Using Apache HTTPD (Web Server) mod_proxy with GlassFish and Mercurial

I wrote an article on how to use Secure Mercurial in GlassFish using SSL a few weeks ago. After the article was published, I was asked about URL rewriting. I had not really messed with it in the past except with PrettyFaces (which works like a champ for reference).

I tried a framework called Url Rewrite Filter which did a decent job of rewriting URLs. It is a simple library added to your project which uses a servlet filter to handle the URL re-writing. Add the filter to the web.xml, and a urlrewrite.xml which handles the rewrites. It works much in the same manner as PrettyFaces, but is targeted at JSP/Servlets.

In my case, I have an Apple G5 PPC which is the main server for my source repository for Mercurial. This presents some challenges since the Java version is limited to 1.5, and therefore GlassFish can't be upgraded to v3 from v2.1.1. I did manage to get GlassFish v3 to run with OpenJDK 1.7 (BSD Port), but the Zero VM is too slow to handle the load. Kurt Miller has a couple of the builds for Mac PPC There are a number of reasons for my interest, the primary one for URL rewriting is that GlassFish v3 supports AJP out of the box.

Enabling JK Listener (mod_jk)

Using GlassFish v3 would provide a more optimal solution as you can see from the administration console. I decided to try using the mod_jk articles I found for GlassFish v2 from Amy Roh: GlassFish supports configurable AJP Connector and Jean-Francois Arcand's Running GlassFish with Apache httpd.  I tried to combine these with mod_proxy and mod_proxy_ajp. The articles are focused on a specific build, and I was unsuccessful in using them. I am sure it has to framework versions, but I did not want spend too much time troubleshooting.

Finally, I tried using a simple mod_proxy arrangement along with mod_rewrite. This arrangement was surprisingly easy to configure, and worked the first time I tried it.

Here is the configuration I used:

httpd.conf

---

httpd-vhosts.conf

---

Those simple changes allowed me to rewrite the URL, and open only two ports on my firewall 80 and 443 which are a very good arrangement. As noted in Secure Mercurial in GlassFish using SSL, I am using GlassFish SSL and security to handle my authentication so this is truly a very good solution.

Mercurial Repositories

Why Movable Type, Drupal, or Wordpress on GlassFish?

The question of relevance has come up on why would you implement Movable Type, Drupal, or Wordpress on GlassFish. Is it because you can?

The answer is one of technology fundamentals and implementation strategies. I am a Java developer (if you could not figure that out from the blog title). I have access to GlassFish which I use for all of my web based application deployments. I want to be able to simplify my administration requirements by using a unified deployment platform. I also want to be able to combine the extensive libraries and frameworks that are available for Java. I want a simple intuitive administration console to handle most of my day-to-day needs. I want administration, and deployment to be scriptable. GlassFish solves a number of these issues, along with using Java, and Java based implementations of some popular languages like JRuby, and Jython.

First, GlassFish versions 2 and 3 are the reference implementations for Java Enterprise Editions (EE) 5 and 6 respectively. If you are doing enterprise software development, and want to use the latest reference versions, you should use GlassFish. I often write about Java Enterprise Edition (EE). I try to focus on the core technology since this keeps it compatible across other EE containers should you choose to move it to another container. GlassFish version 3 has made a number of positive steps in JEE 6 to make it easier to use. The new profiles in GlassFish make it easier to do web development.

Apache web server is very powerful. There is no question about that, but installing modules, and configuring it is not simple. If a module is not available in one of the pre-configured and installed versions on your system, you must compile it yourself. I am a very competent Apache administrator, and I have never had a simple download, and compile deployment. Let me contrast that with GlassFish, if you have Java 6 installed on your system, download and run it. If you are using JRuby, or Jython, GlassFish can handle it right out  of the box. In the case of JRuby, there have been a number of performance tests to show JRuby on Glassfish is faster that Ruby on WEBrick, or Mongrel. The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) servlet will allow you to take advantage of additional CGI technologies with simple configuration on a server wide basis, or on a per application basis.

Apache Web Server and GlassFish can take advantage of a number of frameworks. Apache Web Server can run Ruby applications with the appropriate module. However, it can not take advantage of other independent frameworks. Java on GlassFish allows Ruby developers to use Java frameworks like Swing within their applications. You can even create polyglot applications which use JRuby, Jython, and Clojure. This may be possible  with Apache Web Server, but I am unaware of it. This is a comment point for readers.

Simple and Intuitive administrative interface. That describes GlassFish administration console to a tee. I would even include elegant, and beautiful.

GlassFish Administration Console

Glassfish includes a very complete command-line interface. Anything you can do on the GUI based interface, you can do from the command-line. It also includes a number of advanced features which are not available in the adminstrative GUI.

Finally, as I noted above it has multiple configuration points with languages and technologies including Microsoft technologies.

I have found that GlassFish handles all of my Web based needs in a single platform. This combination of technology and integration points makes it easy to install relevant best of breed software like Drupal, Movable Type, or Redmine on the same platform and integrate functionality between them as necessary. It is very nice to have Redmine and Hudson CI running on the same platform. Combine it with Mercurial, and share a common SSO. This is not done easily on Apache Web Server, or any other platform.

I hope this clarifies my position on its relevance with Movable Type, Drupal, Wordpress, etc.

Mac OS X Leopard/Snow Leopard Web Sharing Forbidden Issues

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /~username/ on this server.

Have you received an error like the one above, then I may have the solution for you. There are a number of posts on the web around permissions, and Apache configuration files, etc. I found that the solution was really simple, yet not obvious.

It has to do with File Sharing, you need to add the Sites directory to the list of directories which are shared, even if sharing is not turned on. See the example below.

Once you add the Sites directory to the list and turn on Web Sharing, you should be able to see the local sites for users on the local system.

Configuring Apache 2 HTTP Server on Solaris 10

How do you configure Apache 2 HTTP Server to run automatically on Solaris 10 using rc init scripts.

Log into the Solaris box as root, or su root.
Go to the /etc/init.d directory.
Copy the apache startup script to apache2

cp apache apache2

Change the group to sys

chgrp sys apache2

Next change the flags on the file to execute

chmod u+x apache2

Open the apache2 file with your favorite editor and modify the following lines:

APACHE_HOME=/usr/apache
CONF_FILE=/etc/apache/httpd.conf
RUNDIR=/var/run/apache
PIDFILE=${RUNDIR}/httpd.pid

as follows:

APACHE_HOME=/usr/apache2
CONF_FILE=/etc/apache2/httpd.conf
RUNDIR=/var/run/apache2
PIDFILE=${RUNDIR}/httpd.pid

Check to make sure you have a valid httpd.conf file located in /etc/apache2. You can copy the httpd.conf-example file to httpd.conf. This will create a basic httpd.conf file.

Next go to the /etc/init.d directory and try executing the apache2 file. You should see something like this:

[dev1:init.d:root]#./apache2 start
httpd starting.

You can check your configuration by using a browser to check it.

Next you will want to configure it to start/stop at the various runlevels.

Go to /etc/rc0.d and add the following:

ln -s ../init.d/apache2 K17apache2

Go to /etc/rc1.d and add the following:

ln -s ../init.d/apache2 K17apache2

Go to /etc/rc3.d and add the following:

ln -s ../init.d/apache2 S51apache2

Go to /etc/rcS.d and add the following:

ln -s ../init.d/apache2 K17apache2

This will complete the configuration for your server. Next time you change run levels, or reboot, the Apache 2 HTTP Server will restart as you expect.

Addendum:

Zaphod commented on my page about using Solaris SMF. This is truly easier.

1. Check to make sure you have a valid httpd.conf file located in /etc/apache2. You can copy the httpd.conf-example file to httpd.conf. This will create a basic httpd.conf file.

2. Execute svcadm -v enable -rs apache2

3. You are now running on Apache2 on SMF.