At the time of writing this article, the Apache mod_jk Configuration portlet provided in the Geronimo Administration Console presented some unconsistencies recognizing the already installed web applications. As a workaround, this article covers two alternative ways to configure a remote Apache HTTP server.

Apache Geronimo comes in two flavors depending on the Web container you decide to use. You can choose between the Tomcat or Jetty distributions. If you want to place a Apache HTTP server (HTTPd) in front of Geronimo, you will have to configure it in such a way that it can forward client requests to Geronimo.

As we already mentioned, this article covers two different ways on how Apache HTTPd can be configured to forward client requests to Geronimo, which is configuring it as a reverse proxy by using the "built-in" mod_proxy module or configuring the Jakarta Tomcat Connector mod_jk available with the Apache Tomcat source.

• When configuring a reverse proxy in the Apache HTTPd, the configuration will work for any distribution of Geronimo (Tomcat or Jetty) without the need for any additional configuration on the Geronimo side.
• When configuring the Jakarta Tomcat Connector, additional configuration will be required. A number of new terms will be addressed as needed, but keep in mind that the scope of this article is to configure a two-tier scenario with a remote HTTPd.

Based on these two alternatives, this article is organized in the following sections:

• Configure Apache HTTPd as a reverse proxy (mod_proxy)
• Configure Apache HTTPd with Jakarta Tomcat Connector (mod_jk)

In order to set a common ground for this configuration example, here is a list with the versions tested:

• Apache Geronimo v1.2
• Apache HTTPd v2.2.3
• mod_jk-apache-2.2.3.so
• Windows XP SP2