Apache for http2 via proxy - apache

I have a apache server with http2 support and a proxy. When I send a curl request via proxy the http protocol falls back to http1.1, can someone tell me if there is any config changes I need to make or it works that way itself?

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Does it require https in Kestrel behind my https apache proxy server?

I am not quite clear about the idea whether the Kestrel server needs to be encrypted as a localhost server.
I use Apache with HTTPS as the proxy server for Kestrel server. Does it require to run https in Kestrel as well? In theory, what passes through the Apache proxy server (HTTPS enabled) should be encrypted, right?
Please shed some light if you have any ideas.
No, you don't have to encrypt the traffic between Apache and Kestrel. The apache (or nginx or IIS) will be the SSL termination point.
However what you need to make sure is
that Apache correctly sets the forwarded headers (x-forwarded-* headers)
kestrel is correctly configured to use these headers (UseIISIntegration already does that) or register the app.UseForwardedHeaders(); middleware which also registers them
Without either one, your requests will fail if the controllers/actions are marked with [RequireHttps] attribute

Where to put SSL encryption, Apache HTTP or Webapp

I'm creating an Middleware/Webapp for a REST API in Erlang with cowboy framework and Apache HTTP with ModProxy, to redirect requests from port 80 to port 80xx, since i don't wanna use custom ports to listen requests and i don't wanna run the code in root to be able to listen in port 80.
Now i wanna encrypt the connections, with SSL, using HTTPS and my question is: where is the best practice to configure SSL with certificates, keys etc, in Apache HTTP (before redirect with ModProxy) or in Cowboy framework in Erlang app, since both support SSL configuration.
Thanks in advance!
I'd put it in Apache:
If you want to add more services later, they'd automatically benefit with SSL protection.
If you need to debug something, you can tcpdump the data between Apache and your Erlang VM, which will be decrypted at that point.

How to override scheme and is_ssl in apache HTTP Server for mod_proxy_ajp

We are running Tomcat 7 behind a load balancer that works also as SSL terminator, and an Apache HTTP Server 2.4. The Apache connects to the Tomcat via mod_proxy_ajp.
For the application it is important that Tomcat is aware that the request is coming in via HTTPS and is thus secure. As e.g. this article recommends, it is common to configure this on the Tomcat's Connector using the attributes secure="true" and possibly scheme="https" proxyPort="443". While this works, it is inconvenient since we are using HTTP for some purposes as well, and thus we would need to set up two Tomcat connectors for this purpose. And it has a smell, since this way we basically tell Tomcat to override the wrong information it gets from the Apache HTTP Server that the request is HTTPS instead of HTTP, instead of telling the Apache that it should send the correct information on the protocol and secure status.
So my question: is it somehow possible to configure the Apache HTTP Server itself that it passes the correct information via the AJP protocol: that the request is received via HTTPS and is secure? The problem is that it doesn't know it's HTTPS, since there is a SSL terminator before it and the requests arrives via HTTP, as far as it is concerned. Can I tell the Apache somehow that it's actually HTTPS?
A partial solution seems to be to set the protocol on a ServerName directive in the virtual host in the Apache HTTP server:
ServerName https://whatever
This way any Location: headers in redirects seem to be rewritten to https in the Apache, but the Tomcat is still passed the wrong information via AJP.
I always thought that AJP transfers this information automagically - but I'm not using mod_proxy_ajp, rather mod_jk. It's one of the reasons why I much prefer AJP over HTTP (and proxying).
Might be worth to change the module/connection

Using Apache and mod_proxy in a forward proxy to convert http requests to https

I've used both Apache and nginx as a reverse proxy performing HTTPS termination (listening on port 443) and forwarding the unencrypted HTTP traffic to Tomcat on port 8080 before.
However, what I need to do now is do the opposite. I have some client applications running on localhost that are (for simplicity) just talking plain HTTP. I want to be able to tell these client apps to use a forward proxy (on localhost) that will convert them to HTTPS and use a client-side certificate for the communication to the origin. Ie, the client will think it is communicating plain HTTP on port 80, but the traffic will actually leave the host as HTTPS on port 443.
Does anyone know how to configure mod_proxy to do this (or even if it is possible)?
At a further stage, I may need to configure the proxy to use different client certificates based on headers set by the client and also have mod_proxy use RFC 5077 (quick session resumption).
It doesn't have to be Apache (so if nginx or squid can do the function I'm happy with that) as long as it's not a resource hog. We already have Apache running as a reverse proxy anyway so it would be handy if Apache can do it.

Is it possible to have a forward proxy with ssl encryption between the proxy and the user?

First of all I want to make clear that i am not talking about accessing content which is on origin servers that deliver using https which can be done using the module mod_proxy_connect.
What I want is a secured connection between the client and the proxy, also when the origin that is requested actually is served by an unsecured standard http server.
I am using apache 2.2 and also would like to make this possible with apache if that works.
I sniffed some requests using wireshark and noted the following:
A usual http of the url http://example.com/file looksl ike this:
on a connection to the origin server:
GET /file HTTP 1.1
Host: example.com
Note that the host information is stripped from the actual request and the host header is supplied instead (which can be handled server side in named virtual hosts).
When the request goes through a proxy server it looks slightly different:
on a connection to the proxy server:
GET http://example.com/file HTTP 1.1
Host: example.com
Note that the request line now actually contains the full url including protocol and hostname.
The host header is probably redundant, bus if I read the RFC correctly it is required by HTTP 1.1.
So I think about setting up an apache webserver listening on port 443, enable a virtualhost with ssl engine and certificates up and do not bind it to any hostname.
I think that should get apache to talk ssl, but however the certificates common name will not match the host specfied in the connect line to the proxys server ip adress.
Is what I want to to even possible with current standards and if so how can I do it?
Yes of course, that's what HTTPS proxy is.
Client connects to proxy over SSL, sends commands to proxy in text.
It is also possible to use HTTP CONNECT to establish HTTPS connection "inside" the SSL connection to HTTPS proxy, though not all clients support this:
HTTPS connection over HTTPS proxy
client proxy server
ssl \-------/ ssl
connect---------200 OK
ssl \---------------------------/ ssl
data-------------------------------data
/---------------------------\
/-------\
HTTP connection over HTTPS proxy
client proxy server
ssl \-------/ ssl
GET http://server/ ->
GET /
Host: server ->
<---------OK, data
<--------------OK, data
/-------\