Configuring an Outbound Proxy

In some environments, your virtual node may not have direct internet access to reach the Novant Cloud (node.novant.io). This is common in corporate networks where outbound traffic must pass through an HTTP proxy server.

The virtual node supports automatic proxy routing using HTTP CONNECT tunneling. When configured, all outbound traffic from the node is routed through your proxy server — no manual tunneling or additional software is needed.

How It Works

The virtual node checks for a proxy configuration file on startup. If the file exists, the node automatically routes all traffic to node.novant.io through the specified proxy server. If the file is not present, the node connects directly as usual.

There is nothing else to enable or toggle — the presence of the file is the only trigger.

Create the Configuration File

Inside your virtual node’s data directory, create a file named proxy.conf in the secrets folder:

{host_dir}/secrets/proxy.conf

This is the same secrets folder where your node.license file is stored.

Add the following content, replacing the values with your proxy server details:

proxy_host=proxy.company.com
proxy_port=8080
proxy_user=username
proxy_pass=password

Where the available properties are:

If your proxy does not require authentication, omit the proxy_user and proxy_pass lines entirely.

Examples

Example configuration without authentication:

proxy_host=10.0.1.50
proxy_port=3128

Example configuration with authentication:

proxy_host=proxy.company.com
proxy_port=8080
proxy_user=svc-novant
proxy_pass=s3cureP@ss

Restart the Node

After saving proxy.conf, restart the virtual node so it picks up the new configuration:

cd ~/novant-node
docker compose restart

The node will detect the proxy configuration file on startup and begin routing traffic through your proxy server automatically.

Verifying the Connection

1. Check the Nodes tab in your Novant Cloud project — the node should appear as “Online.”
2. If the node does not come online, check the container logs for proxy-related errors:

docker compose logs novant-vnode

Common Issues