How to Deploy Angular or React SSR and WordPress headless Admin (Backend Only) on the same...

I have an Angular Universal app (Node.js, SSR) running on port 80 (http://<my-ip>/) and a WordPress site on port 8080 (http://<my-ip>:8080/) using Apache. I want to:

1. Serve both on port 80, so http://<my-ip>/ loads Angular, and http://<my-ip>/wp-admin or /backend loads WordPress admin.
2. Disable WordPress front-end (e.g., homepage, blog posts) and keep only the backend (/wp-admin, /backend).
3. Ensure Angular's sitemap and robots.txt are served correctly without interference from WordPress.

Currently, WordPress serves both front-end and admin on port 8080, and Angular runs on port 80. I tried setting up a reverse proxy in my Node.js server (server.mjs) to forward /wp-admin and /backend to port 8080, but I need help configuring Apache to disable the WordPress front-end and ensuring the setup works smoothly on port 80.

Here's my Apache config (/etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf):

<VirtualHost *:8080>
ServerName <my-ip>
DocumentRoot /var/www/backend
<Directory /var/www/backend>
Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
<FilesMatch "^\.">
Require all denied
</FilesMatch>
ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/backend_error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/backend_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>


Angular runs via a systemd service (angular-app.service):

[Unit]
Description=Angular SSR Application
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/html
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node server/server.mjs
Restart=always
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
Environment=PORT=80

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target


WordPress files (e.g., wp-admin, wp-content, index.php) are in /var/www/backend, and Angular files (e.g., server/, browser/, package.json) are in /var/www/html.

1. How can I configure Apache to disable WordPress front-end and allow only /wp-admin and /backend?
2. Is my Node.js reverse proxy setup optimal for serving both apps on port 80?
3. How do I ensure Angular's sitemap and robots.txt are served correctly and WordPress admin URLs are not indexed by search engines?

Environment:

• 
  OS: Ubuntu 22.04
  
  
• 
  Angular: Universal 19 SSR
  
  
• 
  Database: MySQL 8.0
  

Continue reading...