Re: How to use different server based on the url ???

[Brett Hutley]

Nicolas Brasseur wrote:
Hello can anybody please tell me if it is possible to
reroute requests to another web server based on the
url used ...
I have an apache web server on a machine, and a lotus
domino server on another machine. I have a domain name
loop.be pointing to a router that re-route requests
addressed to the port 80 to the apache server. I would
like that when the url is www.loop.be the HTTP
requests are re-routed to the apache server (normal
way) and when the url used is mail.loop.be the HTTP
requests should be forwarded to the domino server.
In other terms, is apache able to "forward" requests
based on the url used ...
Yup, definitely. Use mod_rewrite and mod_proxy. You'll need to build a 
version of apache with these compiled in or loaded as modules (since 
they are not included by default). You want to set up a rewrite rule 
with a regex that matches the address you want to proxy and get it to 
handle the other stuff locally. I believe that you'll only be able to do 
it with HTTP/1.1 requests since your rewrite rule will depend on having 
a RewriteCond using the %{HTTP_HOST} variable.

I'm pretty much a mod_rewrite novice, but I'll make a quick stab at 
solving the problem (although someone with more experience PLEASE chime 
in at this port...):

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond   %{*HTTP_HOST*}                 ^mail.loop.be$
RewriteRule   ^(.+)                        http://domino.server/$1          
[P,L]
RewriteRule   ^/(.*) - [L]
The first rewrite rule depends on the condition of the HTTP_Host being 
mail.loop.be. It then proxies the request to your domino server and 
stops rewriting. The second rule says to serve the remaining matches 
locally.

HTH,
Brett