Proxy Server

With a DreamHost PS (private virtual server), you may configure Proxy Servers via the DreamHost Panel.

Features

 * See the Proxy Server page in the DreamHost Panel

Technicalities
The Proxy Server feature is a reverse proxy using Apache mod_proxy.

Basically mod_proxy forwards requests that Apache receives on to another running process through a specific port. For example, if you wanted to set up Rails with Mongrel, you could have the Mongrel server running in the background and just have mod_proxy send incoming requests through Mongrel (or Tomcat, or some other daemon).

You can only forward requests to daemons bound to all hosts, and only on ports above 8000.

Daemon Processes
A daemon process is a server process that listens for communication from remote clients. For example, the Apache Web server is a daemon that listens for TCP socket connections from Web browser client applications. Some servers, such as TeamSpeak or game servers, might also listen for UDP packets.

A DreamHost PS (or Dedicated Server) account permits you to run daemon server processes. They will be limited to the server resources (CPU/RAM) you pay for. This differs from a shared hosting plan, where these processes could adversely affect other users on the same server.

Daemon processes that bind to a port (on which they listen for incoming connections) will be visible from the Internet. DreamHost does not employ any sort of firewall or port blocking on their network.

How-To

 * 1) Launch your daemon process, bound to a port above 8000.
 * 2) Visit the Proxy Server part of your panel.
 * 3) Under "Set Up A Proxy Server Port:"
 * 4) URL to set up Proxy under: Enter the portion of your domain that is going to have the proxied service.
 * 5) Port Number to Proxy: Enter the port you bound your daemon to.
 * 6) Click "Add Proxy Server" and wait for the change to take effect.