Hide port for nodeJS app using App Manager

[pharmHalo]

Hi everyone,

Please bare with me as I'm quite new to developing but have 'made' my first API and now need to get it working more securely.

Target:
To get my api to be accessed via www.MyWebsite.com/myAPI instead of mywebsiteapi:3000

I will throw some details down and be as succinct as possible and if someone could please point me in the right direciton it would be amazing.

• I have created an API running on Node JS
• I used "Visual Studio Code" and connected Via ssh.
• The main app runs on port 3000
  • It is possible that my main app file is incorrectly named to use Application manager to do what I need (see below)
• I am running my own VPS with a company assisting in management.
• On NodeJS i am starting it and stopping it using the SSH terminal in VS Code.
• I am running "FOREVER" to keep the service running when terminal is closed and also to restart it if there are errors
• I have created an application in CPANEL application manager.
  • The Base app URL is mywebsite.com.au/myapi
  • The app path is /myAppPath

When I test this with Postman the port 3000 reference call will work, but when I try the /myapi call it doesnt work, there is no response, just a continued 'waiting for response'


Where do i look now to figure this out please because I want to get this working

 

[pharmHalo]

I have tried a few new things today:

• Created a copy of the APi under a different folder 'test'
• made this port 3001 without using the FOREVER app

I'm now getting into the app because I have cleaned up my app.js section but my routes are not working, all are coming up as "endpoint not found" using this as a 404 error response.

Once again, if I use the port naming convention then this all works.

This is how i am "listening":

const port = process.env.port || 3001;
const schedule = require('node-schedule');
const stripePayments = require('./api/routes/stripePayments');
const http = require('http');


const app = express();

app.use((req,res,next)=>{
    res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin","*");
    res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers","Origin,X-Requested-With,Content-Type,Accept,Authorization");

    if (req.method === 'OPTIONS'){
        res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods','PUT,POST,PATCH,DELETE,GET');
        return res.status(200).json({});
    }
    next();
});

//Routes (deleted except one)
const chemistRoutes = require('./api/routes/chemists');

app.use('/chemists',chemistRoutes);

app.use((req,res,next) => {
    const error = new Error('Endpoint not Found');
    error.status = 404;
    next(error);
})

app.use((error,req,res,next) => {
res.status(error.status || 500);
res.json({
    error: {
        message: error.message
    }
    });

});
var server = http.Server(app);

server.listen({port}, function(err){

});

 

[cPanelAnthony]

Hello! Regarding whether or not you can obscure the port number in this way, this wouldn't really be possible; at least not via any common methods that cPanel would utilize. It might be possible to do this via a rewrite proxy rule. However, you would have to get the conditions perfect and there would be a lot of room for error. I cannot guarantee this would work the way you need it to.

Using mod_rewrite for Proxying - Apache HTTP Server Version 2.4

httpd.apache.org

Perhaps other users here will have useful advice. Best of luck getting the API functioning in the way you need!

 

[pharmHalo]

Hi Anthony.,

Sorry my terminology probably wasnt correct.

The idea is that I'm using the application manager so that my API calls will call the URL /myAPI instead of calling the port,

This means i can close the port on iptables and reduce external exposure to the ports and just leave it as a URl call.


So inreality everything is almost working with the exception of the routes arent being "seen" using the application manager path.

 

[cPanelAnthony]

Thank you for the confirmation! From my research, I am not finding a way to completely avoid the use of a port with a node.js app. I would highly recommend reaching out to a systems administrator if available to help determine if a solution like this would be possible. Otherwise, maybe other users on this forum will have some advice for you. Thank you for your understanding.