How to Set Up Reverse Proxy with Windows IIS for Oracle APEX?

Reverse Proxy for Oracle APEX

UpdatedMarch 29, 2024

How to Set Up Reverse Proxy with Windows IIS for Oracle APEX?

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How to? Oracle APEX

Part 5 of 10

This series intended to address common challenges faced during the Oracle APEX development.

Up next

How to Zip and download files in Oracle APEX?

Using the APEX_ZIP utility package

Introduction

In this tutorial, we will discuss the steps to set up a reverse proxy for Oracle APEX using Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Service).

Please note that this guide is intended for educational purposes only. In a production environment, additional steps may be necessary to adequately secure the applications.

Use Case

Your organization hosts an APEX application, and you aim to enhance its security by implementing SSL encryption and obscuring the actual port numbers on which the application runs.

Assumptions

ORDS is running either in standalone mode or deployed in Apache Tomcat.
ORDS is accessible on port 8080.
The DNS record for your domain has already been added and is pointed to the reverse proxy server.

Video Tutorial

https://youtu.be/sHsEj_Xf_2Q?si=Hf1WMqWqVaMvNigg

Steps

Setting up a reverse proxy with IIS involves five steps, as listed below.

Install IIS
Install Microsoft Application Request Routing Module
Install Microsoft URL Rewrite Module
Enable Reverse Proxy
Configure Trusted Origins

Watch the video tutorial and follow the steps to set up a reverse proxy.

Install IIS

Open Server Manager
Select "Add roles and features"
Click Next and select "Role-based or feature-based installation" and click Next.
Select "Web Server (IIS)" from Server Roles
Click Next and Click "Add Features"
Click 'Next' until you reach the last step of the wizard, and the installation will commence.

Once the installation is complete, check the server status by opening 'localhost' in a browser.

Install Microsoft Application Request Routing Module

Download Microsoft Application Request Routing from https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/application-request-routing
Install the module.

Verify the installation by opening the IIS Manager

Install Microsoft URL Rewrite Module

Download the URL Rewrite module and install it. https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/url-rewrite
Verify the installation from the IIS Manager.

Enable Reverse Proxy

Open IIS Manager
Open your site
Open URL Rewrite module
Click "Add Rules" under actions.
Select "Reverse Proxy" and click OK.
Set the rules as shown in the screenshot.
You have enabled Reverse Proxy. Let's verify by typing the domain in the browser. You will see that the APEX application is loading without the need to specify the port number.

Configure Trusted Origins

If you attempt to log in to Oracle APEX, you may encounter the following error. To resolve this, add your domain to the trusted origins in the ORDS configuration file.
Open the ORDS configuration file from {ORDS Config Directory}/global/settings.xml

Add your domain to the trusted origins list and save the file.

  <entry key="security.externalSessionTrustedOrigins">http://example.com,https://example.com:443</entry>

Restart ORDS and verify the setup by logging into Oracle APEX Workspace.

References

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/get-started/introduction-to-iis/iis-web-server-overview
Application Request Routing: https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/application-request-routing
URL Rewrite: https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/url-rewrite
ORDS Configuration File: https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-rest-data-services/23.4/ordig/about-REST-configuration-files.html#GUID-006F916B-8594-4A78-B500-BB85F35C12A0

How to Set Up Reverse Proxy with Windows IIS for Oracle APEX?

Comments

How to? Oracle APEX

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Introduction

Use Case

Assumptions

Video Tutorial

Steps

Install IIS

Install Microsoft Application Request Routing Module

Install Microsoft URL Rewrite Module

Enable Reverse Proxy

Configure Trusted Origins

References

Command Palette

Comments

How to? Oracle APEX

How to Zip and download files in Oracle APEX?

More from this blog

Introduction

Use Case

Assumptions

Video Tutorial

Steps

Install IIS

Install Microsoft Application Request Routing Module

Install Microsoft URL Rewrite Module

Enable Reverse Proxy

Configure Trusted Origins

References