Node Proxy - Proxy a SSL localhost target from a basic http server

Question

What I am trying to do:

Proxy a java api that runs on https://127.0.0.1:443/api/ along side my UI that runs on non-SSL http://127.0.0.1:1337/ in order to circumnavigate some CORS issues.

My attempt:

Proxy the api at the SSL port 443 to my non-SSL development port of 1338.
proxy my UI to 1337
Proxy 1137 to :8080/index.html and proxy 1338 to :8080/api/
Access my app from localhost:8080

My problem:

The UI comes in just fine... but I can not hit the API at :8080/api/httpSession/init

Yes, I can still hit the API at https://localhost/api/httpSession/init

api.js - Renders index.html at :1337

var app = express();

app.all('*', function (req, res, next) {
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*');
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'PUT, GET, POST, DELETE, OPTIONS');
  res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'Content-Type');
  next();
});

var options = {
  changeOrigin: true,
  target: {
      https: true
  }
};

httpProxy.createServer(443, '127.0.0.1', options).listen(1338);

start.js - Proxies 1337 and 1338 into 8080

// First I start my two servers
uiServer.start(); // renders index.html at 1337
apiServer.start(); // 

// I attempt to patch them back into one single non-SSL port.
app
  .use('/', proxy({target: 'http://localhost:1337/'}))
  .all('/api/*', proxy({target: 'http://localhost:1338/'}))
  .listen(8080, function () {
    console.log('PROXY SERVER listening at http://localhost:%s', 8080);
  });

I would recommend you use nginx as a reverse proxy to achieve what you need. Here are some instructions to achieve something similar to what you need. This should also help... — mkhanoyan
Is there a reason you're proxying your api twice? First to port 1338, then to port 8080 at /api/? — kevin.groat
I know this is off topic but you could also use a web server with reverse proxy to achieve this on the same port. For example, you could use IIS or Nginx with to seperate reverse proxy endpoints on one virtual server. — Mathieu de Lorimier

Jack Wade Jack Wade · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-05T19:16:12

What you're looking for is request piping. Try this example:

  // Make sure request is in your package.json
  //   if not, npm install --save request
  var request = require('request');

  // Intercept all routes to /api/...
  app.all('/api/*', function (req, res) {
    // Get the original url, it's a fully qualified path
    var apiPath = req.originalUrl;

    // Form the proxied URL to your java API
    var url = 'https://127.0.0.1' + apiPath;

    // Fire off the request, and pipe the response
    // to the res handler
    request.get(url).pipe(res);
  });

Make sure to add some error handling if the api can't be reached, such as this SO solution.

Node Proxy - Proxy a SSL localhost target from a basic http server

2 Answers