I have a create-my-react bootstrapped application that is essentially a website that uses some FETCH API calls to a external API and it is deployed and works fine.
However, I added my own Nodejs backend, by creating a server and using using express for the routes/middleware. Everything works fine locally. I can hit my internal API endpoints (localhost:3000/myapiurlhere) and it performs an action on a database.
I have to run npm start to start up the create-my-react-app locally and then manually run the node server by node src/server.js then my internal API works.
The Azure Web App service is basically a preconfigured server with the Node RUNTIME on it, and it only seems to give you access to the D:\home\site\wwwroot folder (Windows server).
Do I need to find a way to run node server.js command on the server to start my node backend, or should it be running automatically? Also, I'm using create-my-react-app and npm run build , so it creates a build folder with a nested static folder.
I have started up REST APIs on Java on my Linux Ubuntu servers before but never on an App Service like Azure. How can I achieve what I'm trying to do?
Here is my server.js file:
const http = require('http');
const app = require('./app');
const port = process.env.PORT || 3001;
const server = http.createServer(app);
server.listen(port);
You dont have to do anything special, Have you followed this page on how to deploy basic nodejs app on Azure AppService?
One additional thing you need to do is that pass the Node version on appsettings of the appservice.
WEBSITE_NODE_DEFAULT_VERSION for the setting key.
Related
I am currently trying to connect a frontend (React) to a backend (Express/nodejs) within Azure App Services. I am using Windows, since "Virtual applications and directories" are currently not available for Linux. However, according to my research, that is necessary in this case.
Backend sample: server.js
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const port = 3003;
require("dotenv").config(); // For process.env
[...]
app.get("/api/getBooks", async (req, res) => {
const books = await Books.find();
res.send(books);
});
Frontend sample: App.js
const getBooks = () => {
axios.get('/api/getBooks')
.then(res => {
setBooks(res.data);
console.log("Got books: ")
console.log(res.data);
})
.catch(err => {
console.log(err);
})
}
Azure: Folder structure
site/server/server.js (Express)
site/wwwroot/index.html (React)
I successfully executed "npm install" via "Development Tools/Console".
The two are already connected via Virtual applications in Azure by using the following configuration.
Virtual applications
The app generally loads succesfully. However, the connection to the backend is not working.
How can I start the node.js server now on Azure and make the proxy working?
I tried to start the server via "node server" on the console. But this does not seem to be working.
I discovered two possible ways to solve this issue.
Assuming you have a client (client/App.js) and a server (server/server.js).
Serve the React App via node.js/Express
Based on the above architecture, a little bit of structure needs to be changed here. Because the React app is no longer output through its own server, but directly through Express.
In server/server.js, the following function must be called after express is declared.
app.use(express.static("../client/build"));
After defining some endpoints to the APIs, the last API node to define is the default route - the static output of the React build.
app.get("/", (res) => {
res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname, "client", "build", "index.html"));
});
Using an FTP client, you can now create the /client/build directory that will contain the built React app. Of course, another directory structure can be used.
The client files from the built React app are then simply uploaded there.
The deployment from the server is best done via Visual Studio Code and the Azure plugin.
In the above structure, /server would then be deployed to your in the Azure extension (Azure/App Services --> Right click on "myapp" --> Deploy to Web App ...)
Create two App Services
For example: myapp.azurewebsites.net & myapp-api.azurewebsites.net
myapp must simply contain the built React app (/build) in the wwwroot directory. This can be achieved via FTP.
The deployment from the /server to *myapp-api is best done via Visual Studio Code and the Azure plugin.
In the above structure, /server would then be deployed to myapp-api in the Azure extension (Azure/App Services --> Right click on "myapp-api" --> Deploy to Web App ...)
Also worth mentioning is that CORS should be configured, so that API calls can only be made from myapp.azurewebsites.net. This can be configured in the Azure Portal.
Occasionally the node dependencies have to be installed afterwards via the SSH console in the Azure Portal. For me it sometimes worked automatically and sometimes not.
To do this, simply change to the wwwroot directory (of the /server) and execute the following command.
npm cache clean --force && npm install
Combine this with React Router
React Router is usually used with React. This can be easily combined with a static-served web app from Express.
https://create-react-app.dev/docs/deployment/#other-solutions
Excerpt
How to handle React Router with Node Express routing
https://dev.to/nburgess/creating-a-react-app-with-react-router-and-an-express-backend-33l3
I have a project with a client folder containing a React app bootstrapped with create-react-app. I also have a server folder with an express API server running on localhost:80.
Originally, I ran my frontend and backend as separate servers, making requests to the API server by making requests with fetch("url") and using "proxy": "localhost:80" in my package.json
I have recently altered the project so that my server serves the static frontend files like so: app.use(express.static(path.resolve(__dirname, "../client/build")))
I then tested running the server on two different ports 80 and 3000, and the frontend and backend both worked perfectly but I believed it would only work when the server was run on port 80
How does my frontend now know where to call the API server when it is running on different ports?
Proxy is used in the development environment and after that when you make build then its convert into the static HTML, CSS and JS files and that can be run in any port using node if you try that in a different port than it will also work as same
Proxy is not made for the production environment
https://github.com/facebook/create-react-app/issues/1087
I was developping a app with React app. In developing env i was using proxy but I'm deploying the app and I saw that proxy didn't work in.
I read about http-proxy-middleware. It can be a solution or it don't works too?
Any way to do this without config the server with redirects to other port?
I need to continue fetching to my API server.
The best way what I found without configure server and NGINX is follow this steps:
Build front
Move folder into a backend server.
Put that code after routes:
if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
app.use(express.static(`${__dirname}/yourFrontFolder/build`));
app.get('*', (req, res) => {
res.sendFile(`${__dirname}/yourFrontFolder/build/index.html`);
})
...
And build your backend code and access to your backend port like frontend.
You don't usually need a proxy in your React app when it is deployed. To deploy, you usually run npm run build, which creates a build directory containing all the compiled JavaScript and HTML files you need for the deployment. These are then served by a web server, such as NGINX or by your backend application.
I am trying to create a react-redux app using node server as backend. Is it possible to make the node server serve the react-redux app instead of running react-redux using dev server a=in one port and node on another port?
Need some idea to start with. Thanks in advance:)
Yes.. it is
you can serve you react app on '/'
and listen for API request in another route
so you don't have separate codebase for the react app and the api backend code
You can use express to serve the react app on a particular route
i.e my-app.com/
then serve backend related content on another route
i.e
my-app.com/api
so when a request is made to my-app.com/ express serves express serves backend resource or API
There are a few steps I take when creating an express/react app together. I'll create a server and a client directory. The client dir is created with create-react-app and the server can be created via express-generator for example. My project dir (the one that contains both of them) is basically just glue that melds the two together. In the client app, I'll add proxy:localhost:3001 (or whatever port your express api is running) and I use concurrently to run both servers (client and server - as client is being run by webpack-dev-server) at the same time. They run as separate servers during development, but when I make an api call, it's as if I'm making it directly to the express server itself.
The only other thing to worry about is deploying the application. You can use the build command that comes with create-react-app and copy that over to the public directory in your express application that is served up via express.static.
Here's a quick example to take a look at:
https://github.com/overthemike/heroku-skeleton
This is an useful doc for redux SSR setup. This helps avoiding running client and server at two ports.
Redux SSR
I'm trying to set up a simple "Hello world" node.js app.
I've created the following index.js file:
var app = require("express")();
var http = require("http").Server(app);
app.get("/", function(req, res){
res.send("<h1>Hello worlddddd</h1>");
});
http.listen(8080, function(){
console.log("listening on *:8080");
});
When I open up my local console, and perform node index.js, I get the message "listening on *:8080", as expected. I point my browser to localhost:8080, and I see the HTML page saying "Hello worlddd", as desired.
Now, I'm trying to do the same on my Virtual Private Server, so I can access the same app from different computers, but all I get is connection timeouts. I've followed these steps:
Install node.js on my VPS
Install express via npm install --save express#4.10.2
Upload my index.js file to the var/www/html folder on my server with IP 192.123.123.12 (an example, this isn't my real IP).
Access the server via PuTTY, and run node index.js, where I get "listening on *:8080", so I know node.js is working.
Now I point my browser to http://192.123.123.12:8080 and after about 20 seconds, I get the browser error: "The connection has timed out".
I've tried listening to port :80 instead, but I get the error that this port is already in use.
Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong? Am I using the wrong port? Am I pointing to the wrong URL? Do I need to modify my server preferences? (running Apache on CentOS). I've only found dozens of tutorials that teach you how to run a node.js app on your local computer(pointing the browser at localhost:8080), but I need it to run on my remote server so multiple computers can access the same app.
The issue is that your current filters (iptables) block traffic unless you explicitly allow it.
You just need to open port TCP 8080 inbound, and you should be able to reach your node.js server!