nginx proxy to remote node.js express app in subdirectory

Question

I am completely stuck with a situation where I want to have several node applications on one server. I get this working fine by having the applications running on different ports. I can access the applications by putting in the ip address with port.

I would like to proxy the applications from my nginx server by using different sub-directories like so:

my.domain

location /app1 {
  proxy_pass http://10.131.6.181:3001;
}
location /app2 {
  proxy_pass http://10.131.6.181:3002;
}

Doing this I had to move the all the express routes to /app1 for application1. This works but now I am stuck with the static files.

I can now access the application with http://10.131.6.181:3001/app1 which is great, but via http://my.domain/app1 the static files are not loaded.

The static files can be accessed directly http://10.131.6.181:3001/css but not via the proxy http://my.domain/css

Ideally I would like to have the applications on different ports without the sub-directory in the express routes but only sub-directories in the proxy. I tried to put my head through the wall for the last 5 hours but didn't achieve anything.

Now I would happy if can at least get the static files via the nginx proxy.

you might want to take a look at serverfault.com/questions/562756/… , maybe this helps — Johannes Merz
– Johannes Merz, Commented Sep 28, 2016 at 18:14
do i need to setup nginx on the node server as well? so i redirect from the webserver to the node server and the redirect again in a second nginx on the node server? — Dennis Bauszus
– Dennis Bauszus, Commented Sep 28, 2016 at 18:28
yes... i use nginx on my webserver and thought i can proxy straight to the node server but it doesn't work. — Dennis Bauszus
– Dennis Bauszus, Commented Sep 28, 2016 at 18:30

Avner Solomon · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-25 17:14:31Z

10

An updated answer for anyone who needs:

instead of

location /app1 {
  proxy_pass http://10.131.6.181:3001/app1;
}

use

location /app1/ {
  proxy_pass http://10.131.6.181:3001/;
}

or if on local

location /app1/ {
  proxy_pass http://localhost:3000/;
}

This is the correct way and this way you will not need to modify express. Express will receive only the part after /app1/

edited Sep 25, 2019 at 17:14

answered Feb 14, 2019 at 17:36

Avner Solomon

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1 Comment

Dennis Bauszus Over a year ago

It is. Sorry for the late change. I wasn't able to look into this before.

Dennis Bauszus · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-29 12:02:00Z

2

I finally worked it out after a google surge.

I added the directories to the nginx proxy_pass

my.domain

location /app1 {
  proxy_pass http://10.131.6.181:3001/app1;
}
location /app2 {
  proxy_pass http://10.131.6.181:3002/app2;
}

And I had to change the express applications to use the subdirectory

app.use('/app1', express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));

app.use('/app1'', require('./routes'));

In the router I had to prefix all the redirects.

router.get('/logout', function (req, res) {
  req.logout();
  res.redirect('/app1/login');
});

The static files are called like so from html

<link rel="stylesheet" href="/app1/css/style.css"/>

A bit of a pain to change all the redirects and static url. I am sure there is a smarter way by setting a global variable in my node-express app. If anybody knows an easier way please post...

edited Sep 29, 2016 at 12:02

answered Sep 28, 2016 at 23:05

Dennis Bauszus

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1 Comment

Luke Pighetti Over a year ago

Did you ever find a better way? I'm at the same crossroads. New to Nginx, could adjust my entire express app, hoping for a simple fix.

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