[users@httpd] Inbound, Non-HTTP Proxy

[Nick Gianakas <ni...@wheeloyum.com>]

First off, thanks for an excellent server!

I wonder if anyone can point me in a direction.
I read through the modules on httpd.apache.org and did some cursory
Googling to no avail.

I'm running a software server which is publicly available on the web
(application service provider model).  It's a more-or-less typical
server that listens for and communicates (bidirectionally and
asynchronously) with clients.

I use Apache for the web server and this custom server for the
application (currently Java, may be C/C++ in the future).
Everything works great.

I noticed that users who are behind a corporate firewall which only
allows HTTP outbound connections cannot connect to the software server
(which listens on its own ports).

So I'd like to be able to use Apache to act as a proxy for connections
to this backend server so clients can (hopefully) get past their
firewall.
Basically, when a connection arrives, Apache somehow determines if the
connection is for the backend server (perhaps via a GET for a particular
URL or perhaps a custom request like WOY (instead of GET/POST/etc) ) and
then somehow relays the connection and/or the data to the backend
server.  The backend server maintains a persistent connection with the
clients.  That is, it's not a strict one-time request-respond-close
connection.  I suppose it's more like HTTP 1.1 persistent connections,
but the client and server communicate asynchronously--very much like a
chat server.

I saw the proxy module but it's designed for web protocols (HTTP and
possibly FTP).

I appreciate any help/suggestions/pointers.

Best regards,
Nick



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