Is there any way to change host headers for JIRA and Confluence?
Asked by Kevin Chong:

Hello all,

I contacted Atlassian Support to see if there is any way to change host headers for JIRA and Confluence from their original default port address- [http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080/) and [http://localhost:8090](http://localhost:8090/) to [http://Jira](http://jira/) and [http://Confluence](http://confluence/), and the response I got back was that this kind of modification is outside the scope of Atlassian's support and I might as well want to check here.

So here I am and I am wondering if anyone has been successful with host header modification for a better name than long [http://localhost:port](http://localhostport) number.

Many thanks.  

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<br />

Best regards,  
Kevin Chong


Answers:
author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Do you mean the http headers, or the actual URLs it's running on? Most of us whack Apache in front of Jira/Confluence and get that to proxypass/reverseproxy <http://mine/jira> to <http://localhost:8080>

comments: author: Kevin Chong
body: Hello Nic,

Thank you for the comment.

Jira and Confluence are currently running on their default ports (8080 and 8090), and the actual URLs are [http://localhost:8080](http://localhost:8080/) and 8090 for Jira and Confluence.

What I would like to do is to be able to type in [http://jira](http://jira/) or [http://confluence](http://confluence/) to be redirected to the actual port that Jira and Confluence is running on because it sometimes confuse people with rather long address with server names and numbers.

So I am trying to figure out a way to use host headers with Jira and Confluence or some way to direct users to the site via a better name. Both Jira and Confluence use Apache but its not a standard Apache instance from what I know (they are internal to the application).

Thanks.

Best regards,

Kevin Chong


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Er, there's no "internal apache" in Jira or Confluence.

Do you mean the Tomcats the off-the-shelf versions run under? That's technically apache-tomcat, not apache.

Apache (or another webserver) that can proxy your connections is the thing you need for this (I don't even know if Tomcat can do it!)


author: Kevin Chong
body: Nic,

Sorry for the confusion. And Yes, I was referring to Apache-Tomcat.

I am not too familiar with all these and was just wondering if I could type in [http://Jira](http://jira/) for instance, and be directed to the actual address.

I created an issue through Atlassian Support and I was told that with regards to the particular modification I was looking for there is nothing they can do about it.

So they directed me to here..

Best regards,

Kevin Chong


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Ok. Tomcat is not the right way to do this. Tomcat is an application server which can provide quite a lot of web front-end facilities (and obviously, actually runs the applications), but it's not an advanced web-server.

A web-server on the other hand, generally can't run applications, but can do a lot of advanced stuff on the web side of things.

A lot of Atlassian software is set up this way - the user hits a url (without a port), Apache is configured to catch it, Apache routes it to a Tomcat providing the application - this "proxy" setup means that you can serve up multiple applications on multiple urls, often on multiple servers, and not bother with ports, or giving the user unfriendly base urls.

Have a look at <https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Integrating+JIRA+with+Apache>


author: Kevin Chong
body: Nic,

Okay. So with Tomcat I cannot do what I described above?

Thanks for confirming, I was thinking it the same way but was just wondering if it would be possible.

Thanks Nic!


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: I am pretty sure Tomcat doesn't do that sort of thing. But not 100% certain because I've never tried it - everyone I know who's needed any form of mapping like this has put Apache in front and done it in there.


author: Kevin Chong
body: Nic,

Just wondering, but is there any way you know of that I can put Apache in front at this point after Jira and Confluence are all installed?

Many thanks.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Absolutely - I usually do exactly that anyway. Get them running on http(s)://localhost:8090 to make sure it's all ok, then start worrying about Apache!

The Apache stuff is a simple(ish) "virtual host" that simply says "when user hits [xxx.somewhere.com](http://xxx.somewhere.com), then serve them up whatever is running on localhost:8090"


Tags: account

confluence

header

jira

mod_proxy

proxy