nghttpx - HTTP/2 proxy - HOW-TO¶
nghttpx(1) is a proxy translating protocols between HTTP/2 and other protocols (e.g., HTTP/1, SPDY). It operates in several modes and each mode may require additional programs to work with. This article describes each operation mode and explains the intended use-cases. It also covers some useful options later.
Default mode¶
If nghttpx is invoked without any --http2-proxy
,
--client
, and --client-proxy
, it operates in
default mode. In this mode, nghttpx frontend listens for HTTP/2
requests and translates them to HTTP/1 requests. Thus it works as
reverse proxy (gateway) for HTTP/2 clients to HTTP/1 web server. This
is also known as "HTTP/2 router". HTTP/1 requests are also supported
in frontend as a fallback. If nghttpx is linked with spdylay library
and frontend connection is SSL/TLS, the frontend also supports SPDY
protocol.
By default, this mode's frontend connection is encrypted using SSL/TLS. So server's private key and certificate must be supplied to the command line (or through configuration file). In this case, the frontend protocol selection will be done via ALPN or NPN.
With --frontend-no-tls
option, user can turn off SSL/TLS in
frontend connection. In this case, SPDY protocol is not available
even if spdylay library is liked to nghttpx. HTTP/2 and HTTP/1 are
available on the frontend and a HTTP/1 connection can be upgraded to
HTTP/2 using HTTP Upgrade. Starting HTTP/2 connection by sending
HTTP/2 connection preface is also supported.
By default, backend HTTP/1 connections are not encrypted. To enable
TLS on HTTP/1 backend connections, use --backend-http1-tls
option. This applies to all mode whose backend connections are
HTTP/1.
The backend is supposed to be HTTP/1 Web server. For example, to make nghttpx listen to encrypted HTTP/2 requests at port 8443, and a backend HTTP/1 web server is configured to listen to HTTP/1 request at port 8080 in the same host, run nghttpx command-line like this:
$ nghttpx -f0.0.0.0,8443 -b127.0.0.1,8080 /path/to/server.key /path/to/server.crt
Then HTTP/2 enabled client can access to the nghttpx in HTTP/2. For example, you can send GET request to the server using nghttp:
$ nghttp -nv https://localhost:8443/
HTTP/2 proxy mode¶
If nghttpx is invoked with --http2-proxy
(or its shorthand
-s
) option, it operates in HTTP/2 proxy mode. The supported
protocols in frontend and backend connections are the same in default
mode. The difference is that this mode acts like forward proxy and
assumes the backend is HTTP/1 proxy server (e.g., squid, traffic
server). So HTTP/1 request must include absolute URI in request line.
By default, frontend connection is encrypted. So this mode is also called secure proxy. If nghttpx is linked with spdylay, it supports SPDY protocols and it works as so called SPDY proxy.
With --frontend-no-tls
option, SSL/TLS is turned off in
frontend connection, so the connection gets insecure.
The backend must be HTTP/1 proxy server. nghttpx supports multiple backend server addresses. It translates incoming requests to HTTP/1 request to backend server. The backend server performs real proxy work for each request, for example, dispatching requests to the origin server and caching contents.
For example, to make nghttpx listen to encrypted HTTP/2 requests at port 8443, and a backend HTTP/1 proxy server is configured to listen to HTTP/1 request at port 8080 in the same host, run nghttpx command-line like this:
$ nghttpx -s -f'*,8443' -b127.0.0.1,8080 /path/to/server.key /path/to/server.crt
At the time of this writing, Firefox 41 and Chromium v46 can use nghttpx as HTTP/2 proxy.
To make Firefox or Chromium use nghttpx as HTTP/2 or SPDY proxy, user has to create proxy.pac script file like this:
function FindProxyForURL(url, host) {
return "HTTPS SERVERADDR:PORT";
}
SERVERADDR
and PORT
is the hostname/address and port of the
machine nghttpx is running. Please note that both Firefox and
Chromium require valid certificate for secure proxy.
For Firefox, open Preference window and select Advanced then click Network tab. Clicking Connection Settings button will show the dialog. Select "Automatic proxy configuration URL" and enter the path to proxy.pac file, something like this:
file:///path/to/proxy.pac
For Chromium, use following command-line:
$ google-chrome --proxy-pac-url=file:///path/to/proxy.pac --use-npn
As HTTP/1 proxy server, Squid may work as out-of-box. Traffic server requires to be configured as forward proxy. Here is the minimum configuration items to edit:
CONFIG proxy.config.reverse_proxy.enabled INT 0
CONFIG proxy.config.url_remap.remap_required INT 0
Consult Traffic server documentation to know how to configure traffic server as forward proxy and its security implications.
Client mode¶
If nghttpx is invoked with --client
option, it operates in
client mode. In this mode, nghttpx listens for plain, unencrypted
HTTP/2 and HTTP/1 requests and translates them to encrypted HTTP/2
requests to the backend. User cannot enable SSL/TLS in frontend
connection.
HTTP/1 frontend connection can be upgraded to HTTP/2 using HTTP
Upgrade. To disable SSL/TLS in backend connection, use
--backend-no-tls
option.
By default, the number of backend HTTP/2 connections per worker
(thread) is determined by number of --backend
option. To
adjust this value, use
--backend-http2-connections-per-worker
option.
The backend server is supporsed to be a HTTP/2 web server (e.g., nghttpd). The one use-case of this mode is utilize existing HTTP/1 clients to test HTTP/2 deployment. Suppose that HTTP/2 web server listens to port 80 without encryption. Then run nghttpx as client mode to access to that web server:
$ nghttpx --client -f127.0.0.1,8080 -b127.0.0.1,80 --backend-no-tls
Note
You may need --insecure
(or its shorthand -k
)
option if HTTP/2 server enables SSL/TLS and its certificate is
self-signed. But please note that it is insecure, and you should
know what you are doing.
Then you can use curl to access HTTP/2 server via nghttpx:
$ curl http://localhost:8080/
Client proxy mode¶
If nghttpx is invoked with --client-proxy
(or its shorthand
-p
) option, it operates in client proxy mode. This mode
behaves like client mode, but it works like forward proxy. So
HTTP/1 request must include absolute URI in request line.
HTTP/1 frontend connection can be upgraded to HTTP/2 using HTTP
Upgrade. To disable SSL/TLS in backend connection, use
--backend-no-tls
option.
By default, the number of backend HTTP/2 connections per worker
(thread) is determined by number of --backend
option. To
adjust this value, use
--backend-http2-connections-per-worker
option.
The backend server must be a HTTP/2 proxy. You can use nghttpx in HTTP/2 proxy mode as backend server. The one use-case of this mode is utilize existing HTTP/1 clients to test HTTP/2 connections between 2 proxies. The another use-case is use this mode to aggregate local HTTP/1 connections to one HTTP/2 backend encrypted connection. This makes HTTP/1 clients which does not support secure proxy can use secure HTTP/2 proxy via nghttpx client mode.
Suppose that HTTP/2 proxy listens to port 8443, just like we saw in HTTP/2 proxy mode. To run nghttpx in client proxy mode to access that server, invoke nghttpx like this:
$ nghttpx -p -f127.0.0.1,8080 -b127.0.0.1,8443
Note
You may need --insecure
(or its shorthand -k
)
option if HTTP/2 server's certificate is self-signed. But please
note that it is insecure, and you should know what you are doing.
Then you can use curl to issue HTTP request via HTTP/2 proxy:
$ curl --http-proxy=http://localhost:8080 http://www.google.com/
You can configure web browser to use localhost:8080 as forward proxy.
HTTP/2 bridge mode¶
If nghttpx is invoked with --http2-bridge
option, it
operates in HTTP/2 bridge mode. The supported protocols in frontend
connections are the same in default mode. The protocol in backend
is HTTP/2 only.
With --frontend-no-tls
option, SSL/TLS is turned off in
frontend connection, so the connection gets insecure. To disable
SSL/TLS in backend connection, use --backend-no-tls
option.
By default, the number of backend HTTP/2 connections per worker
(thread) is determined by number of --backend
option. To
adjust this value, use
--backend-http2-connections-per-worker
option.
The backend server is supporsed to be a HTTP/2 web server or HTTP/2
proxy. If backend server is HTTP/2 proxy, use
--no-location-rewrite
option to disable rewriting
Location
header field.
The use-case of this mode is aggregate the incoming connections to one HTTP/2 connection. One backend HTTP/2 connection is created per worker (thread).
Disable SSL/TLS¶
In default mode, HTTP/2 proxy mode and HTTP/2 bridge mode,
frontend connections are encrypted with SSL/TLS by default. To turn
off SSL/TLS, use --frontend-no-tls
option. If this option
is used, the private key and certificate are not required to run
nghttpx.
In client mode, client proxy mode and HTTP/2 bridge mode,
backend connections are encrypted with SSL/TLS by default. To turn
off SSL/TLS, use --backend-no-tls
option.
Enable SSL/TLS on HTTP/1 backend¶
In all modes which use HTTP/1 as backend protocol, backend HTTP/1
connection is not encrypted by default. To enable encryption, use
--backend-http1-tls
option.
Enable SSL/TLS on memcached connection¶
By default, memcached connection is not encrypted. To enable
encryption, use --tls-ticket-key-memcached-tls
for TLS
ticket key, and use --tls-session-cache-memcached-tls
for
TLS session cache.
Specifying additional server certificates¶
nghttpx accepts additional server private key and certificate pairs
using --subcert
option. It can be used multiple times.
Specifying additional CA certificate¶
By default, nghttpx tries to read CA certificate from system. But
depending on the system you use, this may fail or is not supported.
To specify CA certificate manually, use --cacert
option.
The specified file must be PEM format and can contain multiple
certificates.
By default, nghttpx validates server's certificate. If you want to
turn off this validation, knowing this is really insecure and what you
are doing, you can use --insecure
option to disable
certificate validation.
Read/write rate limit¶
nghttpx supports transfer rate limiting on frontend connections. You can do rate limit per frontend connection for reading and writing individually.
To perform rate limit for reading, use --read-rate
and
--read-burst
options. For writing, use
--write-rate
and --write-burst
.
Please note that rate limit is performed on top of TCP and nothing to do with HTTP/2 flow control.
Rewriting location header field¶
nghttpx automatically rewrites location response header field if the following all conditions satisfy:
- URI in location header field is not absolute URI or is not https URI.
- URI in location header field includes non empty host component.
- host (without port) in URI in location header field must match the host appearing in :authority or host header field.
When rewrite happens, URI scheme and port are replaced with the ones used in frontend, and host is replaced with which appears in :authority or host request header field. :authority header field has precedence. If the above conditions are not met with the host value in :authority header field, rewrite is retried with the value in host header field.
Hot swapping¶
nghttpx supports hot swapping using signals. The hot swapping in nghttpx is multi step process. First send USR2 signal to nghttpx process. It will do fork and execute new executable, using same command-line arguments and environment variables. At this point, both current and new processes can accept requests. To gracefully shutdown current process, send QUIT signal to current nghttpx process. When all existing frontend connections are done, the current process will exit. At this point, only new nghttpx process exists and serves incoming requests.
Re-opening log files¶
When rotating log files, it is desirable to re-open log files after
log rotation daemon renamed existing log files. To tell nghttpx to
re-open log files, send USR1 signal to nghttpx process. It will
re-open files specified by --accesslog-file
and
--errorlog-file
options.
Multiple backend addresses¶
nghttpx supports multiple backend addresses. To specify them, just
use --backend
(or its shorthand -b
) option
repeatedly. For example, to use 192.168.0.10:8080
and
192.168.0.11:8080
, use command-line like this:
-b192.168.0.10,8080 -b192.168.0.11,8080
. In configuration file,
this looks like:
backend=192.168.0.10,8080
backend=192.168.0.11,8008
nghttpx can route request to different backend according to request
host and path. For example, to route request destined to host
doc.example.com
to backend server docserv:3000
, you can write
like so:
backend=docserv,3000;doc.example.com/
When you write this option in command-line, you should enclose
argument with single or double quotes, since the character ;
has a
special meaning in shell.
To route, request to request path whose prefix is /foo
to backend
server [::1]:8080
, you can write like so:
backend=::1,8080;/foo
Of course, you can specify both host and request path at the same time.
One important thing you have to remember is that we have to specify default routing pattern for so called "catch all" pattern. To write "catch all" pattern, just specify backend server address, without pattern.
Usually, host is the value of Host
header field. In HTTP/2, the
value of :authority
pseudo header field is used.
When you write multiple backend addresses sharing the same routing
pattern, they are used as load balancing. For example, to use 2
servers serv1:3000
and serv2:3000
for request host
example.com
and path /myservice
, you can write like so:
backend=serv1,3000;example.com/myservice
backend=serv2,3000;example.com/myservice
For HTTP/2 backend, see also
--backend-http2-connections-per-worker
option.