Proxy server settings

Use this topic to perform advanced configuration on a proxy server. Proxy settings enable the system administrator to fine tune the behavior of the proxy server. In particular, you can configure the connections and requests to the application server, enable caching, configure the requests that must be rejected, define how error responses are handled, and specify the location of the proxy logs.

The proxy server, upon creation, auto-senses the environment and is capable of routing requests to the product. Additional configuration can be applied to the proxy server to meet the needs of a particular environment.

To view this administrative console page, click Servers > Server Types > WebSphere proxy servers > proxy_server_name > HTTP Proxy Server Settings > Proxy settings.

Avoid trouble: If the proxy server you created is part of a proxy server cluster, the only HTTP proxy server setting that you can modify at the proxy server level is Local outbound TCP address. The other HTTP proxy server settings must be set at the proxy cluster level. See the topics Modifying a proxy server cluster, and Proxy cluster member settings for information on how to configure a proxy server that is part of a proxy server cluster.

You can edit configurable field settings for the proxy server on the Configuration tab.

Enable web services support

Specifies whether to enable the proxy server to route Web services traffic.

Information	Value
Data type	Boolean
Default	True

Exclusions

The proxy server examines every incoming request. You can define certain methods for exclusion and if the requested HTTP method matches any of the configured methods for exclusion, the proxy server rejects the requests with a METHOD DISALLOWED error. Enter each method as a single line.

Static routing file directory

Specifies the directory on the proxy server where the static routing file is located.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	`profile_home`/staticRoutes

HTTP methods disabled

Specifies a list of HTTP methods that are disabled for the proxy server. Select the checkbox to enable this setting. Click New or Delete to add or remove HTTP methods from the list.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	Blank

Outbound connection settings

Specifies basic HTTP connection parameters between the proxy server and content servers.

Outbound request read timeout: Specifies the default number of seconds the proxy server waits for a response before timing out a request to a content server. Consider this option carefully when changing the value.

Outbound request write timeout: Specifies the default number of seconds the proxy server waits for a write request made to a content server. Consider this option carefully when changing the value.

Outbound connection timeout: Specifies the number of milliseconds that the proxy server waits to connect to a server. If this time expires, the proxy server attempts to connect to a different server. If no other available servers exist, the request times out. A value of 0 indicates that the proxy server should use the operating system kernel timeout value.

Pool connections to content server: Specifies the option to pool connections to the server is an optimization feature. Pooling prevents the need to frequently create and destroy socket connections to the server, by enabling the proxy server to pool these connections and reuse them.

Maximum connections per server: Specifies the maximum number of connections that will be pooled to any single content server.

Local outbound TCP address

Specifies the local outbound Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) address for data that enters and exits the SIP container. The value for this setting is the hostname or IP address to use for all communications between the SIP proxy and the SIP containers when the network is segmented.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	*
Range	IP address or valid host name

The following proxy custom properties are available to adjust the outbound connections.

key=http.maxTargetReconnects: Maximum number of reconnects to the same target content server for each request. The default is 5.
key=http.maxTargetRetries: Maximum number of times the proxy will attempt to select a new target content server for each request. The default is 5.
key=http.routing.sendReverseProxyNameInHost: Determines whether or not the host header is rewritten for content that is not on a WebSphere® Application Server content server. The options are true or false and are not case sensitive. If the value of this property is false, which is the default setting, then the host header is rewritten as the host of the target server. If the value for this property is true, then the host header is not rewritten.
key=http.compliance.disable: Determines whether HTTP V1.1 compliance is enforced on proxy content server connections. The options are true or false and are not case sensitive. The default is false.
key=http.compliance.via: The value of the via header that is appended to requests and responses for HTTP compliance. If the value is null, a via header will not be appended. If the value is true, a default via value is appended. Otherwise, the specified string via value is appended. The default is null.

Inbound connection SSL configuration

Specifies the SSL configuration from one of several sources.

Centrally managed: When selected, specifies to use the SSL configuration that is scoped for this endpoint.

Specific to this endpoint: When selected, enables the Select SSL Configuration list.

Select SSL Configuration

Specifies a predefined SSL configuration.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	None
Range	NONE, CellDefaultSSLSettings, or NodeDefaultSSLSettings

Caching

Specifies whether to enable the proxy server to cache the content of servers.

When Enable caching is selected, static content caching is enabled for the proxy server, as defined by HTTP 1.1 specifications. By default, caching content is enabled.

The properties that follow apply only if caching is enabled:

Cache instance name: Specifies the dynamic cache object cache instance that is configured in Resources > Cache instances > Object cache instances, which is used to cache all static and dynamic content responses. This object cache instance must be configured to support new I/O (NIO) application program interfaces (APIs).

Cache SSL content: Determines whether client proxy server SSL connections that are terminated by the proxy server should have their responses cached.

Cache aggressively: Enables caching of HTTP responses that would not normally be cached. Caching rules that are defined by HTTP 1.1 may be broken in order to gain caching optimizations.

Cache dynamic content: Specifies whether dynamic content that is generated by WebSphere Application Servers V6.02 or later is cached. Caching dynamic content generated by content servers prior to WebSphere Application Server V6.02 is not supported.

Limit memory cache entry size: When selected, the setting Memory cache entry size is enabled.

Memory cache entry size: Specifies the maximum size of an individual cached response in MB. Any cached response larger than this will not be cached.

Logging

The proxy server has logs that are generated for proxy and stored cache requests. When Enable access logging is selected, you can specify the size and location of the access logs.

Access log maximum size

Specify the maximum size, in megabytes, for an access log.

Information	Value
Data type	Integer
Units	Megabytes
Default	500

Proxy access log

Specifies a directory location for a proxy access log.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	${SERVER_LOG_ROOT}/proxy.log

Cache access log

Specifies a directory location for a cache access log.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	${SERVER_LOG_ROOT}/cache.log

Local access log

Specifies a directory location for a local access log.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	${SERVER_LOG_ROOT}/local.log

Note: There is a log called ${SERVER_LOG_ROOT}/local.log that logs locally served proxy content. This content is not in the proxy cache.

HTTP requests are logged in one of three logs: proxy, cache, and local. Local log configuration is not currently available in the administrative console, but it is available at ${SERVER_LOG_ROOT}/local.log. Specify the location of this log by setting the http.log.localFileName custom property to the file location. The content of each log is formatted using National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) common log format.

Proxy access log: Logs responses that are received from remote servers.
Cache access log: Logs responses that are served from the local cache.
Local access log: Logs all non-cache local responses, for example, redirects and internal errors.

Proxy custom properties that can be used to tweak logging are as follows:

key=http.log.disableAll: This property disables all logging. A value of true stops proxy, cache, and local logging.
key=http.log.maxSize:The maximum log size in megabytes (MB). A value of UNLIMITED indicates unlimited.
key=http.log.localFileName: Contains the name of the local log. A value of NULL indicates that the default ${SERVER_LOG_ROOT}/local.log is used.

Security

Use this section to set up security options.

Use a proxy-masking server header: When selected, specifies to forward the content server's name to the client.

Use the backend server header: When selected, specifies the default server name is sent as the content server name.

Specify a server header value: When selected, the Server header setting is enabled.

Server header: Specifies the server name that is used in HTTP responses.

Trusted security proxies

Specifies intermediaries other than the proxy server to handle requests. This setting identifies which proxy servers can be trusted. WebSphere Application Server plug-in clients add private headers to the requests that they forward. For the proxy server to use those headers, the request must come from one of the trusted security proxies. If the request does not come from one of the trusted security proxies, then those private headers are ignored and removed from the request before the proxy server forwards the request. Use an IP or fully qualified host name in this field. If there are multiple IP addresses on the system where a WebSphere Application Server plug-in client is running, then the value in the trusted list must match the IP address of the outbound connection from that system. If you do not know the IP address that is used on the plug-in side of the connection, you should specify all of the IP addresses for that system to ensure that no matter which IP address is used on the outbound connection to the Proxy Server, that IP address matches one of the IP addresses in the trusted list.

Select the checkbox to enable Security proxy. Click New or Delete to add or remove proxies from the list.

Note: An empty list of trusted security proxies, which is the default value, indicates that no WebSphere Application Server plug-in clients are trusted.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	Blank
Range	IP address or valid host name

Proxy plug-in configuration policy

Use this section to configure proxy plug-ins.

Generate plug-in configuration

Specifies the generation of a proxy plug-in configuration file that you can use on a web server that is deployed in front of the proxy server. The plug-in can determine the URI that the proxy is handling on behalf of the application server. The plug-in can determine the endpoint, or boundaries of the proxy so that it can properly route requests that it receives to the proxy.

The options available to generate the plug-in are described in the following table:

Scope	Description
None	No scope.
All	The proxy server generates a plug-in configuration that includes all of the URIs that are handled by proxy servers in the local cell and all cells that are connected by a core group bridge.
Cell	The proxy server generates a plug-in configuration that includes all of the URIs that are handled by all the proxy servers in the cell.
Node	Includes all of the URIs that are configured for the node.
Server	The proxy server generates a plug-in configuration file only for the proxy server that is currently configured.

Plug-in config change script: Specifies the path to a script that is run after the WebSphere Application Server plug-in configuration is generated.

Custom error page policy

Use this section to configure settings for error pages when errors occur during the processing of a request.

The default is for no customized error pages to be generated.

Local error page handling

Route locally generated error response to the application. You can handle errors in two ways and specify error Mappings for specific error codes:

Handle errors generated by the proxy server.
Handle errors generated by application servers.

Remote error page handling: When selected, specifies HTTP response error status codes generated by the proxy server and HTTP response error status codes generated elsewhere after the proxy on the proxy content server connection error responses are handled. When not selected, only HTTP response error status codes generated by the proxy server are handled. A best practice is to configure an error page application on the same physical machine as the proxy server.

Error page generation application URI

Specifies that if a valid uniform resource locator (URI) to an installed application is provided, the custom error page policy is enabled. If a valid URI to an installed application is not provided, the custom error page policy does not handle requests. You can handle error is two ways:

Route locally generated error response to the application.
Route error responses from remote servers to the error page generator application.

Headers to forward to error page application

Specifies additional header values from the client request to forward to the error page application as query parameters. The responseCode and URI query parameters are always sent to the error page application, in addition to the ones that are configured. The responseCode parameter is the HTTP status code that generates internally or is returned by the content server. The URI parameter is the request URI for the client.

Example - The error page URI is /ErrorPageApp/ErrorPage, the headers to forward contain Host, and a client sends the following request:

GET  /house/rooms/kitchen.jpg HTTP/1.1
Host:  homeserver.companyx.com

The request results in a HTTP 404 response (local or remote), and the request URI to the error page application would be:

/ErrorPageApp/ErrorPage?responseCode=404&uri=/house/rooms/kitchen.jpg&Host= homeserver.companyx.com

HTTP status codes that are to be recognized as errors

Specifies the status codes that the error page policy provides a response for. If a status code is not specified, the original content of responses with that status code are returned. If no HTTP status codes are specified, the defaults, 404 and 5XX, are used. Instead of specifying status codes individually, the following method is recommended to represent a range:

5XX: 500-599
4XX: 400-499
3XX: 300-399
2XX: 200-299

Proxy custom property to use when tweaking the custom error page: key=http.statuscode.errorPageRedirect. This custom property determines whether error page generation is done using the redirect, instead of using the proxy error page application. The values are true or false. The default is false.

Static file serving

Specifies the values needed for the proxy server to perform static file serving.

Static file document root

Specifies the location on the file system where the static document files are located.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	${USER_INSTALL_ROOT}/staticContent

Content mappings

Specifies the content type mapping for a particular file extension. Specify a value for the following settings.

Information	Value
Extension	The subject file extension to map to a context type
Header	The header name to send to the client
Value	The value of the header to send to the client in the context-type header
Weight	A float value used to calculate the rank of files with this extension

Workload management

Specifies the values needed for the proxy server to perform workload management.

High availability monitor timeout

Specifies the amount of time, in seconds, before a high availability monitor timeout. A value of 0 means that the high availability monitor will monitor until the server becomes available or as long as the proxy is running, whichever comes first.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Units	Seconds
Default	300

Advisor URI

Specifies the uniform resource identifier (URI) for an advisor.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	/

Load balancing algorithm

Specifies the algorithm for the load balancer.

Information	Value
Data type	String
Default	Blank