Troubleshooting: Starting nginx: nginx failed! in the Backend Container

The AdventureLog backend container uses a built-in Nginx container with a built-in nginx config that relies on the name server to be the service name of the backend container. If the Nginx service fails to start in the backend container, the whole backend service will keep restarting and fail to start.

The primary reason for this error is changing the backend service name server to something different

If you're experiencing issues with the Nginx service failing to start in the backend container, follow these troubleshooting steps to resolve the issue.

1. Check the server Service Name:

• Verify that the service name of the backend container is set to server in the docker-compose.yml file.
• The service name should be set to server in the docker-compose.yml file. For example:

  server:
    image: ghcr.io/seanmorley15/adventurelog-backend:latest
    container_name: adventurelog-backend

2. To keep the backend service name different:

• If you want to keep the backend service name different from server, you can mount a custom Nginx configuration file to the backend container.

  • Get the default Nginx configuration file from the AdventureLog repository:

  wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seanmorley15/AdventureLog/refs/heads/main/backend/nginx.conf

  • Update the nginx.conf file to replace all occurrences of server with your custom service name.
  • Mount the custom Nginx configuration file to the backend container in the docker-compose.yml file. For example:

    server:
      image: ghcr.io/seanmorley15/adventurelog-backend:latest
      container_name: adventurelog-backend
      volumes:
        - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf

3. Restart the Backend Container:

These steps should help you resolve the issue with the Nginx service failing to start in the backend container. If you continue to face issues, please reach out to the AdventureLog community on Discord or GitHub for further assistance.