Google Compute Engine Dokku Nginx

Question

I'm trying to run a web server using a virtual machine using Google Compute Engine and Dokku.

What I did:

• I created a virtual machine (instance) using Google Compute Engine
• I enabled the TCP:80 port to allow incoming connection for web apps
• I installed Dokku inside the virtual machine
• I deployed my web app using git push dokku master
• The server is running ok (I've checked the logs using dokku logs myapp

However, I can't access it using the external ip address of the instance

I think it is a problem with the nginx

Answer 1

I've changed the default nginx.conf inside of the /home/dokku//

for this one:

upstream $APP-domains { server $INTERNAL_IP:$PORT; }
server {
  listen        [::]:80;
  listen        80;
  server_name   $EXTERNAL_IP;

  location / {
    proxy_pass http://$APP-domains; 
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $$http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Host $$host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $$scheme;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $$remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $$server_port;
    proxy_set_header X-Request-Start $$msec;
    proxy_cache_bypass $$http_upgrade;
  }
 }

where $APP, $PORT, $INTERNAL_IP, $EXTERNAL_IP should change based on the dokku app deployed.

$PORT = /home/dokku//PORT

$INTERNAL_IP = /home/dokku//IP

$APP = app_name

$EXTERNAL_IP = your public IP

After change the nginx.conf inside of the app location, you should restart NGINX (sudo service nginx restart)

This is a python gist using fabric to handle this process:

@task
def config_vhost(ip, app):
    """Use the nginx template to redirect app to port 80"""
    port = run('cat /home/dokku/{}/PORT'.format(app))
    internal_ip = run('cat /home/dokku/{}/IP'.format(app))

    values = {'EXTERNAL_IP': ip, 'INTERNAL_IP': internal_ip, 'PORT': port, 'APP': app}

    nginx = open(NGINX_TEMPLATE, 'r').read()
    nginx_template = string.Template(nginx)

    nginx_conf = nginx_template.substitute(values)
    sudo("echo '{}' > /home/dokku/{}/nginx.conf".format(nginx_conf, app))
    sudo("service nginx restart")