Using IIS as a Reverse Proxy for a Node.js Application

Note that these instructions don’t go into Outbound Rules which may be necessary if changes to internal paths are required.

Prerequisites

Install the following two modules.

Select or create the “site” to use for the reverse proxy.

If it’s the only application that will be running on the IIS server, using the Default Web Site is fine.
If a domain or subdomain will be used, create a new website.
It the reverse proxy will run under a subfolder, create a new application at the appropriate level. Note that not all applications can run under a subfolder, especially if their code relies heavily on absolute paths.

Open the URL Rewrite Module. Select Add Rule.

Add Rule Window

Select “Reverse Proxy”.

Add Reverse Proxy Rules Window

Under the “Inbound Rules”, enter the internal Node.js server address and port.

If the reverse proxy is on a subfolder, you may need to edit the rule to add the same subfolder to the Rewrite URL.

If pages aren’t updating after changes, you may need to disable Output Caching.
If some requests are resulting in 403.501 errors, you may need to disable Dynamic IP Restrictions.

You may need to disable compression on the Node.js server to allow IIS to proxy the data.
You may need to disable etag headers on the Node.js server if IIS is caching things it shouldn’t.
If the application relies heavily on absolute links, and creating outbound rules is impossible (like if absolute links are used or made in JavaScript), a subfolder may not be an option, and a unique domain or subdomain may be required.