NAME

Apache::ProxyConf - Generate Proxy Configuration for browsers.

SYNOPSIS

  # In httpd.conf:

  <Location />
    SetHandler perl-script
    PerlHandler Apache::ProxyConf
    PerlSetVar ProxyConfConfig "/some/location/proxyconf.ini"
  </Location>

DESCRIPTION

The Apache::ProxyConf is used to configure the proxy settings in browsers automatically. The modules returns a script that conforms to the Navigator Proxy Auto-Config File Format. The module is suitable for large scale installations that have multiple (cascading) proxies. It can be used to return 'the closest proxy' based on the network topology. Failover and load distribution is also provided.

Browser configuration

The (virtual) webserver must be entered in the 'Autoconfigure URL' of the browser to make use of the ProxyConf script.

http://proxyconf.some.domain/

In IE the URL must be specified in the 'Address' field, just below the 'Use automatic configuration script' tickbox.

THE CONFIGURATION FILE

The ProxyConf module first reads a .ini-style configuration file to determine the proxy settings of the network. The configuration file contains three sections: proxy, noproxy and https.

The proxy section

The sections proxy and https have an identical format. They contain lines of the form subnet=proxyip:port.

Single proxy

 [proxy]
 172.16.32.0/20=172.16.32.10:3128

The subnet 172.16.32.0/20 has a single proxy defined. The proxy server is 172.16.32.10 and it listens on port 3128.

Multiple proxies

 [proxy]
 172.16.0.0/20=172.16.0.10:3128,172.16.0.20:3128

Multiple proxy servers are defined in a comma separated list. In this example clients in the 172.16.0.0/20 subnet use 172.16.0.10 as their primary proxy server. When this server becomes unavailable, the clients will move over to 172.16.0.20 for their proxy requests.

Multiple proxies with load distribution

 [proxy]
 172.16.0.0/20=(172.16.0.10:3128,172.16.0.20:3128)

When proxy servers are placed between brackets, the load is distribution amongst the proxies. Some clients will have the first proxy as primary and some clients will have the second proxy as primary. The other proxy is used as a backup. The order in which the proxies are tried depends on the IP address of the client. The script is deterministic, so for a given IP address the priority list is always the same.

To determine the proxy list for a given IP address multiple rules may be applied. Subnets are tried from the highest to the lowest mask. The module puts all proxies that are found in a list.

The noproxy section

The noproxy section contains hosts that should be contacted by the clients directly. Noticeably, web servers that use NTLM authentication will not work when clients connect to them via a proxy server. The syntax for specifying noproxy hosts is subnet=fqhn1,fqhn2,... Alternatively, the multiline syntax can be used, as shown in this example.

 [noproxy]
 0.0.0.0/0=<<EOT
 webserver1.some.domain
 webserver2.some.domain
 EOT

This section defines webservers that are non-proxyable for all networks.

The https section

The https section works like the proxy section. It is used to define other proxies for secure HTTP traffic than for the normal HTTP traffic. If this section is missing, or for a specific IP address there are no https rules, then the normal proxy rules apply.

EXAMPLE

Consider the network in figure 1.

          Network A: 172.16.0.0/20

             _.-"""""""""""""""""-._
           .'                       `.
          /                           \
        |    Proxy A1: 172.16.0.10    |
        |                             |
        |    Proxy A2: 172.16.0.20    |
         \                           /
          `._                     _.'\
             `-.................-'    \
                                       \
                                        \  Network B: 172.16.16.0/20
                                         \
                                          \ _.-"""""""""""""""""-._
                                          .'                       `.
                                         /                           \
                                        |                             |
                                        |    Proxy B: 172.16.16.10    |
                                        |                             |
                                         \                           /
                                          `._                     _.'
                                          /  `-.................-'
                                         /
                                        /
          Network C: 172.16.32.0/20    /
                                      /
            _.-"""""""""""""""""-._  /
          .'                       `.
         /                           \
        |                             |
        |    Proxy C: 172.16.32.10    |
        |                             |
         \                           /
          `._                     _.'
             `-.................-'

                                    Figure 1.

The proxies have the following connectivity:

 Proxy A1       Internet connectivity
 Proxy A2       Internet connectivity
 Proxy B        parents with proxy A1 and A2
 Proxy C        parents with proxy B and A1

Clients in the three networks need to get the following proxy configuration:

 172.16.0.0/20  Half of the clients connect to proxy A1 and use proxy A2
                as fallback, the other half use proxy A2 with A1 as
                fallback.
 172.16.16.0/20 Clients use proxy B with proxy A2 as fallback.
 172.16.32.0/20 Clients use proxy C with proxy B as fallback.

For secure HTTP traffic special rules apply. Because this traffic is not cached all clients connect to proxy A1 and A2 directly spreading the load equally.

This is how the proxyconf.ini looks:

 [proxy]
 172.16.0.0/20=(172.16.0.10:3128,172.16.0.20:3128)
 172.16.16.0/20=172.16.16.10:3128,172.16.0.20:3128
 172.16.32.0/20=172.16.32.10:3128,172.16.16.10:3128

 [https]
 172.16.0.0/16=(172.16.0.10:3128,172.16.0.20:3128)

EXTRA OPTIONS

It is possible to add additional noproxy hosts in the 'Autoconfigure URL' in the browser. This way a local webserver can be tested without losing the benefits of the proxy config. The following string must be entered in the 'Autoconfigure URL'.

http://proxyconf.some.domain/?noproxy=hostname.some.domain

Multiple hostnames are specified using a comma as separator.

http://proxyconf.some.domain/?noproxy=fqhn1,fqhn2

DEBUGGING

The proxy config service can be called with a debug option. Type the following URL in a browser:

http://proxyconf.some.domain/?debug=1&ipaddr=172.16.0.100

The script will generate a html page which contains the settings of all variables and displays the script it sends to the browser for the specified IP address.

AUTHOR

Patrick Schoo <pschoo@playbeing.com>

Originally written by Bert Driehuis <driehuis@playbeing.org>

cpanm Apache::ProxyConf

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Apache::ProxyConf