this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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Simple nginx config (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by Valmond@lemmy.ml to c/lemmy_support@lemmy.ml
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Hello all!

I finally got my Lemmy instance up and running yay!

It runs on a local machine, I have nginx installed and my website pointing onto it.

lemmy.mindoki.com => my_static_ip(port 80) => local_ip => nginx

In ngunx I just set up a hello world message, and it works out. lemmy.mindoki.com shows it.

Now, my Lemmy instance is accessible on 0.0.0.0:1236 but obviously only from inside the hosting machine itself.

I have tinkered a bit with the nginx.conf but I feel there is lot of things to do wrongly, especially as it's 'dynamic', but also it seems like a schoolbook example (for Lemmy, so no hits on my favourite search engine), so maybe someone has a working nginx.conf file to spare for a basic setup like this?

Thanks a bunch!

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[–] Valmond@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you and yes, yes it does clarify a lot how nginx is working!

I'm trying to use use the conf file coming with lemmy docker install, and after some searching I don't even know if this is deprecated or not (it's in the http{} ), or how I should tell nginx the information about where to find the docker devices:

upstream lemmy {
    # this needs to map to the lemmy (server) docker service hostname
    server "lemmy:8536";
}
upstream lemmy-ui {
    # this needs to map to the lemmy-ui docker service hostname
    server "lemmy-ui:1234";
}

Also, shouldn't I tell nginx to listen to port 80?

Also, I get this error when I run "sudo nginx -s reload" and I don't even understand what it means:

nginx: [emerg] host not found in upstream "lemmy" in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:53

Thank you again, I'm a slow learner!

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There's two NGINX servers in the Docker setup: one on the inside, and one on the outside/on the host.

If you run NGINX from the host or outside of the docker-compose, lemmy and lemmy-ui won't resolve because that only exists within Docker. It does a bit of magic that essentially amounts to putting these in the containers' /etc/hosts and maps to the internal IPs that the containers get. Docker has some sort of virtual router built-in, each compose gets its own virtual network and everything.

If you use the Docker setup, you can use the configs I linked from the Ansible repo essentially as-is with minor tweaks. The internal NGINX config can be kept completely unchanged, and the outside one only needs minor tweaks to set up your own hostname and the port for the internal one. You only need to fill in the {{domain}} and {{lemmy_port}} placeholders in the outside one. The example outside NGINX config already listens to both 80 and 443.

Basically with the suggested setup, you go Internet -> your server (port 80/443) -> the internal NGINX in Docker (port 1236) -> lemmy/lemmy-ui.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Hello !

I followed your instructions, taking the:

lemmy-ansible/templates/nginx_internal.conf

and sticking:

lemmy-ansible/templates/nginx.conf

in the "http {" section + changing all the {{domain}} to lemmy.mindoki.com and changing the {{lemmy_port}} to 1236 (FYI: 0.0.0.0:1236 hits up Lemmy locally)

Saving it all off in the nginx nginx.conf file.

I feel exceedingly stupid, but is this the way to go? Because I get this error when I reload nginx:

nginx: [emerg] host not found in upstream "lemmy:8536" in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:111

Cheers and thanks again!

Edit: removing the upstreams, changed the backend proxy_pass, but to no avail...

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Can you describe your setup in more details? Are you using the Docker setup with also NGINX running on the host outside of Docker?

If so, nginx_internal.conf must be passed in as a volume to the inner NGINX via the docker-compose. On the host, you only need the bits from nginx.conf. Don't try to use the internal ones, it doesn't make sense.

If you post your configs it will be easier to pinpoint exactly what's wrong. Also paste the output of docker ps.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I'm off one week on holidays, will sure post all config when I come back, thanks again!

[–] Valmond@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Hello, I'm back with more questions and clarifications!

This is what I did to install Lemmy:

Install a fresh Linux Mint on an old PC.

Follow the 'official' docker install: https://join-lemmy.org/docs/administration/install_docker.html

I continued with nginx, lets encrypt etc.

I also installed PosgreSQL and added a user Lemmy.

I forward a TCP connection from my fix public IP to the lemmy PC and pointed lemmy.mindoki.com with an A redirection onto that public IP:PORT.

The only 'exotic' thing done was that I added these lines to /home/fediverse/.bashrc :

export LEMMY_CONFIG_LOCATION="/media/fediverse/Storage/lemmy/lemmy.hjson"

EMMY_DATABASE_URL="postgres://lemmy:redacted_password@localhost:5432/lemmy"

. "$HOME/.cargo/env"

I don't think (but not completely sure) that the last line was added by me manually.

Now I can access Lemmy locally on localhost:1236 and everything works (inscription, creations of 'subs' etc).

I added the nginx.conf config file at the end of this message (some lines are commented out to make it work at all).

Almost feels like I should have a very much shorter nginx config file 🙃

Thanks again!

Cheers

EDIT: I messed something up, the server now only answers "Server error", I'll be back later ...

[–] Valmond@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

EDIT: The site itself works now, so I "only" need help with nginx :-)

EDIT: DISCARD THE FOLLOWING LINES (Strike-through doesn't seem to work):

~~BTW, I get a handful of errors when I start Lemmy :

thread 'main' panicked at 'Error connecting to postgres://lemmy:thepassword@postgres:5432/lemmy: could not connect to server: Connection refused

lemmy_1 | Is the server running on host "postgres" (172.18.0.2) and accepting

lemmy_1 | TCP/IP connections on port 5432?

I do not know at all where that 172.18.0.2 address comes from sweating :-D~~

[–] Valmond@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Good morning and thank you, I'll use your recommended config asap, and then be back with more questions most probably :-) !