How to build a simple web proxy in Mule 3?

Question

I ran this Mule 3 file expecting that when I browse to http://localhost:9000, I would be redirected to http://localhost/path (source - behind a login prompt):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mule xmlns="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xmlns:pattern="http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/pattern"
      xsi:schemaLocation="
          http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/pattern http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/pattern/3.1/mule-pattern.xsd
          http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core http://www.mulesoft.org/schema/mule/core/3.1/mule.xsd">

    <pattern:web-service-proxy
        name="WSProxyService"
        inboundAddress="http://localhost:9000"
        outboundAddress="http://localhost/sugarcrm"/>

</mule>

Instead, I get this unfriendly message from the web browser:

‹mO=OÃ0Ýó+ŽL0KÂÈX‚&ˆJ-DÂŒ×øÀ•ì8rÜJý÷8)bb9éî}Ü{â¢y[©Ï®…µÝ@÷ñ´Y¯ ¿F\·ê±QÍ©‹±}Íe&LtV äÓ÷Ѳ¼)+Øú#kè88xˆö$ðf²Øy}šõ•ü‡›®™¥2Ú÷—Î`h·P  üõ›Ç{Dë{²ÆO§Ã7…>8Ì¥áÀIÇùOHƒ´

Answer 1

The web-service-proxy pattern is designed to work with SOAP-style web services. Pointing your browser to it won't do you any good.

For pure HTTP proxying either:

• use the new pattern:http-proxy coming in Mule 3.2 and already usable in snapshot builds (examples),
• use a pattern:bridge with HTTP in and out endpoints (examples).

The former is a much better option, if you're not snapshot averse, as it has extended support for HTTP requests semantics and an upcoming caching module.

Answer 2

I've had a similar problem, although I used soapUI to perform the test. The solution after some days getting lost is simple, configure soapUI not to use/don't allow compression. What you see is actually compressed answer that server did not mark as compressed.