Appendix C. Using a Reverse Proxy

Adding a reverse proxy with Nginx in front of Kuwaiba can provide several benefits:

1. Redirecting the traffic from standard HTTP/HTTPS ports 80/443 to 8080 allows a non-privileged user to run Kuwaiba
2. Security: Nginx can help protect Kuwaiba by hiding its internal structure and adding an additional layer of security.
3. Load Balancing: If you have multiple instances of Kuwaiba, Nginx can distribute the load among them.

This configuration is for Debian, but it should work for any derivative distribution like Ubuntu.

1. Install Nginx:

   Update you repository index, then install Nginx:

     sudo apt update
   

     sudo apt install nginx
   

   Note

   This step is optional. If applicable, allow access to Nginx through your firewall using the following command:

   sudo ufw allow 'Nginx HTTP'

   Verify that Nginx is running:

      systemctl status nginx
   

     Output
       ● nginx.service - A high performance web server and a reverse proxy server
           Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
           Active: active (running) since Mon 2022-08-29 06:52:46 UTC; 39min ago
           Docs: man:nginx(8)
       Main PID: 9919 (nginx)
           Tasks: 2 (limit: 2327)
           Memory: 2.9M
               CPU: 50ms
           CGroup: /system.slice/nginx.service
                   ├─9919 "nginx: master process /usr/sbin/nginx -g daemon on; master_process on;"
                   └─9920 "nginx: worker process   
   
   

2. Edit your Server Block:

   Create and open a new Nginx configuration file using nano or your preferred text editor:

       sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/kuwaiba
   

   Insert the following text into your new file:

        server {
            listen 80;
            listen [::]:80;
   
            server_name localhost; # Replace 'localhost' with your FQDN if available
                
            location / {
                proxy_pass http://YOUR_IP_ADDRESS:PORT; # Replace PORT with the port Kuwaiba is running on (default is 8080, but could be different if the default settings were changed)
                include proxy_params;
            }
        }
   

   Next, enable this configuration file by creating a link from it to the sites-enabled directory that Nginx reads at startup:

       sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/kuwaiba /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
   

   You can now test your configuration file for syntax errors:

       sudo nginx -t
   

   With no problems reported, restart Nginx to apply your changes:

       sudo systemctl restart nginx
   

3. Run Kuwaiba and open your browser:

        localhost/kuwaiba