How to set up a pantheon lando application without the proxy on macOS 10.12+

pantheon-lando-without-proxy.md

How to set up a pantheon lando application without a proxy on macOS 10.12+

This guide explains how to use a pantheon lando application without the proxy server on your local machine. Instead of using a proxy server, you will use dnsmasq and pfctl to port forward your lando application's webserver ports to 80 and 443.

Note: you will have to perform some manual interactions for each lando application you create. See the instructions below.

1. First, install homebrew

2. Then, install and setup dnsmasq with homebrew:

   brew install dnsmasq
   echo 'address=/.lndo.site/127.0.0.1' > $(brew --prefix)/etc/dnsmasq.conf
   echo 'listen-address=127.0.0.1' >> $(brew --prefix)/etc/dnsmasq.conf
   echo 'port=35353' >> $(brew --prefix)/etc/dnsmasq.conf
   brew services start dnsmasq
   

3. While dnsmasq is running, configure macOS to use your local host for DNS queries ending in .lndo.site

   sudo mkdir -v /etc/resolver 
   sudo bash -c 'echo "nameserver 127.0.0.1" > /etc/resolver/dev'
   sudo bash -c 'echo "port 35353" >> /etc/resolver/dev'
   

4. Disable lando's proxy in your local config file.

   touch ~/.lando/config.yml
   echo "proxy: OFF" >> ~/.lando/config.yml
   

5. Set up your app with lando. Make sure your application is stopped before proceeding.

6. Start your application using lando start.

7. In terminal, run the following command all at once:

   sudo bash -c 'export TAB=$'"'"'\t'"'"'
   cat > /Library/LaunchDaemons/co.jakebellacera.httpdfwd.plist <<EOF
   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
   <plist version="1.0">
   <dict>
   ${TAB}<key>Label</key>
   ${TAB}<string>co.jakebellacera.httpdfwd</string>
   ${TAB}<key>ProgramArguments</key>
   ${TAB}<array>
   ${TAB}${TAB}<string>sh</string>
   ${TAB}${TAB}<string>-c</string>
   ${TAB}${TAB}<string>echo "rdr pass proto tcp from any to any port {80,32787} -> 127.0.0.1 port 32787" | pfctl -a "com.apple/260.HttpFwdFirewall" -Ef - &amp;&amp; echo "rdr pass proto tcp from any to any port {443,32788} -> 127.0.0.1 port 32788" | pfctl -a "com.apple/261.HttpFwdFirewall" -Ef - &amp;&amp; sysctl -w net.inet.ip.forwarding=1</string>
   ${TAB}</array>
   ${TAB}<key>RunAtLoad</key>
   ${TAB}<true/>
   ${TAB}<key>UserName</key>
   ${TAB}<string>root</string>
   </dict>
   </plist>
   EOF'
   sudo launchctl load -Fw /Library/LaunchDaemons/co.jakebellacera.httpdfwd.plist
   

   NOTE: this assumes your pantheon app's edge servers are assigned to the following ports: 32787 (http) and 32788 (https). In testing, these seemed to be the default ports that are assigned to pantheon applications. If you see different ports, or are not using a pantheon application configuration, then you may need to adjust the ports in the code snippet above.

8. In your /etc/hosts file, add an entry for your application's host name at localhost.

   127.0.0.1 example.lndo.site
   

   NOTE: replace "example" in the hostname with the name of your application.

9. Finally, you should be able to access your application by the hostname you added to your /etc/hosts file in the step above without any ports. If you are having trouble, try turning off and on your wifi or reboot your machine so that your /etc/resolver settings are applied successfully.