Standalone API image

[viharm]

Hi, I am trying to use a standalone API image as I am trying to deploye xBrowserSync behind an existing nginx installation.

I have a container running MongoDB listening on the host's interface at the default port (27017). I can confirm this running as I can connect to this MongoDB instance from a different physical host on my local network.

Unfortunately, the standalone xBrowserSync image (xbrowsersync/api:latest) seems to crash repeatedly. I have followed instructions from https://github.com/xbrowsersync/api-docker#running-the-api-image and using some of the options from https://github.com/xbrowsersync/api#4-modify-configuration-settings.

I can't seem to get to view the logs, and I cannot login to the container, as it crashes repeatedly.

Please could you help me with how I can debug it?

(It doesn't help that I am fairly new to both Docker and MongoDB).

[nero120]

If you are already running MongoDB then it's likely conflicting with the MongoDB container in the docker-compose file, likely a port conflict. Stop all existing containers and then try again.

[viharm]

If you are already running MongoDB then it's likely conflicting with the MongoDB container in the docker-compose file, likely a port conflict. Stop all existing containers and then try again.

@nero120 , thanks for your response. I am not running the API from the docker-compose file. I am running a container directly from the API image; so I presume that a second instance is not running.

[nero120]

Ok what do you see if you run:

docker logs [api_container_name]

(replace [api_container_name] with the name of the xBrowserSync API container )

[viharm]

@nero120 , I will retry and provide feedback by next week.

[viharm]

@nero120 , unfortunately I was unable to re-trace my steps to get the Mongo instance setup and subsequently with the xBrowserSync API image. I have given up on reusing an existing Mongo instance and used the composer file. I removed the traefik section of the docker-compose file, but had to move the ports declarations from traefik to api sections.

[nero120]

Ok thanks for the update @viharm, glad that you're up and running now in any case.

[viharm]

I ended up using the exclusive MongoDB image configured for use with the API image. However I wanted to control the public-facing side, so put it behind an nginx instance.

Here's my docker compose file to use without traefik

version: "3.7"

volumes:
  xbs-db-data:

services:
  db:
    container_name: "xbs-db"
    environment:
      - "MONGO_INITDB_DATABASE=xbrowsersync"
      - "MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD=$XBS_DB_PASSWORD"
      - "MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME=$XBS_DB_USERNAME"
    image: "mongo:4.2.0"
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=false"
    networks:
      - "xbs-net"
    restart: "always"
    volumes:
      - "xbs-db-data:/data/db"
      - "./mongoconfig.js:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/mongoconfig.js"
  api:
    container_name: "xbs-api"
    depends_on:
      - "db"
    environment:
      - "XBROWSERSYNC_DB_PWD=$XBS_DB_PASSWORD"
      - "XBROWSERSYNC_DB_USER=$XBS_DB_USERNAME"
    image: "xbrowsersync/api:1.1.10"
    labels:
      - "traefik.frontend.rule=Host:$XBS_API_HOSTNAME"
      - "traefik.port=8080"
    networks:
      - "xbs-net"
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    restart: "always"
    volumes:
      - "./settings.json:/usr/src/api/config/settings.json"

networks:
  xbs-net:

[nero120]

@viharm you can also delete the labels entries since you're not using traefik.

[viharm]

I have finally been able to run a standalone API image without an exclusive instance of MongoDB or Traefik. Although this issue has been closed, I thought I'd add some more descriptions.

Prerequisite

• Docker
• MongoDB
• Reverse proxy (depending on use case)

Installation and setup

Download

Clone from https://github.com/xbrowsersync/api-docker

Container setup

Here's my .env file

    XBS_API_HOSTNAME=xbs.domain.tld
    XBS_DB_PASSWORD=dbpassword
    XBS_DB_USERNAME=dbuser

Here's my settings.json file

{
  "db": {
    "host": "mongodatabasehost.local",
    "port": 27017,
    "connTimeout": 30000,
    "authSource": "authdb",
    "name": "datadb",
    "username": "dbuser",
    "password": "dbpassword"
  },
  "dailyNewSyncsLimit": 8,
  "maxSyncSize": 1048576,
  "throttle": {
    "maxRequests": 0
  },
  "status": {
    "message": "This is my browser sync service."
  }
}

Then create a Docker container with the following configuration (field names are based on Portainer, but can be easily translated to any Docker container management tool (including CLI).

Field	Value
Name	xbs
Image	xbrowsersync/api:1.1.12 (use the appropriate tag)
Pull image	🗹
Volume map	host:/usr/local/src/xbrowsersync/settings.json -> container:/usr/src/api/config/settings.json
Network	Host
Environment	XBROWSERSYNC_DB_USER=dbuser XBROWSERSYNC_DB_PWD=dbpassword
Labels	traefik.enable=false
Restart policy	Always

Here's my reverse proxy configuration from my existing Nginx installation, using a new subdomain to point to the API.

  server {
    server_name           xbs.domain.tld;

    listen                80;
      if ($scheme = http) {
          # Force redirection to HTTPS.
          return          301 https://$host:443$request_uri;
      }
    listen                443 ssl;
    ssl_certificate       /path/to/xbs.crt.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key   /path/to/xbs.privkey.pkcs8.pem;

    location / {
      proxy_pass          http://localhost:8080;
      proxy_set_header    Host $host;
      proxy_set_header    X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
      proxy_set_header    X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }

    error_log             /var/log/nginx/xbs_error.log warn;
    access_log            /var/log/nginx/xbs_access.log combined;

    server_tokens         off;
  }

Hope this helps someone who wants to use their existing database and reverse proxy.

[nero120]

That's awesome @viharm, thanks for posting your full config!