notes/IT/Making nginx forward VPN and https traffic on tcp 443.md
2024-05-19 09:57:54 -06:00

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This file documents my troubleshooting methodology for configuring nginx to reverse proxy https traffic, and reverse proxy non https traffic on tcp/443.
## Context
I have an OpenVPN server set up on a Raspberry Pi (`192.168.0.2`) listening on TCP/443 so that it's able to function on most networks. There are enough clients configured that I do not want to remake the server, then update config files for all the clients, and so on.
I have a Debian VM running on `192.168.0.6` that runs an "nginx hub" that I'd like to proxy all web-ish traffic out of my network with. It's currently handling at least one http(s) service running from that same VM, and will probably handle more.
Given I only have one external IP, I want the ability to handle both OpenVPN traffic and https traffic on port TCP/443. I know it's possible to reverse proxy raw TCP traffic, and it's apparently possible to reverse proxy openvpn traffic through nginx.
## Troubleshooting
Right now, it appears that I can't do that with one IP because that would require two separate nginx components listening on the same port, or that's what I ascertained from the logs.
I modified `/etc/nginx/nginx.conf` to include this block underneath the `http` block:
```nginx
stream {
server {
listen 443;
proxy_pass 192.168.0.2:443;
}
}
```
When trying to start with that change applied, I got the error:
```
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:443 failed (98: Address already in use)
```
## IP Aliasing
Hoping in vain that nginx would somehow be able to request the provided IP from the DHCP server and listen to it with no other config, I modified the `listen` directive from `listen 443;` to `listen 192.168.0.8:443;`. This resulted in the below error:
```
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 192.168.0.8:443 failed (99: Cannot assign requested address)
```