Improve LAMP security with Apache Proxy's directive (mod_proxy)

In this article, Nick Maynard outlines a method for you to improve the security of a LAMP setup by using Apache's mod_proxy module. This article is specific to Linux; however, you can also apply some of the principles to other operating systems.

The Apache Software Foundation's HTTP server project, commonly known as Apache, is the dominant Web server on the Internet today, accounting for over 60 percent of market share. Increasingly, the Apache serve is part of a set of free software programs in a configuration known as LAMP, a Web platform built on the open source technologies of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. In this article, you'll explore a method that improves the security of your LAMP installation by using the mod_proxy module and multiple back-end servers. I'll discuss the merits and drawbacks of such an approach, and you'll see an example configuration of a working setup.