"Access Forbidden" - Passenger, Nginx, Rails

Question

I know there are about 100 questions about this, but after hours of research, I couldn't find my solution. Here's my nginx config:

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server ipv6only=on;

    root /home/LucyRb/public;
    passenger_enabled on;
    passenger_app_env production;

    index index.html index.htm;
    server_name <domain name>;

    location / {
            try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
            passenger_enabled on;
    }
}

My /public directiory:

root@Lucy:/var/www/LucyRb/public# namei -l *
f: 404.html
-rwxrwxrwx root root 404.html
f: 422.html
-rwxrwxrwx root root 422.html
f: 500.html
-rwxrwxrwx root root 500.html
f: favicon.ico
-rwxrwxrwx root root favicon.ico
f: robots.txt
-rwxrwxrwx root root robots.txt

I don't think it's a permission problem. I've already run rake db:migrate to create the database, and it worked. I'm pretty sure environments are set up properly. All I get is a file listing (since autoindex is on, otherwise I get a 403). But routes, nor does the app default index/root, work. I've read the Passenger documentation, and I tried troubleshooting with the docs and other SO questions, but I can't seem to get this working.

I haven't forgotten to bundle install and all the proper packages are installed, I'm pretty sure (did I forget any? mysql, rvm and its relevant steps for installing rails, nginx, passenger... Probably another 2-3).

I know I'm not supposed to start rails server because it will only allow 1 connection at a time. So nginx is supposed to do that properly, right? Or is that what I'm supposed to do with certain flags?

Thanks in advance.

Anything routed doesn't work. I can access 404.html, but not controllers and actions — casraf, Dec 29 '13 at 20:51
you can try to add the similar to those lines into nginx config log ` passenger_root /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-2.2.11; passenger_ruby /usr/bin/ruby1.8;` also, show nginx error.log it should usually resides in `/var/log/...`. — Малъ Скрылевъ, Dec 31 '13 at 06:23
Hither is explanations of passenger config options what can be used ing **nginx.conf**: http://www.modrails.com/documentation/Users%20guide%20Nginx.html#_configuring_phusion_passenger — Малъ Скрылевъ, Dec 31 '13 at 06:25
@majioa for `passenger_root`, I can't seem to find what to set it to. Every directory I try fails to load `PassengerWatchdog`, except if I don't specify anything and it falls back to the default, which works fine (except for the routing thing in the original question). — casraf, Dec 31 '13 at 08:50
does it always show that error, or just when visiting the root path ? — Mohammad AbuShady, Dec 31 '13 at 11:14
Ok, try to install *passenger* gem if it is not installed (by specifying it in **Gemfile**, and rinning `bundle install` in the *rails* folder. Then point `passenger_root` to that the `bundle show passenger` says — Малъ Скрылевъ, Dec 31 '13 at 11:55
then specify `passenger_ruby /usr/bin/ruby1.8;` to that ruby you have installed: the system, or rvm version. type `which ruby` to know in where the current ruby version is installed. — Малъ Скрылевъ, Dec 31 '13 at 11:56
It shows that error when I restart/start nginx. As for the gem, it was already installed, I pointed to that directory when I tried last time. It still can't find watchdog in there, so I'm not sure what to do. I pointed `passenger_ruby` to the proper location but it still didn't work. :( — casraf, Dec 31 '13 at 15:13
see to this manual: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9426666/unable-to-start-the-phusion-passenger-watchdog — Малъ Скрылевъ, Jan 03 '14 at 05:23

casraf · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-18T08:06:58.570

Okay everyone. With the assistance of Passenger's author on their IRC channel, I was able to resolve the problem.

I had passenger installed twice.

From articles I followed that didn't cover the topic thoroughly enough, I was under the assumption Passenger is an installable module of Nginx, which caused me to install Nginx with apt-get, and Passenger via the gems.

This is an unnecessary redundancy and causes conflicts.

Either use only apt-get or only the gems in these cases.

passenger-install-nginx-module not only installs a module, it also compiles Nginx from scratch, simply because Nginx is not a modulable application. It is either compiled alongside the module, or doesn't have one at all.

To sum it up:

Only use one method to install Nginx && passenger.
Make sure the config points to the right files.
I also had a problem with the paths to ruby. Make sure it points to the wrapper, and not the executable alone:
```
root@Lucy:/usr/local/rvm# which ruby
/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p353/bin/ruby
```
In your config:
```
passenger_ruby /usr/local/rvm/wrappers/ruby-2.0.0-p353/ruby;
```

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 30 '13 at 15:03

0

Suggestion- Try moving your app to someplace that is accessible by normal user.for example home directory

answered Dec 30 '13 at 15:03

junil

758
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12

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 31 '13 at 06:37

0

How did you install passenger? With RVM? RVMSUDO or sudo? Chances are you shouldn't be using your app as root. So the permissions on the files aren't allowing passenger to use the rails app.

answered Dec 31 '13 at 06:37

moosilauke18

921
3
8
26

With RVMSUDO, according to their documentation. Should I uninstall and reinstall with RVM? Also I don't see why that would be a problem as the server files are accessible to all, and passenger/nginx have higher permissions than them... – casraf Dec 31 '13 at 08:26

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 31 '13 at 23:49

0

Assuming your config.ru is in your specified passenger_app_root, try removing your location / {...} directive, restart nginx, and see if your app at least starts up. I'm not saying this is the fix, but a troubleshooting measure.

answered Dec 31 '13 at 23:49

Jim

1,499
1
24
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Nope. Doesn't run yet. – casraf Jan 01 '14 at 11:22

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 02 '14 at 15:22

I was going to place this in my comments section but space and formatting are limited so:

I also see you're specifying passenger_enabled twice, which seems unnecessary. I've never seen it turned on in a location directive before, but that might not be your problem.

What do your logs say? You don't seem to have passenger logging/debugging turned on (in http directive):

http {
...
    passenger_debug_log_file '/path/to/passenger_debug.log';
    passenger_log_level       5; # default
}

Another thing I'm noticing from your post is that your public directory doesn't seem to contain a rails application??

S.Spencer · Answer 6 · 2014-01-02T18:07:55.240

0

You have

# nginx config
root /home/LucyRb/public;

# shell
/var/www/LucyRb/public

Do you have a correct app in /home/LucyRb? If so, what is the relevance of /var/www/LucyRb? If this is a mistake in your config, then it if probably going to cause some trouble!

edited Jan 02 '14 at 18:07

answered Jan 02 '14 at 17:59

S.Spencer

581
3
8

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 05 '14 at 09:18

0

Have you tried to change your files to www-data user?

answered Jan 05 '14 at 09:18

Alejandro Alcalde

5,990
6
39
79

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 05 '14 at 09:28

Every time I've received that error it's been because Nginx wasn't correctly pointing to the passenger gem and executable. Here's what I suggest, to get things working:

Uninstall and/or shut down whatever nginx you've currently got installed.
cd into your app's root directory,
execute the command: passenger-install-nginx-module and let passenger download, compile, and install nginx in /opt.
use the sample config provided by the passenger script for /opt/nginx/conf/nginx.conf.
To get the server to start on boot, just add the one line /opt/nginx/sbin/nginx to your /etc/rc.local script.

This recipe has been repeatable and foolproof for me running RVM + Ruby 1.9, 2.0, and Rails 3 and 4 on Ubuntu 10 and 12.

"Access Forbidden" - Passenger, Nginx, Rails

8 Answers8

I had passenger installed twice.

This is an unnecessary redundancy and causes conflicts.

To sum it up: