Apache reverse proxy for Node.js

Quick reference for proxying Apache to a Node.js app running on a local port via PM2. Includes WebSocket support — needed for Next.js hot reload in development and for any production WebSocket connections.

Required modules

Enable these before touching the vhost config:

sudo a2enmod proxy proxy_http proxy_wstunnel rewrite ssl
sudo systemctl restart apache2

VirtualHost config

<VirtualHost *:443>
  ServerName yourdomain.com

  # Proxy all requests to the Node process
  ProxyPreserveHost On
  ProxyPass / http://localhost:3000/
  ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:3000/

  # WebSocket support — required for Next.js dev server and hot reload
  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} websocket [NC]
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:Connection} upgrade [NC]
  RewriteRule ^/?(.*) ws://localhost:3000/$1 [P,L]

  # SSL — managed by certbot
  SSLEngine on
  SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem
</VirtualHost>

# Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName yourdomain.com
  Redirect permanent / https://yourdomain.com/
</VirtualHost>

Notes

ProxyPreserveHost On passes the original Host header through to Node — needed for Next.js to generate correct URLs.
The X-Forwarded-For header is set automatically by mod_proxy, so rate limiting by IP in the Node app will see the real client IP.
If PM2 restarts the Node process, Apache will reconnect automatically — no Apache restart needed.