost blog.

Apache is on 192.168.1.200
Ghost is on 192.168.1.140:2368

One other note: If I change the “url” in the config.production.json file to “https://hoanews.jongriffith.com” chrome will redirect to this address but I still get the same connection error.

Also, if I add a parameter to the Docker configuration in Unraid so that URL is https://hoanews.jongriffith.com then the config.production.json changes the url to http://localhost:2368 and Chrome attempts to redirect to the https://hoanews.jongriffith.com url with the same error, which is this:

Proxy Error
The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
The proxy server could not handle the request

Reason: Error reading from remote server

Apache/2.4.58 (Ubuntu) Server at hoanews.jongriffith.com Port 443

Any help would be awesome. I’m in over my head.

2

Log into your Apache server.

Using a tool like httpie, wget or curl, make an HTTP request to

http://192.168.1.140:2368

What response do you get? Does it respond at all? With what status code or error message?