Dundas BI and reverse proxies

1. Overview

This article provides information about Dundas BI and reverse proxies used on Linux servers.

Dundas BI for Linux uses the built-in Kestrel web server. Kestrel is a cross-platform web server for ASP.NET Core. Dundas BI will work with or without a reverse proxy server.

For more information, see Kestrel web server implementation in ASP.NET Core.

2. Why to use a reverse proxy

Some common reasons for using a reverse proxy:

• Security - limit the exposure of the server, and provide an additional layer of defense.
• Integration - might integrate better with existing infrastructure.
• Load Balancing - simplified HTTPS configuration as only the reverse proxy will require X509 certificate and the application server can just run as HTTP.

3. NGINX example

As described in the Installing Dundas BI on Linux article, the Dundas BI wizard will set up an NGINX reverse proxy. The following is a typical example of how Dundas BI would be set up on Ubuntu without the Dundas BI wizard:

First install NGINX by running the following command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nginx

After it is installed, you can create a site definition by creating a file at the following path:

/etc/nginx/sites-available/dundas-bi-website-InstanceName.com

The content will typically look like the following:

server {
    listen 443;
    listen [::]:443;
    server_name somedomain.com;

    ssl on;
    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/somedomaincom/cert.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/somedomain/cert.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8008;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   Connection keep-alive;
        proxy_set_header   Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_connect_timeout       86400;
        proxy_send_timeout          86400;
        proxy_read_timeout          86400;
        send_timeout                86400;
        client_max_body_size        500M;
    }
}

This sample is using a sites-available folder, which is the location on Ubuntu for the NGINX site definition files. This location will be different on RHEL. For more information, see: NGINX Wiki.

4. Other reverse proxies

It is possible to use other reverse proxies with Dundas BI on Linux. Some other popular options are:

• Apache
• NGINX Plus
• HAProxy

5. See also

• Installing Dundas BI on Linux
• Dundas BI Linux services
• Microsoft Docs: Kestrel web server implementation in ASP.NET Core
• NGINX Wiki