Reverse proxy

In some deployments, the LibreTime server is deployed behind a reverse proxy, for example in containerization use-cases such as Docker and LXC. LibreTime makes extensive use of its API for some site features, which causes Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) to occur. By default, CORS requests are blocked by your browser and the origins need to be added to the Allowed CORS URLs block in General Settings. These origins should include any domains that are used externally to connect to your reverse proxy that you want handled by LibreTime. These URLS can also be set during the first run configuration that's displayed when you first install LibreTime

Reverse proxy basics

A reverse proxy allows the LibreTime server to not be connected to the open internet. In this configuration, it's rather behind another server that proxies traffic to it from users. This provides some advantages in the containerization space, as this means that the containers can be on their own internal network, protected from outside access.

A reverse proxy also allows SSL to be terminated in a single location for multiple sites. This means that all your traffic to the proxy from clients is encrypted, but the reverse proxy's traffic to the containers on the internal network isn't. All the SSL certificates live on the reverse proxy and can be renewed there instead of on the individual containers.

Setup

For SSL redirection to work, you need two domains: one for LibreTime and one for Icecast. Here, these will be libretime.example.com and icecast.example.com.

You require two VMs, servers or containers. Alternatively the reverse proxy can be located on the server, proxying connections to containers also on the host. Setting up a containerization environment is beyond the scope of this guide. It assumes that you have Nginx set up on localhost and LibreTime will be installed on 192.168.1.10. You will need root access on both. 192.168.1.10 also needs to be able to be accessed from localhost (ping 192.168.1.10 on localhost).

On 192.168.1.10, install LibreTime as described in the install guide. Once it has installed, replace <hostname>localhost</hostname> in /etc/icecast2/icecast.xml with the following:

<hostname>icecast.example.com</hostname>

This is the hostname that people listening to your stream will connect to and what LibreTime will use to stream out to them. You will then need to restart Icecast using sudo systemctl restart icecast2.

On localhost, run the following:

cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-available/libretime.conf
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name libretime.example.com;
    location / {
        rewrite ^ https://$server_name$request_uri? permanent;
    }
}
server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name libretime.example.com;
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/libretime.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/libretime.example.com/privkey.pem;
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=15552000;";
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    client_max_body_size 512M;
    location / {
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_pass http://192.168.1.10/;
    }
}
EOF

This Nginx configuration ensures that all traffic uses SSL to the reverse proxy, and traffic is proxied to 192.168.1.10.

Next, the SSL certificate needs to be generated and the site activated.

sudo apt install certbot
sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo certbot certonly -d libretime.example.com -a standalone
sudo systemctl start nginx

You can now go to https://libretime.example.com and go through the installer. On General Settings, you need to change the Webserver Port to 443 and add the following CORS URLs:

https://libretime.example.com
http://libretime.example.com
https://localhost
http://localhost

Finally, the configuration file needs updating. Under general.force_ssl needs to be set to true:

general:
  force_ssl: true

SSL Configuration

To increase the security of your server, you can enable encrypted access to the LibreTime administration interface, and direct your users towards this more secure login page. The main advantage of using this encryption is that your remote users' login names and passwords are not sent in plain text across the public Internet or untrusted local networks, such as shared Wi-Fi access points.

Deploying a certificate with Certbot

One of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to get an SSL certificate is through Certbot, as created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. To use Certbot, your LibreTime installation must be open to the internet on port 80.

Follow Certbot's documentation for your OS and webserver to install an SSL certificate. You'll need to renew the certificate every 90 days to keep your installation secure.

Mixed encrypted and unencrypted content

Whether your certificate is self-signed or not, you will see browser security warnings whenever a https:// page is delivering unencrypted content, such as the stream from an Icecast server. In Firefox, an exclamation mark icon is displayed in the address bar of the Listen pop-up.