Can I configure a load balancer using https ?

[Jorge Medina-5]

Hi,    

   Is it possible to configure Apache as a reverse proxy that will pass
a request to any of the servers in a cluster using HTTPS?

   Basically I want to know if it possible to configure Apache as a
reverse proxy (load balancer) that won't do any decryption, just a
pass-trough of the request to any of the server in a cluster. I want to
use the same certificate on each server behind the balancer (I think I
need to declare a <VirtualHost> since the certificate won't match the
name of each machine in the cluster)

   Is this configuration possible at all? The figure below illustrates
what I want to achieve.


                  request
                     |
                    https
                     |
                ---------------------
           |Apache Reverse Proxy | https://www.example.com
           |     Balancer        |
            ---------------------
                /    |    \
              https https https
              /      |      \
             /       |       \
    ----m1----    ---m2----   ----m3----    m1.eng.example.com
   | Apache  |   | Apache  | | Apache   |   m2.eng.example.com
   | Virtual |   | Virtual | | Virtual  |   m3.eng.example.com ...
    ----------    ---------   ----------    mN.eng.example.com

m1, m2, m3...mN  are configured to process requests for
https://www.example.com in a <VirtualHost> section.

   I have done extensive search on the web but I can't seem to get with
the answer. The more reputable sources I have found indicate it is not
possible
(http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2001/09/26/load.html?page=2) but
this seems to be the case only if I want the load balancing based on
information on the encrypted data. Such source indicate to use HTTP
behind the balancer.

   If it is possible, I would appreciate any pointers on HOW to do it.

   Thanks

-Jorge
   

   

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[Krist van Besien]

On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 23:39, Jorge Medina <jmedina@...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>   Is it possible to configure Apache as a reverse proxy that will pass
> a request to any of the servers in a cluster using HTTPS?
>
>   Basically I want to know if it possible to configure Apache as a
> reverse proxy (load balancer) that won't do any decryption, just a
> pass-trough of the request to any of the server in a cluster.

You can't really use apache for this. The ssl encryption is done at
the transport layer, so if the loadbalancer is not supposed to decrypt
anything this loadbalancer won't know anything but origin and
destination port and ip. For reverse proxying apache needs to know the
URL requested.
for your needs I'd look in to a real load balancer, either hardware or
software. There are a few good open source products available.

Krist





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