How to configure apache to work with FE and BE on same machine?

Question

I need to configure an apache server to serve a frontend and a backend (both php) from the same machine. The following is to consider:

The backend is RESTful and the API is secured by the firewall allowing only localhost access (only as temporary solution till API tokens are implemented).
The frontend is on the same machine as backend at the moment, but will move to another server in some time.
Static content will be delivered from the backend machine

My current configuration looks like following:

    NameVirtualHost *:80
    NameVirtualHost *:81


        ServerName www.myServer.de

        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
        DocumentRoot /data/fe/public

        
                Options FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride None
                Order Deny,Allow
                Deny from All
        
        
                Options  FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride AuthConfig
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all

                RewriteEngine On

            # Redirect Trailing Slashes...
            RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ /$1 [L,R=301]

            # Handle Front Controller...
                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
 RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
        

        ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
        
                AllowOverride None
                Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
                Order allow,deny
                Allow from all
        

        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error_fe.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access_fe.log combined



ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
        DocumentRoot  /data/be/public

        
                Options FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride None
                Order Deny,Allow
                Deny from All
        
        
                Options  FollowSymLinks
                AllowOverride AuthConfig
                Order allow,deny
                allow from all

                RewriteEngine On

            # Redirect Trailing Slashes...
            RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ /$1 [L,R=301]

            # Handle Front Controller...
                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
                RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
    

        ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error_be.log
        CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access_be.log combined

How can I configure the backend to serve static content without access limitation but keep the API secured. Or would it be an alternative to deliver static content through the application?

I'm using

Debian 8.1
Apache 2.4

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not a programing question. It would probably be better at unix.stackexchange.com or super user — Eric Renouf

twenty7 twenty7 · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-23T09:00:13

I ended up with configuring a reverse proxy for delivering static content. I added the following lines to my frontend vhost:

ProxyPreserveHost On

ProxyPass /images http://<BE-IP>:81/files/images
ProxyPassReverse /images http://<BE-IP>:81/files/images

With this configuration the backend is still guarded by the firewall from external requests but allows the FE to request images.

How to configure apache to work with FE and BE on same machine?

1 Answers