Setting Up a Reverse Proxy on cPanel/WHM for Port 8081

Setting Up a Reverse Proxy on cPanel/WHM for Port 8081

This guide explains how to configure Apache on a cPanel/WHM server to reverse proxy traffic to a backend service running on port 8081.

1. Create a Custom Reverse Proxy Configuration

Create the directory for custom Apache configurations:

mkdir -p /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/cPanelusername/domain.tld/

Replace `cPanelusername` with your cPanel account username and `domain.tld` with your actual domain.

2. Create and Edit the Reverse Proxy Configuration File

vim /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/cPanelusername/domain.tld/rproxy.conf

Paste the following content:

##### Backend Reverse Proxy - Port 8081 #####

ProxyRequests Off
ProxyPass / http://localhost:8081/
ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8081/

##### Backend Reverse Proxy - Port 8081 #####

This configuration tells Apache to forward all requests to `localhost:8081`.

Save and exit (`:wq` in `vim`).

3. Validate and Apply Changes

Check the Apache Configuration for Errors:

httpd -t

If there are no syntax errors, proceed.

4. Rebuild and Restart Apache
Run the following commands to apply the changes:

/scripts/rebuildhttpdconf
/scripts/restartsrv_apache

5. Verify Your Setup
Try accessing your domain in a browser.
If you face issues, check the Apache error logs:

tail -f /var/log/apache2/error_log

✅ Done! Apache is now reverse proxying traffic to port 8081 on your cPanel/WHM server. 🚀