How to redirect HTTP to HTTPS using GCP load balancer

Question

I'm setting up my load balancer in GCP with 2 nodes (Apache httpd), with domain lblb.tonegroup.net.

Currently my load balancer is working fine, the traffic is switching over between the 2 nodes, but how do i configure to redirect http://lblb.tonegroup.net to https://lblb.tonegroup.net ?

Is it possible to configure it at the load balancer level or I need to configure it at apache level? I have Google Managed SSL cert installed FYI.

Answer 1

Right now the redirection from http to https is possible with the Load Balancer's Traffic Management.

Below is an example of how to set it up on their documentation: https://cloud.google.com/load-balancing/docs/https/setting-up-traffic-management#console

Basically you will create two of each "forwarding rules", targetproxy and urlmap.

2 URLMaps

• In 1st URL map you will just set a redirection. The define redirection rules are below and no backend service is needed to be define here
  • httpsRedirect: true
  • redirectResponseCode: FOUND
• In 2nd map you will have to define your backend services there

2 forwarding rules

• 1st forwarding rule is to serve http request so basically port 80
• 2nd forwarding rule is to serve http request so port 443

2 targetproxy

• 1st target proxy is targetHttpProxy, this will where the 1st forwarding rule is forwarded to and is mapped to the 1st URLMap
• 2nd target proxy is targetHttpsProxy where the 2nd forwarding rule is forwarded to and is mapped to the 2nd URLMap

========================================================================

Below is a Cloud Deployment Manager example with Managed Certificates and Storage Buckets as the backend

storagebuckets-template.jinja

resources:
- name: {{ properties["bucketExample"] }}
  type: storage.v1.bucket
  properties:
    storageClass: REGIONAL
    location: asia-east2
    cors:
    - origin: ["*"]
      method: [GET]
      responseHeader: [Content-Type]
      maxAgeSeconds: 3600
    defaultObjectAcl:
    - bucket: {{ properties["bucketExample"] }}
      entity: allUsers
      role: READER
    website:
     mainPageSuffix: index.html

backendbuckets-template.jinja

resources:
- name: {{ properties["bucketExample"] }}-backend
  type: compute.beta.backendBucket
  properties:
    bucketName: $(ref.{{ properties["bucketExample"] }}.name)
    enableCdn: true

ipaddresses-template.jinja

resources:
- name: lb-ipaddress
  type: compute.v1.globalAddress

sslcertificates-template.jinja

resources:
- name: example
  type: compute.v1.sslCertificate
  properties:
    type: MANAGED
    managed:
      domains:
      - example1.com
      - example2.com
      - example3.com

loadbalancer-template.jinja

resources:
- name: centralized-lb-http
  type: compute.v1.urlMap
  properties:
    defaultUrlRedirect:
      httpsRedirect: true
      redirectResponseCode: FOUND
- name: centralized-lb-https
  type: compute.v1.urlMap
  properties:
    defaultService: {{ properties["bucketExample"] }}
    pathMatchers:
    - name: example
      defaultService: {{ properties["bucketExample"] }}
      pathRules:
      - service: {{ properties["bucketExample"] }}
        paths:
        - /*
    hostRules:
    - hosts:
      - example1.com
      pathMatcher: example
    - hosts:
      - example2.com
      pathMatcher: example
    - hosts:
      - example3.com
      pathMatcher: example

httpproxies-template.jinja

resources:
- name: lb-http-proxy
  type: compute.v1.targetHttpProxy
  properties:
    urlMap: $(ref.centralized-lb-http.selfLink)
- name: lb-https-proxy
  type: compute.v1.targetHttpsProxy
  properties:
    urlMap: $(ref.centralized-lb-https.selfLink)
    sslCertificates: [$(ref.example.selfLink)]
- name: lb-http-forwardingrule
  type: compute.v1.globalForwardingRule
  properties:
    target: $(ref.lb-http-proxy.selfLink)
    IPAddress: $(ref.lb-ipaddress.address)
    IPProtocol: TCP
    portRange: 80-80
- name: lb-https-forwardingrule
  type: compute.v1.globalForwardingRule
  properties:
    target: $(ref.lb-https-proxy.selfLink)
    IPAddress: $(ref.lb-ipaddress.address)
    IPProtocol: TCP
    portRange: 443-443

templates-bundle.yaml

 imports:
 - path: backendbuckets-template.jinja
 - path: httpproxies-template.jinja
 - path: ipaddresses-template.jinja
 - path: loadbalancer-template.jinja
 - path: storagebuckets-template.jinja
 - path: sslcertificates-template.jinja

resources:
 - name: storagebuckets
   type: storagebuckets-template.jinja
   properties:
     bucketExample: example-sb
 - name: backendbuckets
   type: backendbuckets-template.jinja
   properties:
     bucketExample: example-sb
 - name: loadbalancer
   type: loadbalancer-template.jinja
   properties:
     bucketExample: $(ref.example-sb-backend.selfLink)
 - name: ipaddresses
   type: ipaddresses-template.jinja
 - name: httpproxies
   type: httpproxies-template.jinja
 - name: sslcertificates
   type: sslcertificates-template.jinja

$ gcloud deployment-manager deployments create infrastructure --config=templates-bundle.yaml > output command output

 NAME                                   TYPE                             STATE      ERRORS  INTENT
 centralized-lb-http                    compute.v1.urlMap                COMPLETED  []
 centralized-lb-https                   compute.v1.urlMap                COMPLETED  []
 example                                compute.v1.sslCertificate        COMPLETED  []
 example-sb                             storage.v1.bucket                COMPLETED  []
 example-sb-backend                     compute.beta.backendBucket       COMPLETED  []
 lb-http-forwardingrule                 compute.v1.globalForwardingRule  COMPLETED  []
 lb-http-proxy                          compute.v1.targetHttpProxy       COMPLETED  []
 lb-https-forwardingrule                compute.v1.globalForwardingRule  COMPLETED  []
 lb-https-proxy                         compute.v1.targetHttpsProxy      COMPLETED  []
 lb-ipaddress                           compute.v1.globalAddress         COMPLETED  []

Answer 2

It is not possible to do that directly on GCP Load balancer.

One possibility is to make the redirection on your backend service. GCP Loader balancer add x-forwarded-proto property in requests headers which is equal to http or https. You could add a condition based on this property to make a redirection.