HTTP | Closer to Code

Jenkins in an awesome integration server, that can be used for free. However, having it on a non-standard www port, without a SSL, might be a problem. Accessing it from a public network might create a security threat. If you've got a Apache in front of your server, you can easily provide a secured proxy to Jenkins.

To do so, you need to create a VirtualHost for Apache, which will contain both: Proxy and SSL. Also it would be wise, to redirect standard HTTP requests.

VirtualHost to redirect from HTTP to HTTPS

So, first lets create our HTTP VirtualHost and let's redirect it to HTTPS version:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName jenkins.my.domain
  ServerAlias www.jenkins.my.domain

  RewriteEngine on
  ReWriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443$
  RewriteRule ^/(.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [NC,R,L]
</VirtualHost>

SSL keys

To get things started, we will need a key. To generate it, follow given steps (as root):

sudo su # or any other way to be a root
cd /etc/apache2/
mkdir ssl
cd ssl/
mkdir crt
mkdir key
openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -keyout key/jenkins.key -out crt/jenkins.crt -nodes -subj  '/O=Jenkins/OU=Jenkins/CN=jenkins.my.domain'

Just remember to replace all the domain references from "jenkins.my.domain" to an appropriate one. After you execute the above commands, you should have a ssl key and ssl cert generated.

Installing Apache necessary mods

To create a SSL Proxy pass we need to install some Apache mods (still as a root):

a2enmod proxy
a2enmod proxy_http
a2enmod rewrite
a2enmod ssl

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

HTTPS Jenkins Virtual Host

And finally, the virtual host for secured Jenkins proxy pass:

<VirtualHost *:443>
  ServerName jenkins.my.domain
  ServerAlias www.jenkins.my.domain

  SSLEngine On
  SSLCertificateFile    /etc/apache2/ssl/crt/jenkins.my.domain.crt
  SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/key/jenkins.my.domain.key

  ProxyRequests     Off
  ProxyPass         /  http://localhost:8080/
  ProxyPassReverse  /  http://localhost:8080/
  ProxyPassReverse  /  http://my.jenkins.host/
  <Proxy http://localhost:8080/*>
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
  </Proxy>
  ProxyPreserveHost on
</VirtualHost>

Most of the time, when we connect to webservices via SOAP (via SOAP! via SOAP! ;)), we have a WSDL file either local or downloaded from a server. But sometimes we need to connect to SOAP server which does not have this file and it is secured with http basic authentication.

To communicate with SOAP I use Savon Rb. It is easy and relatively fast. However in documentation there is nothing about communication with http basic authentication protected resources.

Although setting things up is really easy. First authentication:

@soap_client = Savon::Client.new do
  # Set basic authorization
  http.auth.basic "user_name", "password"
end

and non-wsdl connection:

@soap_client = Savon::Client.new do
  wsdl.endpoint = "http://service.example.com"
  wsdl.namespace = "http://v1.example.com"
end

and that's all. Now we can execute remote method like this:

@soap_client.request :get_items

or with params:

@last_response = @soap_client.request :get_items do
  soap.body = {
    :param_1 => "value_1",
    :param_2 => "value_2",
  }
end

Tag: HTTP

Jenkins behind Apache with HTTPS – Proxy pass with SSL

VirtualHost to redirect from HTTP to HTTPS

SSL keys

Installing Apache necessary mods

HTTPS Jenkins Virtual Host

Using Savon Rb to communicate with SOAP client (http basic authentication and no WSDL file)