Integrating Apache HTTP with Tomcat, possible to output combination in one page?

Question

I am planning to integrate Apache httpd server with Tomcat using the proxy module to forward certain addresses to be processed by Tomcat. However I wanted to ask if it is possible to combine the output from Tomcat with content from apache httpd so that they are returned to the client as part of one html page? (no frames or funny business)

Answer 1

When you configure Apache mod_proxy as a reverse proxy then you will get exactly what you are asking for.

From the definition of reverse proxy

The client makes ordinary requests for content in the name-space of the reverse proxy. The reverse proxy then decides where to send those requests, and returns the content as if it was itself the origin.

So the requests meant for dynamic content from Tomcat (based on the URL pattern) will be fetched via Apache and returned to the browser. For the end user, it's completely transparent. No frames or funny business :)

Related Reading:

http://www.apachetutor.org/admin/reverseproxies

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/mod_proxy.html