Apache 2.0-Mongrel Proxy problems

[Bruce Hodo <bchodo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been trying to resolve this for over 2 weeks, but no one seems to 
be able to tell me what's wrong. Maybe you folks can help me.
(this is a copy of a post I made on a Usenet alt.apache.configuration, 
with no responses)

I'm running Ubuntu 6.06LTS, Apache 2.0.55, and WebMin 1.36. I've been
trying to set up static content with server-side includes to be
delivered by Apache, but reverse proxying for Rails application
reqeusts on a local (soon to be remote) Mongrel server at port 8000. I
also wanted to have any request that is received without a specific
file to be redirected to index.shtml.

I've been able to get everything running EXCEPT the reverse proxy with
the following config:

        ServerName myapp.com
        ServerAlias www.myapp.com
        ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
        DocumentRoot /var/www/rails/myapp/public
        ErrorLog /var/www/myapp/log/apache2.log

        RewriteMap  railservers rnd:/var/www/rails/map.txt
        <Directory /var/www/rails/myapp/public/>
        Options FollowSymLinks +Includes +ExecCGI
        AllowOverride None
                Order allow,deny
                Allow from all
                RewriteEngine On
                RewriteRule ^$ index.shtml [QSA]
                RewriteRule 
"^/(images|stylesheets|javascripts|pictures|graphics)/?
(.*)" "$0" [L]
                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
                RewriteRule ^/(.*)$ http://localhost:8000/$1 [P,L]
        </Directory>
        RewriteLog "/var/www/myapp/log/rewrite.log"
        RewriteLogLevel 0
        #placed in global parameter file

        # Avoid open server to proxying
        ProxyRequests Off
        # Pass other requests to mongrel instance
        #ProxyPass / http://localhost:8000/
        # Enable reverse proxying
        ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:8000/
        # Let apache pass the original host not the ProxyPass one
        ProxyPreserveHost On

        AddType text/html .shtml
        AddOutputFilter INCLUDES .shtml

        LogLevel debug

        CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log "combined"
        ServerSignature On

I have a RewriteMap defined to allow me to set up a cluster of
Mongrels once I get one working, since 2.0 doesn't have the balancer
module.

Webmin puts the proxy config in a separate file called proxy.conf
which contains:

<IfModule mod_proxy.c>

        #turning ProxyRequests on and allowing proxying from all may
allow
        #spammers to use your proxy to send email.

        ProxyRequests Off

        <Proxy *>
                Order deny,allow
                #Deny from all
                Allow from all
        </Proxy>

        # Enable/disable the handling of HTTP/1.1 "Via:" headers.
        # ("Full" adds the server version; "Block" removes all outgoing 
Via:
headers)
        # Set to one of: Off | On | Full | Block

        ProxyVia Off

        # To enable the cache as well, edit and uncomment the following
lines:
        # (no cacheing without CacheRoot)

        CacheRoot "/var/cache/apache2/proxy"
        CacheSize 5
        CacheGcInterval 4
        CacheMaxExpire 24
        CacheLastModifiedFactor 0.1
        CacheDefaultExpire 1
        # Again, you probably should change this.
        #NoCache a_domain.com another_domain.edu joes.garage_sale.com

</IfModule>

I've tried several things:
-put the rewriteengine on directive outside of the directory block: I
was unable to access any page that wasn't specifically requested.

-defined "ProxyPass / http://localhost:8000/": was unable to access
anything (no permission to access) even though permissions are set to
775

-turned on rewritelog. here are the results for a www.myapp.com/state/list
request:
(3)  add path info postfix: /var/www/rails/myapp/public/state -> /var/
www/rails/myapp/public/state/list
(3)  strip per-dir prefix: /var/www/rails/myapp/public/state/list ->
state/list
(3)  applying pattern '^$' to uri 'state/list'
(3)  add path info postfix: /var/www/rails/myapp/public/state -> /var/
www/rails/myapp/public/state/list
(3)  strip per-dir prefix: /var/www/rails/myapp/public/state/list ->
state/list
(3)  applying pattern '^/(images|stylesheets|javascripts|pictures|
graphics)/?(.*)' to uri 'state/list'
(3)  add path info postfix: /var/www/rails/myapp/public/state -> /var/
www/rails/myapp/public/state/list
(3)  strip per-dir prefix: /var/www/rails/myapp/public/state/list ->
state/list
(3)  applying pattern '^/(.*)$' to uri 'state/list'
(1)  pass through /var/www/rails/myapp/public/state

It seems that the rewrite is working up to the rewritecond statement.
It parses the statement pattern correctly, but the file state/list
does not exist, so the condition "!-f" should pass the request to
Mongrel, but it seems to pass it to Apache, who doesn't find the file
"state/list" and gives a 404 error, unless I'm reading the logs wrong!
I wish I had detailed instructions on how to read a rewritelog and
what the codes mean. I haven't been able to find them anywhere.

The proxy modules are loaded, so there must be something else I'm not
doing. I've been working on this for 2 weeks. Any suggestions will be
appreciated!

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