Table of Contents

Disable Caddy in SearXNG and use Apache instead as Reverse Proxy

Configure SearXNG to use Apache as reverse proxy instead of Caddy in Oracle Linux 8. This guide shows how to safely disable the Caddy container and configure Apache for SearXNG access.

Main Steps

# Stop and remove Caddy container
docker-compose stop caddy
docker-compose rm caddy

# Edit docker-compose.yml to remove Caddy service
# (see Docker Compose Changes section below)

# Restart all containers to apply changes
docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d

Docker Compose Changes

Remove or comment out the entire Caddy service section from docker-compose.yml: 

# services:
#   caddy:
#     container_name: caddy
#     image: caddy:2-alpine
#     network_mode: host
#     volumes:
#       - ./Caddyfile:/etc/caddy/Caddyfile:ro
#       - caddy_data:/data
#       - caddy_config:/config

Apache Configuration

Create two VirtualHost configurations for HTTP and HTTPS: 

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName search.yourdomain.com
    Redirect permanent / https://search.yourdomain.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName search.yourdomain.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/search.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/search.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem
    Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8888/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8888/

    ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/search.yourdomain.com_error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/httpd/search.yourdomain.com_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Verification

Test the configuration: 

# Check Apache syntax
sudo apachectl configtest

# Restart Apache
sudo systemctl restart httpd

# Verify SearXNG is accessible
curl -I https://search.yourdomain.com
  • Make sure mod_proxy, mod_proxy_http, and mod_ssl are enabled in Apache
  • Ensure Let's Encrypt certificates are properly installed
  • Update SELinux settings if needed: setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1
  • Remove or rename Caddyfile to avoid confusion
  • Update firewall rules if necessary (ports 80 and 443)
  • Backup docker-compose.yml before making changes
  • The SearXNG container should be configured to listen on port 8888