Reports

Struggling with Nginx Reverse Proxy Setup for HTTPS (Port 443)

Hello, community!

I've been struggling with this issue for almost two weeks now and need some help. I'm hosting a simple app on my server to test it online. To set it up properly, I decided to use Nginx as a reverse proxy for my Node.js application.

The Goal

I want to be able to connect to my app using HTTPS (port 443) without having to specify any port in the URL. Currently, I can connect to the server on different ports (e.g., 8080 or 443), but I always need to include the port number explicitly. I would like to make this seamless and work as expected for HTTPS.

What I've Tried

Network Configuration:

I’ve opened the necessary ports on my router:

Public 80 -> Private 80
Public 443 -> Private 443
Public 8080 -> Private 8080

Example of the port forwarding configuration:

Public   Private   Protocol
80-80    80-80     TCP
443-443  443-443   TCP
8080-8080 8080-8080 TCP

Node.js Express Server:

My Express app is set up to listen on port 8080.

Here's my server/index.js file:

const express = require('express');
const routes = require('./routes');
const path = require('path');
const app = express();

const httpPort = 8080; // Port to listen for HTTP

// Middleware for processing JSON data
app.use(express.json());

// API routes
app.use('/api', routes);

// Static files served by Vue.js
app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, "../client", "dist")));

// Error handling for static files
app.use((err, req, res, next) => {
    res.status(500).send('Something went wrong!');
});

// Vue.js default route
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
    res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, "../client", "dist", "index.html"));
});

// Start the HTTP server
app.listen(httpPort, () => {
    console.log(`Server running on http://localhost:${httpPort}`);
});

Nginx Configuration:

My Nginx is configured to:
- Listen on port 80 for HTTP and redirect it to port 443 for HTTPS.
- Use port 443 for SSL with a reverse proxy to my Node.js app on port 8080.

Here's my Nginx configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name MY_SERVER_NAME;

    # Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name MY_SERVER_NAME;

    # SSL certificates (Let's Encrypt or your own certs)
    ssl_certificate /home/<user>/certificates/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /home/<user>/certificates/privkey.pem;

    # Configure the proxy to pass traffic to Node.js (HTTP)
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Firewall Rules (UFW):

I've ensured all relevant ports are allowed:

To      Action    From
443/tcp ALLOW     Anywhere
80/tcp  ALLOW     Anywhere
8080/tcp ALLOW    Anywhere

Checking Sockets:

When I start my Node.js server and check active sockets using ss -tuln, I can see:

tcp   LISTEN   0   511    0.0.0.0:443    0.0.0.0:*
tcp   LISTEN   0   511       *:8080       *:*

The Problem

Despite all this, I cannot connect to my app seamlessly on HTTPS (port 443). I still need to manually specify the port in the URL for the connection to work.

What Am I Missing?

Is there something wrong with my Nginx configuration or my Node.js setup?
Could it be an issue with how I handle SSL or the reverse proxy?
Am I overlooking something in my network or firewall settings?

Thanks in advance for your help! Any insights would be greatly appreciated.