Reverse Proxy Server 2: Wiki

Uniform Server 5.0-Nano Reverse Proxy.

On the previous page I covered running a subversion back-end server this page looks at running MediaWiki as a back-end server.

Again before deployment this can be tested on a local PC.

Note: This page is worth reading before installing on a back-end server.

Preparation

For this example we require a MediaWiki server.

Create a new folder C:\server_d Extract a copy of UniServer 5.0 to this folder.

1)	Move Servers First close all running servers. Run Unitray: C:\server_d\UniServer\Start.exe Left click tray icon > Advance > Move Servers multi-server operation Press enter at all prompts Repeat 2 and 3 Until icon 5 is displayed Note: Apache port = 84
2)	Download Mediawiki Download Mediakiki 1.15.1 (or newer version) from here save to a convenient folder. Unzip the downloaded file (mediawiki-1.15.1.tar.gz) Windows cannot do this use something like 7-Zip Portable  --- Download site: PortableApps.com  --- File name: 7-Zip Portable - Multilingual file archiver and compressor Extract mediawiki-1.15.1.tar.gz to current path, creates a new folder mediawiki-1.15.1.tar open this folder Extract mediawiki-1.15.1.tar to current path, creates a new folder mediawiki-1.15.1
3)	Copy files to Uniform Server Copy folder mediawiki-1.15.1 to server root folder C:\server_d\UniServer\www Rename folder mediawiki-1.15.1 to wiki
4)	Install Start servers Type the following into your browser address bar: http://localhost:84/wiki/ redirects to installation page. Click the link Please set up the wiki first. This opens the configuration page scroll down to Site config and fill in the form.

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Site config

Wiki name:	MPG (whatever you like)
Contact e-mail:	admin@localhost
Language:	en-English
Copyright/license:	(radio button) select No license metadata
Admin username:	WikiSysop
Password:	root66 (whatever you like)
Password confirm:	root66 (same as above)
Object caching:	(radio button) select none
Memcached servers:	(leave blank)

E-mail, e-mail notification and authentication setup

E-mail features (global):	(radio button) select Disabled
User-to-user e-mail:	(radio button) select Disabled
E-mail notification about changes:	(radio button) select Disabled
E-mail address:	(radio button) select Disabled

Database config

Database type:	(radio button) select MySQL
Database host:	localhost:3310 - Note port number
Database name:	wikidb
DB username:	root
DB password confirm:	root
Superuser account:	tick box
Superuser name:	root
Superuser password:	root

MySQL specific options

Database table prefix:	leave blank
Storage Engine:	(radio button) select MyISAM
Database character set: :	(radio button) select MySQL 4.1/5.0 binary

Click Install MediaWiki

After creating the database a second page will display, scroll down the page you will see the conformation message

Installation successful! Move the config/LocalSettings.php 
file to the parent directory, then follow  this link to your wiki”

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Notes

Notes 1: To enable image uploads:

1. Open file: LocalSettings.php
2. Located in folder: *\UniServer\udrive\www\wiki
3. Change this line: $wgEnableUploads = false;
4. To: $wgEnableUploads = true;

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Configure Proxy Server

Remember that template? Well configuring the proxy is just a copy and paste exercise. For this example even the correct port is included.

Edit file C:\server_a\UniServer\usr\local\apache2\conf\httpd.conf

Add the wiki section as shown below:

Include conf/proxy_html.conf
NameVirtualHost *
<VirtualHost *>
  ServerName localhost:80
  DocumentRoot C:/server_a/UniServer/www

ProxyRequests off
<Proxy *>
  Order deny,allow
  Deny from all
  Allow from 127.0.0.1
</Proxy>

ProxyPass /info/ http://localhost:82/
ProxyHTMLURLMap http://localhost:82 /info
<Location /info/>
  ProxyPassReverse  http://localhost:82/
  #SetOutputFilter proxy-html
  SetOutputFilter INFLATE;proxy-html;DEFLATE
  ProxyHTMLURLMap /          /info/
  ProxyHTMLURLMap /info      /info
</Location>

ProxyPass /svn/ http://localhost:83/svn/
<Location /svn/ >
  ProxyPassReverse /svn/
   <LimitExcept GET PROPFIND OPTIONS REPORT>
     Order deny,allow
     Deny from all
   </LimitExcept>
</Location>

ProxyPass         /wiki/  http://localhost:84/wiki/
ProxyHTMLURLMap http://localhost:84/wiki /wiki
<Location /wiki/>
 ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:84/wiki/
 SetOutputFilter INFLATE;proxy-html;DEFLATE
 ProxyHTMLURLMap /           /wiki/
 ProxyHTMLURLMap /wiki       /wiki
</Location>

</VirtualHost>

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Test Configuration

To quickly check the configuration:

• Start server_a
• Start server_d
• Type http://localhost/wiki/

Result: Wiki main page displayed.

Create a new Wiki page, confirm you can save and display the new page.

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Summary

That completes how to proxy a MediaWiki back-end server.

On the next page I look at an Intranet deployment.

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Ric