如何配置Apache以将子域重定向到Tomcat应用程序

Question

I have a few applications hosted on Tomcat running a machine called test-websites throuhg port 8080. So they are accessible like this:

http://test-websites:8080/app1/
http://test-websites:8080/app2/
...
http://test-websites:8080/appN/

What I need to do is make these applications accessible on my local network by:

http://app1.test-websites/
http://app2.test-websites/
...
http://appN.test-websites/

As I add new applications to Tomcat's webapps folder, I want them to be automatically available using the same subdomain pattern.

So I thought using Apache in front of Tomcat to make the URL rewriting would be a good idea, but so far I have not been able to configure the virtual host on Apache to make this redirect. I installed apache2 on port 80 and I see the default "It Works!" apache page when I access http://test-websites/ , but I couldn't find how to make the redirects to the apps in the Tomcat following the format above.

I have searched for over 4 hours and didn't get an answer for this use case.. any help us much appreciated!

Thank you! Eduardo

Answer 1

First you need to add a DNS entry for app1.test-websites, app2.test-websites,.. such that it points to test-websites. Generally CNAME entry works best in this case. If you only need the URLs to resolve on your local machine (for testing purpose), you can just update your /etc/hosts or C:\\windows\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts file. Otherwise you need to figure out how your company's network is setup and change the DNS entry (if it's a Windows domain network, normally there's a DNS service on the domain controller. On some smaller network you have to configure it on the router).

Next, the quickest way to achieve this is to not use apache2 to front it, bust simply have tomcat listening on port 80. You can setup virtual host on tomcat such that it serves different web-app depending on the URL requested .