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    <p>Let's dissect an HTTP request that is sent to your NGINX server.</p>
    <p>Assume for a moment it's '/cr-bin/mp.exe' that's the request but
      there's extra headers.  The full HTTP request looks like this
      (CURL format output, but also what NGINX spits in debug mode):</p>
    <p>POST /cr-bin/mp.exe<br>
      referer: example.com/foobar.html<br>
      content-type: text/json<br>
      content-length: 2345</p>
    <p>The actual URL request in this case would have been
      <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://your-nginx-server/cr-bin/mp.exe">http://your-nginx-server/cr-bin/mp.exe</a> with a POST to there, and
      that is passed through to your system per your proxy_pass rules,
      etc.</p>
    <p>Where your logs are getting "gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm" is
      from that *referer* header.  I.E. you would see
      "example.com/foobar.html" if the referer header in the request was
      the example above.</p>
    <p>This has **nothing** to do with your configuration.  Whatever
      'poster' is doing to post the items to your system is passing a
      referer header in the POST with the contents
      "gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm".  If this is some other
      site/system you'll see any number of potential referer items. 
      It's also entirely possible that this is your hostname, or
      something specific to your Poster program itself setting the
      referer header in the POST that it sends to your server.</p>
    <p>This, again, has nothing to do with your NGINX configuration and
      everything with how Poster is structuring the POST request
      (including any headers it's sending in the request).</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <p>Thomas</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/3/21 2:52 PM, Benn Boulton wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
      cite="mid:62bf383d2f504c4c8cbb83b8c671a97f@skippingstone.com">
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        <p class="MsoNormal">Hi,<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">Currently… The posts are coming from the
           same computer that is hosting NGINX  that passes the requests
          to an external server.<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">Eventually…  NGINX will be run on the same
          computer with Apache and will also function as a load balancer
          for multiple servers. One being the same as NGINX and other
          external  servers.<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">The posts are from a custom poster process
          that is an .EXE run from the windows command prompt or a
          process that calls the POSTER executable.<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">C:\POSTER> Poster
          h:<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://localhost/cr-bin/mp.exe">http://localhost/cr-bin/mp.exe</a> f:test.txt<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">h: is the host to send to<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">f: is the file with the payload to be sent
          to the final destination which is the mp.exe on the server
          listed in the proxy_pass parameter.<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">Everything looks to work as it should.  But
          the ‘gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm’ Log entries are just not
          what I expect to see.<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">I  am installing NGINX to rate limit a
          customer that is sending multiple posts so fast that we
          occasionally miss one, and hope this will resolve that.<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">Again, the proxy redirect is working, just
          the log entries is what prompted my asking.<o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">Thanks, <o:p></o:p></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal">- Benn<o:p></o:p></p>
        <div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1
          1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
          <p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> nginx
            <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nginx-bounces@nginx.org"><nginx-bounces@nginx.org></a> <b>On Behalf Of
            </b>Moshe Katz<br>
            <b>Sent:</b> Thursday, June 3, 2021 1:29 PM<br>
            <b>To:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nginx@nginx.org">nginx@nginx.org</a><br>
            <b>Subject:</b> Re: gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm in the
            access log<o:p></o:p></p>
        </div>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
        <div>
          <p class="MsoNormal">Benn,<o:p></o:p></p>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal">I guess my explanation wasn't clear
              enough, so I'll try again.<o:p></o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal">That value is not coming from anywhere
              in your server's configuration - it has nothing to do with
              proxy_pass or anything else. It is the value of the
              "Referer" header that is in the incoming request.<o:p></o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal">First, are these log lines from
              requests that you are making to the server yourself, or
              are they coming from someone else?<o:p></o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal">If it is your own traffic, where are
              you making your requests from? Is it a page in a
              web browser, or is it some other tool?<o:p></o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal">If it is a web browser, that is usually
              the URL of the web page that is open in the browser. For
              example, if I have a website at `<a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bDBb9TVOKiqDPh_SUvfalWM90G6wcWScPnK_EVq6xVxh-Jq5ndDGgvfcC5U_tqxpluRe5jF35zSgN416HI1RIHw~~"
                moz-do-not-send="true">example.com/page.html`</a> with a
              form on it that submits to your server, the value in that
              place in the logs will be `<a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bMe1AJs-bSscT1yazCR9XS0kzX52Qa1-DwoIBV-QK8xxhHB1slVsgthl_uC3ltg7Vu05wQoXQi9lo9go4OQWCbA~~"
                moz-do-not-send="true">https://example.com/page.html`</a>
              so that your server can see where the request came from.<o:p></o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
          </div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal">Moshe<o:p></o:p></p>
          </div>
        </div>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
        <div>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal">On Thu, Jun 3, 2021 at 1:18 PM Benn
              Boulton <<a href="mailto:bboulton@skippingstone.com"
                moz-do-not-send="true">bboulton@skippingstone.com</a>>
              wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
          </div>
          <blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC
            1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in
            6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in">
            <div>
              <div>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Hello
                  Moshe,<o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Thanks
                  for the reply.  I guess I was not clear enough in my
                  post.  I know the /cr-bin/mp.exe is part of the POST
                  request.
                  <o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> What
                  I do not understand is where the  <a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                    target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a>
                  is coming from. It is not my proxy_pass value.<o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">It
                  is not part of the POST request or part of the nginx
                  proxy_pass or any thing I can find in my
                  configuration.<o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Is
                  my post being sent to both my proxy_pass value and
                  this site in the log? Do I have a hacked nginx?<o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">-Benn<o:p></o:p></p>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                <div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1
                  1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
                  <p class="MsoNormal"
                    style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b>From:</b>
                    nginx <<a href="mailto:nginx-bounces@nginx.org"
                      target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">nginx-bounces@nginx.org</a>>
                    <b>On Behalf Of </b>Moshe Katz<br>
                    <b>Sent:</b> Thursday, June 3, 2021 12:14 PM<br>
                    <b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:nginx@nginx.org"
                      target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">nginx@nginx.org</a><br>
                    <b>Subject:</b> Re: <a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                      target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">
                      gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a> in the access
                    log<o:p></o:p></p>
                </div>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                <div>
                  <p class="MsoNormal"
                    style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Benn,<o:p></o:p></p>
                  <div>
                    <p class="MsoNormal"
                      style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                  </div>
                  <div>
                    <p class="MsoNormal"
                      style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">That
                      part of the log is not the request URL, it is the
                      referrer header. The path that was requested on
                      your server is before that - a POST request to
                      "/cr-bin/mp.exe". The referrer (which the HTTP
                      standard actually misspells as "referer") is the
                      web page that is making this request to your
                      server.<o:p></o:p></p>
                  </div>
                  <div>
                    <p class="MsoNormal"
                      style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                  </div>
                  <div>
                    <p class="MsoNormal"
                      style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt">Moshe<o:p></o:p></p>
                  </div>
                </div>
                <p class="MsoNormal"
                  style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                <div>
                  <div>
                    <p class="MsoNormal"
                      style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">On
                      Thu, Jun 3, 2021 at 12:08 PM Benn Boulton <<a
                        href="mailto:bboulton@skippingstone.com"
                        target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">bboulton@skippingstone.com</a>>
                      wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
                  </div>
                  <blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid
                    #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in
6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
                    <div>
                      <div>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Hello,<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">I
                          have just installed the NGINX service to help
                          rate limit connections to my Apache server on
                          Windows.<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">NGNIX
                          1.19.10 on Windows 10 64 bit<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Everything
                          seems to be working fine but I am getting
                          access log entries that I do not understand
                          for the pages I am redirecting.<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">I
                          am running a process that posts to the server.
                          NGNIX is processing the request and passing it
                          to the destination server but it is not
                          <a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">
                            gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a> as shown
                          in the access log entries below.<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Any
                          Idea why<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">127.0.0.1
                          - t_skipstone [03/Jun/2021:10:30:07 -0400]
                          "POST /cr-bin/mp.exe HTTP/1.1" 200 569 "<a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a>"
                          "brow v1.0 CCI"<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">127.0.0.1
                          - t_skipstone [03/Jun/2021:10:31:07 -0400]
                          "POST /cr-bin/mp.exe HTTP/1.1" 200 569 "<a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a>"
                          "brow v1.0 CCI"<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">127.0.0.1
                          - t_skipstone [03/Jun/2021:10:33:35 -0400]
                          "POST /cr-bin/mp.exe HTTP/1.1" 200 569 "<a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a>"
                          "brow v1.0 CCI"<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">127.0.0.1
                          - t_skipstone [03/Jun/2021:10:37:42 -0400]
                          "POST /cr-bin/mp.exe HTTP/1.1" 200 569 "<a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a>"
                          "brow v1.0 CCI"<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">127.0.0.1
                          - t_skipstone [03/Jun/2021:10:55:03 -0400]
                          "POST /cr-bin/mp.exe HTTP/1.1" 200 569 "<a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a>"
                          "brow v1.0 CCI"<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">127.0.0.1
                          - t_skipstone [03/Jun/2021:10:56:34 -0400]
                          "POST /cr-bin/mp.exe HTTP/1.1" 200 569 "<a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?bD5H3QzZ3V5r-EeQ1owgpRQF9oV5l2NRIm985JaimcuSK9Ouf7HkyYPBjb_5XEDTDFQOhTH2rYvU2h1CLfmBEfM8_cgt7-mqSW8-5oZbZzhsOjFEa1jMAMRarOyYb8wct"
                            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gmer3.itd.sterling.com/home.htm</a>"
                          "brow v1.0 CCI"<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Thanks<o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span
                              style="color:#1B3E6F">Benn
                            </span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
                        <p class="MsoNormal"
                          style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"> <o:p></o:p></p>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                    <p class="MsoNormal"
                      style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">_______________________________________________<br>
                      nginx mailing list<br>
                      <a href="mailto:nginx@nginx.org" target="_blank"
                        moz-do-not-send="true">nginx@nginx.org</a><br>
                      <a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?b0r-C9_AUw48-Ch5rHbhyfCAxCuaEcGez1jSw3TSmi_yMSerkqszEs29ZeJ-9XHhKXFPzhIWSbHbDCNUmj6Tzf9mgNn_Pt2ohe5UJSMuWw0QP3IvnnyCmFlsv4r_rtY2d"
                        target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://mailman.nginx.org/mailman/listinfo/nginx</a><o:p></o:p></p>
                  </blockquote>
                </div>
              </div>
            </div>
            <p class="MsoNormal">_______________________________________________<br>
              nginx mailing list<br>
              <a href="mailto:nginx@nginx.org" target="_blank"
                moz-do-not-send="true">nginx@nginx.org</a><br>
              <a
href="https://url.emailprotection.link/?b0r-C9_AUw48-Ch5rHbhyfCAxCuaEcGez1jSw3TSmi_yMSerkqszEs29ZeJ-9XHhKXFPzhIWSbHbDCNUmj6Tzf9mgNn_Pt2ohe5UJSMuWw0QP3IvnnyCmFlsv4r_rtY2d"
                target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://mailman.nginx.org/mailman/listinfo/nginx</a><o:p></o:p></p>
          </blockquote>
        </div>
      </div>
      <br>
      <fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
      <pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">_______________________________________________
nginx mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nginx@nginx.org">nginx@nginx.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mailman.nginx.org/mailman/listinfo/nginx">http://mailman.nginx.org/mailman/listinfo/nginx</a></pre>
    </blockquote>
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