Nginx error failed (111: Connection refused) while connecting to upstream, docker-compose nodejs

Question

I'm trying to build multiple services and reverse proxy them with nginx.

So service1 is:

http://api/service1 (nginx) => docker (http://service1:4001/) => express (http://localhost:4000)

service2 is :

http://api/service2 (nginx) => docker (http://service2:4002/) => express (http://localhost:4000)

It's my first time experimenting with nginx from scratch and I'm stuck, I can't reach any of my service from http://localhost:80/service1 or http://api/service1. And do you think it's a good start of an architecture for micro-services for dev and production?

I also have doubt about my network inside for my docker compose, is it accurate to put that network or let the default docker network ?

(All of the containers working fine);

docker-compose.yml :

version: '3'

services:
  mongo:
    container_name: mongo
    image: mongo:latest
    ports:
      - '27017:27017'
    volumes:
      - './mongo/db:/data/db'

  nginx:
    build: ./nginx
    container_name: nginx
    links:
      - service1
      - service2
    ports:
      - '80:80'
      - '443:443'
    depends_on:
      - mongo
    networks:
      - api

  service1:
    build: ./services/service1
    container_name: service1
    links:
      - 'mongo:mongo'
    volumes:
      - './services/service1:/src/'
    ports:
      - '4001:4000'
    command: yarn dev
    networks:
      - api

  service2:
    build: ./services/service2
    container_name: service2
    links:
      - 'mongo:mongo'
    volumes:
      - './services/service2:/src/'
    ports:
      - '4002:4000'
    command: yarn dev
    networks:
      - api

networks:
  api:

nginx.conf :

worker_processes 1  ;


events {
  worker_connections  1024;
}

http {

    server {
        listen       80;
        server_name api;
        charset utf-8;

    location /service1 {
        proxy_pass http://service1:4001;
        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;
    }

    location /service2 {
        proxy_pass http://service2:4002;
        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;
    }

    }
}

service DockerFile:

FROM node:latest

RUN mkdir /src
WORKDIR /src

COPY package.json /src/package.json
RUN npm install

COPY . /src/
EXPOSE 4000

nginx DockerFile:

FROM nginx

COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

I'm trying to reach either http://localhost:80/service1/ which would normally get me to http://service1:4001

but I'm getting this error:

[error] 7#7: *2 connect() failed (111: Connection refused) while connecting to upstream, client: 172.23.0.1, server:

172.23.0.1 - - [15/Apr/2020:22:01:44 +0000] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 502 157 "-" "PostmanRuntime/7.24.1" bts-api, request: "GET / HTTP/1.1", upstream: "http://172.23.0.2:4001/", host: "localhost:80"

I'm also trying to reach http://api/service1/ (defined in nginx.conf as server_name) but I don't have any response or ping.

Your backend services are both listening on port 4000 inside the container, and your nginx config needs to use that port to contact them. The published ports: don't matter (and in fact aren't necessary). — David Maze

Damith Udayanga Damith Udayanga · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-16T06:38:52

Please add the proxy_redirect parameter and container access port in your nginx.conf files as below.

server {
    listen       80;
    server_name api;
    charset utf-8;

location /service1 {
    proxy_pass http://service1:4000;
    proxy_redirect      http://service1:4000: http://www.api/service1;
    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;
}

location /service2 {
    proxy_pass http://service2:4000;
    proxy_redirect      http://service2:4000: http://www.api/service2;
    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;
}

Nginx error failed (111: Connection refused) while connecting to upstream, docker-compose nodejs

2 Answers

Please add the proxy_redirect parameter and container access port in your nginx.conf files as below.