'Unable to connect to Parse API' since enabling HTTPS

[omairvaiyani]

We've added SSL to our AWS-hosted ParseServer, but are receiving this error when running any CloudFunction:

"error": {
    "code": 100,
    "message": "XMLHttpRequest failed: \"Unable to connect to the Parse API\""
  }

We've updated our serverUrl to have https. After a bit of digging around, I ran into ParseServer/middlewares.js#handleParseHeaders, where I logged the req.protocol. It says the protocol is http, even though the requests are sent with https.

Just for more info - we have not yet enabled SSL on the mongolabs database. GET requests work fine.

[gfosco]

Need a bit more context. Where is the code running / what type of client is making the request and gets this error?

[omairvaiyani]

Sure.

I'm using a chrome plugin called Postman to make the requests. Our ParseServer was created using this AWS-ParseServer guide. Here's the main part of our index.js code:

...

// parseServer
var parseServer = new ParseServer({
    appId: process.env.APP_ID,
    masterKey: process.env.MASTER_KEY,
    databaseURI: process.env.DATABASE_URI,
    cloud: __dirname + '/cloud/main.js',
    serverURL: process.env.SERVER_URL + process.env.PARSE_MOUNT,
    facebookAppIds: process.env.FACEBOOK_APP_IDS,
    fileKey: process.env.FILE_KEY
});

// Node app
var app = express();

// CORS
app.use(cors());

// Server path and setup
app.use(process.env.PARSE_MOUNT, parseServer);

...

The error occurs when I make a https POST request to any cloud function. By changing the request and serverUrl to http, the error goes away.

[ivan-liljeqvist]

Any progress? same issue

[ivan-liljeqvist]

@daaku @gfosco

[omairvaiyani]

We ended up setting serverUrl protocol as http. So whilst our client to server data is still sent via SSL, any self calls made by our server will be unsecure - at least until the issue resolves. Though I must say, we have not tried re-checking this issue since 2.0.7.

[ivan-liljeqvist]

@omairvaiyani I wonder if it's because of MongoLab

[omairvaiyani]

I looked into the code at the time and am pretty sure it didn't have anything to do with MongoLab. From what I remember, the REST request made by the server never reached back to the server - the HTTP response code was 0. This might indicate some sort of firewall block?

I think the more long-term fix would be to question why a REST call is being made by the server to itself? Should the code not be triggered locally?

[drew-gross]

@omairvaiyani we are still discussing the best model for how to handle this issue in the long term. In the meantime, you should be able to use localhost in your serverURL to avoid having unencrypted requests on the public internet.

[r2DoesInc]

I moved everything over to be running off of https://localhost, install a self singed cert, but my dashboard is not loading the server. I can use the same usrl to interact with my cloud code, and can see the "unauthorized" message at the url on the browser, so i know thats the correct url for the server. the dashboard still errors with, POST https://localhost/msz/parse/serverInfo net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED

My dashboard loads the server if i change it back to the external url, however the cloud code fails to interact with the database.

[Spacelapp]

+1
Only the parse cloud code cannot connect to the server via https...

[omairvaiyani]

@Spacelapp We've set our serverUrl to 'localhost:port' to counter-act this.

[Spacelapp]

I already tried this...but when I use a cloud function in my iOS app I get this error: [Error]: { code = 100; message = "XMLHttpRequest failed: {}"; } (Code: 141, Version: 1.13.0)

[omairvaiyani]

Could you show us your config parameters in node for ParseServer?