This documentation allows you to set up BBB behind a reverse proxy, for example, if you only have one single IPv4 address, and a webserver that serves other content is already running.

System Basics

Hosts and network configuration

This how-to uses five hosts, all located in the RFC1918 range of 10.23.42.0/24, with one of them acting as a router with an additional public IPv4 address (from the RFC5737 documentation range in this document).

• nat.example.com [10.23.42.1 / 198.51.100.42] (Router/Default GW, OpenBSD 6.7)
• client1.nat.example.com [10.23.42.2] (Random client inside the network, Ubuntu 18.04)
• turn.nat.example.com [10.23.42.3] (TURN server for BBB, Ubuntu 18.04)
• web.nat.example.com [10.23.42.4] (Webserver and reverse proxy, Ubuntu 18.04)
• bbb.nat.example.com [10.23.42.5] (BBB Server, Ubuntu 16.04)

DNS Configuration

There are two DNS records configured in the zone nat.example.com

nat.example.com IN A 198.51.100.42
*.nat.example.com IN A 198.51.100.42

NAT/Routing configuration

On the gateway, IP forwarding is enabled, and the following NAT/Port-Forwarding rules set. In case you do not use an OpenBSD router, please find the equivalent settings for the network device you are using. Pull requests for linux/cisco/etc. routers are welcome!

match out on hvn0 from 10.23.42.0/24 to any nat-to 198.51.100.42  
pass out on hvn0 from 10.23.42.0/24 to any  
  
# Redirect web-traffic to the web-host  
match in on hvn0 proto tcp from any to 198.51.100.42 port 80 rdr-to 10.23.42.4 port 80  
match in on hvn0 proto tcp from any to 198.51.100.42 port 443 rdr-to 10.23.42.4 port 443  
  
# Redirect TURN traffic on port 8443 to the turn host; See 'configure turn server  
# in Step 4 and adjust this accordingly  
match in on hvn0 proto tcp from any to 198.51.100.42 port 8443 rdr-to 10.23.42.3 port 8443  
match in on hvn0 proto udp from any to 198.51.100.42 port 8443 rdr-to 10.23.42.3 port 8443  
  
# NAT internal hosts connecting to the external IP address of TURN/BBB, so they can also  
# use the external address/default DNS names; See Step 1 below!  
match out on hvn2 from 10.23.42.0/24 to 10.23.42.4 nat-to 10.23.42.1  
match out on hvn2 from 10.23.42.0/24 to 10.23.42.3 nat-to 10.23.42.1  
  
# Redirect internal traffic to the web-host (also necessary so that bbb api connects work  
# internally! See Step 1 below!  
match in on hvn2 proto tcp from any to 198.51.100.42 port 80 rdr-to 10.23.42.4 port 80  
match in on hvn2 proto tcp from any to 198.51.100.42 port 443 rdr-to 10.23.42.4 port 443  
  
# Same, but for TURN  
match in on hvn2 proto tcp from any to 198.51.100.42 port 8443 rdr-to 10.23.42.3 port 8443  

Installing BBB

1. Add entries to /etc/hosts / Setup Splitview DNS

We first have to add entries to /etc/hosts, so the servers can execute direct connections when possible (and auto-configure to the right settings). Furthermore, esp. on the web-host, it is necessary so that the proxy statements via https work without certificate errors.

In case you want to/have already a splitview DNS setup running, you can also add these names to the internal DNS view. In that case, you also may not have to set the internal host NAT rules. Furthermore, you may not have to patch bbb-install.sh in Step 4.

web.nat.example.com

10.23.42.3 turn.nat.example.com
10.23.42.5 bbb.nat.example.com

turn.nat.example.com

10.23.42.3 turn.nat.example.com

bbb.nat.example.com

10.23.42.5 bbb.nat.example.com

2. Setup HTTP/80 Reverse Proxies

In the second step, we have to set up reverse proxies for TURN and BBB, so they can get LE certificates automatically while using install.sh.

We add, to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default:

server  
{  
   listen 80;  
   listen       [::]:80;  
  
   server_name turn.nat.example.com;  
  
   root /var/www/html;  
   location / {  
      proxy_pass http://turn.nat.example.com;  
   }  
}  
  
  
  
server   
{  
   listen 80;  
   listen [::]:80;  
  
   server_name bbb.nat.example.com;  
  
   root /var/www/html;  
   location / {  
      proxy_pass http://bbb.nat.example.com;  
   }  
}  

3. Install TURN server

Now we can install and configure the TURN server on the turn host.

turn # wget -qO- https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -c turn.nat.example.com:use-another-secret -e [email protected]

Configure TURN to use port 8443

After the script has run through, we can configure the TURN server. In /etc/turnserver.conf change:

• Set tls-listening-port=443 to tls-listening-port=8443
• Set external-ip=10.23.42.3 to external-ip=198.51.100.42 (i.e. your external IP!)

Afterwards, restart the TURN server with service coturn restart.

4. Install BigBlueButton

Next, we can install BBB. If you already have a running instance, you can also ensure that it correctly works/runs on your internal IP address. The main objective is to make sure that bbb, e.g., in bbb-conf --check does only list: (a) The hostname (which should be the same internally and externally), and, (b) The internal/RFC1918 IP address.

Patching bbb-install.sh

As the install script does not like the difference between the local and remote IP address, we have to patch it.

Download the script with:
bbb # wget https://ubuntu.bigbluebutton.org/bbb-install.sh

Then change lines 433 and 518 as follows:

433c433  
<     local external_ip=$(grep $1 /etc/hosts| grep -o '^[.0-9]*'| tail -n1)  
---  
>     local external_ip=$(dig +short $1 @resolver1.opendns.com | grep '^[.0-9]*$' | tail -n1)  
518c518  
<     DIG_IP=$(grep $1 /etc/hosts| grep -o '^[.0-9]*'| tail -n1)  
---  
>     DIG_IP=$(dig +short $1 | grep '^[.0-9]*$' | tail -n1)  

Running bbb-install.sh

Next, we can run the patched bbb-install.sh as usual:
bbb # cat bbb-install.sh | bash -s -- -v xenial-22 -s bbb.nat.example.com -e [email protected] -g -c turn.nat.example.com:use-another-secret

Note that, if you do not want to use greenlight, you have to remove the -g from the invocation of the install script.

Setting up syncing of https certificates

With this setup, the SSL certificates are generated (and automatically refreshed) on bbb.nat.example.com. Hence, we have to sync them over to the web host, so they are also auto-generated there. Please figure out your own method there. For the test-setup, I opted for generating an ssh-key for root on web.nat.example.com and adding the pub-key on bbb.nat.example.com. I then setup the following cron-job on web.nat.example.com:

23 1 * * * rsync -av [email protected]:/etc/letsencrypt /etc && service nginx reload

Note, that this might bring conflicts, if you are already using LE on web.nat.example.com.

Configuring TURN server

Next, change /usr/share/bbb-web/WEB-INF/classes/spring/turn-stun-servers.xml to reflect the different TURN server port we are using. If you do not use port
8443, please adjust this accordingly, also in your port-forwards:

bbb # sed -i s/443/8443/ /usr/share/bbb-web/WEB-INF/classes/spring/turn-stun-servers.xml

Apply this change with bbb-conf --restart; Depending on your setup, you might want to add this change to the apply-config.sh script (see the BBB documentation).

5. Configuring NGINX

After(!) you synced the SSL certificates, we can change the configuration on web.nat.example.com again, to add required proxy statements for https/bbb. Change the vhost for bbb.nat.example.com listening on port 80 as follows:

server  
{  
   listen 80;  
   listen [::]:80;  
    
   server_name bbb.nat.example.com;  
    
   root /var/www/html;  
   index index.html;  
    
   location / {  
      proxy_pass http://bbb.nat.example.com;  
   }  
   location /ws {  
      proxy_pass https://bbb.nat.example.com:7443;  
      proxy_http_version 1.1;  
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;  
      proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";  
      proxy_read_timeout 6h;  
      proxy_send_timeout 6h;  
      client_body_timeout 6h;  
      send_timeout 6h;  
   }  
   location /bbb-webrtc-sfu {  
      proxy_pass https://bbb.nat.example.com;  
      proxy_http_version 1.1;  
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;  
      proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";  
      proxy_read_timeout 6h;  
      proxy_send_timeout 6h;  
      client_body_timeout 6h;  
      send_timeout 6h;  
   }  
   location /pad/socket.io {  
      proxy_pass https://bbb.nat.example.com;  
      proxy_set_header Host $host;  
      proxy_buffering off;  
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;  
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;  
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;  
      proxy_set_header Host $host;  
      proxy_http_version 1.1;  
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;  
      proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";  
   }  
  
}  

And add the following new entry for https:

server  
{  
   listen 443;  
   listen       [::]:443;  
   server_name bbb.nat.example.com;  
   root /var/www/html;  
   ssl on;  
   ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/bbb.nat.example.com/fullchain.pem;  
   ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/bbb.nat.example.com/privkey.pem;  
   location / {  
      proxy_pass https://bbb.nat.example.com;  
   }  
   location /ws {  
      proxy_pass https://bbb.nat.example.com:7443;  
      proxy_http_version 1.1;  
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;  
      proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";  
      proxy_read_timeout 6h;  
      proxy_send_timeout 6h;  
      client_body_timeout 6h;  
      send_timeout 6h;  
   }  
   location /bbb-webrtc-sfu {  
      proxy_pass https://bbb.nat.example.com;  
      proxy_http_version 1.1;  
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;  
      proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";  
      proxy_read_timeout 6h;  
      proxy_send_timeout 6h;  
      client_body_timeout 6h;  
      send_timeout 6h;  
   }  
   location /pad/socket.io {  
      proxy_pass https://bbb.nat.example.com;  
      proxy_set_header Host $host;  
      proxy_buffering off;  
      proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;  
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;  
      proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;  
      proxy_set_header Host $host;  
      proxy_http_version 1.1;  
      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;  
      proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade";  
   }  
}  

Afterwards, restart nginx with service nginx restart, and you are done. You should now be able to reach your BBB server with enabled greenlight frontend at https://bbb.nat.example.com/b (if you installed it), and the BBB server directly at https://bbb.nat.example.com/.

6. TODO

Currently, this needs a dedicated port-forward for TURN. I will do some more digging to see if TURN can be reverse proxied as well (maybe with http://nginx.org/en/docs/stream/ngx_stream_ssl_preread_module.html#ssl_preread). Will update the documentation in case there is actual need for that.