Cannot find the correct server path after success deployment to beanstalk

[Manuel]

@hkblue

Do you have a timeline when you will fix the AWS EB deploy button?

I am not sure about the state of the AWS deploy button, it is something @dblythy may know more about. Not sure about timeline, as I don’t know what exactly the issue is.

@hkblue

What I mean is because serverURL variable is not in the code, even if we set this variable, the code cannot use this variable.

The serverURL is in the example repo, the publicServerURL isn’t. Even if a variable is not in code, if the environment variable is set, the value is added to the Parse Server configuration automatically. The reason why you see some variables in the index.js code is because if they are not set via environment variable, a default value is set for them, otherwise they would just be undefined.

For example, if env var PORT is not set, then in index.js it is set to 1337:

process.env.PORT || 1337;

That doesn’t mean that port 1337 is available, or that EB will route incoming requests to that port. It is just a default value that should work in most settings.

[hkblue]

@Manuel

In any case, here is what you can try:

• look at the CloudWatch logs, there you will also see whether Parse Server is running and if now, what the error is
• start with a simple nodejs express app where you just return a ‘hello’, without using Parse Server, to make sure the EB configs are fine
• once you got the simple app working and you understand EB a bit more, deploy Parse Server and share your index.js code

Yes. I think your suggestion is really great. I will create a small project and run in EB first to see whether it will work. Thanks a lot!

[dblythy]

I’m not an expert on this by any means, but here’s what I normally do.

• Create a new NodeJS EB Application with AWS’ sample code
• Run eb init on my local machine, followed by eb labs download
• Copy the code from the Parse Server Example repo into this newly created folder, and have the following in your config:

  appId: process.env.APP_ID,
  databaseURI: process.env.DATABASE_URI,
  masterKey: process.env.MASTER_KEY,
  serverURL: process.env.SERVER_URL,

I normally use dotenv to help me test my Parse Server config locally before I deploy to AWS.

• I would make sure everything is running properly by running npm start and visiting the local Parse entry point first.
• Then use eb deploy to deploy your changes.

Here’s how my EB configuration looks:

Note that when I click “go to environment” I get the entry point for “/”. When I add “/parse” to that url, you should get {"error": "unauthorized"}

AWS’ EB logs can generally be pretty helpful to tell you what’s going on. You can access these in EB by going env → Logs → Request Logs → Last 100 Lines.

Bonus points for once you get this up and going, I normally:

• Create a private repo that is a clone of Parse Server Example
• Add your keys as GitHub secrets (no secure keys hardcoded)
• Add a GitHub action to auto deploy your code to EB when master is updated.

[dblythy]

In fact, I’ve just tried to boot up a new EB Environment using Parse Server Example ZIP and got the error “Instance deployment: You didn’t include a ‘package.json’ file in your source bundle. The deployment didn’t install a specific Node.js version.”. Investigating now.

[hkblue]

Hope to hear more! Thanks a lot for your comments.

[dblythy]

It’s also worth noting that when you visit your server URL (http://ec2-161-189-119-69.cn-northwest-1.compute.amazonaws.com.cn), you see the AWS Sample application, which shows that Parse Server didn’t properly install.

[hkblue]

@dblythy

Note that when I click “go to environment” I get the entry point for “/”. When I add “/parse” to that url, you should get {"error": "unauthorized"}

If you click “go to environment” and get the entry point for “/”, what will show up? Do you see a html page? How do you add “/parse” to this url? Do you add this by setting PARSE_MOUNT=“/parse”?

Also, do you set SERVER_URL=“https://url_provided_by_beanstalk/parse”?

Moreover, you did not set publicServerURL, right?

Thanks

[dblythy]

I mean that if your install has worked properly, when you visit http://ec2-161-189-119-69.cn-northwest-1.compute.amazonaws.com.cn/parse, you should see this:

.

Parse config isn’t going to matter if the code AWS is working off is still the EB sample application.

As far as I can tell, I would guess AWS has failed to install NPM dependancies or some similar error. I’m trying to replicate.

[hkblue]

@dblythy

I mean that if your install has worked properly, when you visit http://ec2-161-189-119-69.cn-northwest-1.compute.amazonaws.com.cn/parse, you should see this:

If you click “go to environment” and get the entry point for “/”, what will show up? Do you see a html page? How do you add “/parse” to this url? Do you add this by setting PARSE_MOUNT=“/parse”?

[dblythy]

Pls try read what I am writing here

If Parse Server has installed correctly (and is running properly), you should see “I dream of being a website”, or something like that.

Your site is showing the AWS Sample Application, which means Parse hasn’t installed properly. Parse config won’t matter if Parse isn’t installed.

I’ll have instructions what you’ll need to do in a minute or two.

[dblythy]

@Manuel the issue seems to stem from:

• Node version “>=4.30” is not supported on AWS. Changing this in package.json to “12.9.1” seems to solve this issue.
• NPM throws an install issue from install sub dependancy node-gyp.
• AWS does not seem to like the GitHub generated .ZIP file and returns “you must specify a package.json”

[dblythy]

@hkblue could you try to deploy off this Parse Server example instead? I’ve made the changes that should fix the underlying issue.

dblythy/parse-server-example

[hkblue]

@dblythy

@hkblue could you try to deploy off this Parse Server example instead? I’ve made the changes that should fix the underlying issue.

I am trying now. Give one moment.

[hkblue]

@dblythy

• Node version “>=4.30” is not supported on AWS. Changing this in package.json to “12.9.1” seems to solve this issue.

You mentioned the Node version issue. Do I choose " Node.js 14 running on 64bit Amazon Linux 2/5.3.0" in Beanstalk?

[dblythy]

Yep, that is correct!

[hkblue]

Also, do I set SERVER_URL=“https://url_provided_by_beanstalk/parse”?

[dblythy]

That’s how I normally do it

[hkblue]

I don’t see much difference.
This is what I see after I click “go to environment”:

[hkblue]

Also, the post request sent to http://phonecall2.cn-northwest-1.eb.amazonaws.com.cn/parse returns nothing.

[dblythy]

I’m assuming here that you had the same error that I did. AWS also seems to not like the .zip file generated by GitHub and errors “you must specify a package.json”. If you go to logs you can find some information around this.

Can you try install using this ZIP. Rest assured this is just a command line ZIP of my fork of the Parse Server Example repo, but use at your own risk.