Ghost: Can't serve content outside of localhost when following the production instructions

[dandv]

New user here. I'm using a Linode Ubuntu VPS and I've followed the instructions in the README, then those at http://support.ghost.org/installing-ghost-linux/ (prefixing most commands with sudo, which is overlooked in the guide), to get Ghost started. In both cases, navigating to myDomain.com:2368 fails with ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED.

http://support.ghost.org/installing-ghost-linux/#starting-ghost claims that node will listen to 2368, but in actuality I see Your blog is now available on http://my-ghost-blog.com. Is there an interface binding issue going on? I don't have a firewall installed on that host yet and I have verified that other node apps work (e.g. Meteor apps listen to port 3000 just fine).

I've tried more things in the production instance: change the server in config.js to my domain, change the port to 80 (and make sure nginx was stopp). No luck.

dandv:/var/www/ghost$ sudo npm start --production

> [email protected] start /var/www/ghost
> node index

Migrations: Up to date at version 003
Ghost is running...
Your blog is now available on http://idorecall.com
Ctrl+C to shut down

In another terminal:

 $ wget http://idorecall.com
--2015-05-09 18:43:14--  http://idorecall.com/
Resolving idorecall.com (idorecall.com)... 2600:3c01::f03c:91ff:fe37:344d, 45.56.83.107
Connecting to idorecall.com (idorecall.com)|2600:3c01::f03c:91ff:fe37:344d|:80... failed: Connection refused.
Connecting to idorecall.com (idorecall.com)|45.56.83.107|:80... failed: Connection refused.

Accessing the blog on the VPS server works (lynx http://localhost:2368).

Next, I've changed config.production.server.host to my domain name (idorecall.com), left the port to 80, and Ghost serves content. Totally understandable of a change, but nothing mentioned at http://support.ghost.org/installing-ghost-linux/#starting-ghost, which doesn't suggest that Ghost should be proxied by a web server either.

[jaswilli]

Hey @dandv, welcome!

First, there's no su/sudo in the docs because in general it's better to install and run as a user other than root.

Second, I'm pretty sure the trouble you're having is that by default Ghost (node) is going to bind to your loopback interface (127.0.0.1) and won't be accessible externally without a proxy (the recommended setup). If you change config.js to point to 0.0.0.0 Ghost will bind to all available interfaces.

[dandv]

Thanks @jaswilli! That does seem to be the case (I've edited the end of my OP after I got Ghost running). The Ghost live instructions should be updated perhaps?

[jaswilli]

The "next" link at the bottom of that page of installation instructions takes you to the instructions for how to get started running Ghost and there's a section about using a proxy server. Perhaps it should also be added to the other documentation as well. The people that write those docs see these issues so if they agree they can do it.

Anyway, I'm going to close this as I think everything has been sorted out. If you run into more trouble feel free to give a shout, or head over to the Slack channel (https://ghost.org/slack/) and there are usually people around to answer questions.

[jlukic]

Perhaps default config should consider this use-case (or should be noted in install guide). Makes for a frustrating first time dev experience when server is unavailable outside of localhost.

[kunKun-tx]

Or at least add a line of description in official guide, http://support.ghost.org/getting-started/

[johnbiundo]

Gah. I'm mostly loving Ghost, and trying to overlook warts, but 2 years later on this thread (but right now for me) and still no mention of editing the config.development.json file in the docs! It does make for a frustrating initial experience to have to struggle with this issue.