tools/geneos: Easy Method for Webserver to run on port 443

[itrs-dsobiepan]

Currently there's no easy way to let the Webserver run on port 443 by using cordial. The webserver will fail as by Unix standards, ports below 1000 are reserved to root.

Since 443 is a default port for HTTPS, a way to let the webserver run smoothly via cordial on that port would be very nice

[pgalbavy-itrs]

I've been looking at this and every method has pros and cons; In short, the best way is to continue listening on ports 8080/8443 and use iptables (nftables) to redirect traffic like this:

https://gist.github.com/danibram/d00ed812f2ca6a68758e

sudo iptables -A PREROUTING -t nat -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-port 8080
sudo iptables -A PREROUTING -t nat -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 443 -j REDIRECT --to-port 8443

and also persist these, either through systemd unit files or other tools. Change network interface to suit, including "lo" for local connections.

The admin then has control, no extra privileges are required for the running process and environment variables and other things are safely preserved.

[itrs-dsobiepan]

Hey Peter, So to clarify: Are you saying to configure the webserver to run on port 8443 (if doing HTTPS), and that iptables command will redirect it to port 443?