simple-node-proxy

Simple Web-Proxy created with node.js - Version 0.0.1 - (MIT-license)

Core concept

simple-node-proxy is a simple reverse proxy server for ingoing requests created with node.js. It is simple and easy to configure. The following types of proxies are available at the moment:

• simple proxy: routing from one IP:port to another IP:port)
• multiple websites: make several node apps running under different ports available on one single ingoing IP-address (and port 80 and/or 443)

Motivations

So why not did this with node? Well, I really like node.js, becaus of its simplicity and performance. I found the nodejitsu node-http-proxy and I added a small abstraction layer to it, creating a complete node-app. Just by modifying a simple config file, you can now create certain types of proxies. I am sure, there are certain alternatives to achieve this (e.g. nginx). Especially when it comes to performance, I do not know, if this app here would be the best choice, but anyway. I started just creating it as a proof-of-concept but now this one workes fine for me also fine in production-mode (so far).

Using the proxy

Installation

To install the prox, download the ZIP from github, unip it into your destimation folder. In the destination folder, you need to type the following command:

# npm install

This resolves the dependencies (currently only node-http-proxymodule).

Configuration

The configuration is pretty simple. Just edit the config.json

Imagine, you have have the following domains pointing to your server, which has only one IP address:

• test1.local
• test2.local

(I modified /etc/hosts to be able to use those domain names)

The first one (test1.loacl) should be served by your first node-app - lets say, you start it on your server listening to port 9000 (no ssl port configured). The second domain (test2.local) should be served by your second node app (listening on port 9010, ssl on port 9011). This is, how your config file should look like:

{
	"port": 8080,
	"portssl": 8081,
	"ssl": true,
    "defaultsslkey" : "/path/to/ssl.key",
    "defaultsslcrt" : "/path/to/ssl.crt",
	"proxies" : {
		"test1.local": {
			"alias" : "*.test1.local",
			"host": "127.0.0.1",
    		"port": 9000,
			"ssl": false
		},
		"test2.local": {
			"alias" : "*.test2.local",
			"host": "127.0.0.1",
			"port": 9010,
			"ssl": true,
			"portssl": 9011,
        	"sslkey" : "/path/to/ssl.key",
        	"sslcert" : "/path/to/ssl.crt"
		}
	}
}

In the first section, you find the settings for the proxy-server itself. Which port does it listen to (here for demo purposes on a local machine it is port 8080 and 8081 for https - ssl), and its default ssl credentials. After that, the proxy-section starts. You can set up as many proxies as you like, having the domain name as a key for the speific settings. Maybe (to make some first tests), start with having SSL turned off in the config file. If this works, add the SSL settings.

Starting the server

To start the server use the following command:

$ node proxy

Additional Ideas:

As this is just the first version of this proxy server, I implemented just a few features. But there are more to come. I plan to implement also

• support for websockets
• load balancer
• blacklist - banned IPs
• allowed IPs - list of IPs that are allowed to access server

Comments

If you have ideas or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Happy proxying!

Sincerely, Sebastian Hildebrandt http://www.plus-innovations.com

Credits

Written by Sebastian Hildebrandt on top of nodejitsu node-http-proxy

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2014 +innovations.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Further details see "LICENSE" file.