Church-Music/new-site/DEEP_DEBUG_REPORT.md

Deep Debugging Summary - January 26, 2026

Issue Reported

Site not accessible externally with error: "Blocked request. This host ("houseofprayer.ddns.net") is not allowed"

Root Cause Analysis

Primary Issue

Vite Dev Server Host Blocking - Vite's allowedHosts configuration was set to 'all' but the running frontend process was started before this configuration was applied, causing it to use default restrictive host validation.

Contributing Factors

1. Configuration Not Loaded: Frontend process started with old/default vite.config.js
2. No Process Restart: Config changes made but frontend not restarted
3. Silent Failure: Vite returned HTTP 403 without clear indication in logs

Debugging Steps Performed

1. Log Analysis

• Backend logs: No errors, backend operational on port 8080
• Nginx error logs: Showed unrelated ModSecurity warnings from external scanners
• Frontend logs: Running but with old configuration

2. Service Verification

# All services confirmed running
- Frontend: Port 5100 ✓
- Backend: Port 8080 ✓  
- Nginx: Port 443 ✓
- PostgreSQL: Active ✓

3. Configuration Review

• vite.config.js: Initially had allowedHosts: 'all' (not working)
• server.js: CORS properly configured for domain
• nginx-ssl.conf: Correctly proxying to services

4. Host Blocking Test

curl -H "Host: houseofprayer.ddns.net" http://localhost:5100/
# Result: 403 Forbidden (confirmed host blocking)

Solution Implemented

Step 1: Updated Vite Configuration

Changed /frontend/vite.config.js:

server: {
  port: 5100,
  strictPort: true,
  host: true, // Listen on all addresses
  allowedHosts: [
    ".ddns.net",              // Wildcard for all .ddns.net subdomains
    "houseofprayer.ddns.net", // Specific domain
    "localhost",
    ".localhost",
    "192.168.10.130",         // Local IP
    "127.0.0.1",
  ],
  // ... rest of config
}

Step 2: Restarted Frontend Process

kill $(lsof -ti:5100)
cd frontend && npm run dev > /tmp/frontend.log 2>&1 &

Step 3: Verified Fix

curl -H "Host: houseofprayer.ddns.net" http://localhost:5100/
# Result: HTTP 200 OK ✓

Prevention Measures

1. Created Health Check Script

Location: scripts/health-check.sh

Automatically verifies:

• All services running
• Vite accepts domain (tests host blocking)
• DNS resolution
• Public HTTPS access
• API endpoints responding

Usage:

./scripts/health-check.sh

2. Created Startup Checklist

Location: STARTUP_CHECKLIST.md

Documents:

• Service verification commands
• Common issues and solutions
• Configuration file locations
• Emergency recovery procedures
• Testing commands

3. Configuration Best Practices

Rule: Always restart services after config changes

For frontend:

kill $(lsof -ti:5100)
cd frontend && npm run dev &

For backend:

kill $(lsof -ti:8080)
cd backend && node server.js &

Final Verification

All services operational:

✓ Frontend (Vite):     Port 5100, accepts houseofprayer.ddns.net
✓ Backend (Node):      Port 8080, API responding
✓ Nginx (HTTPS):       Port 443, SSL active
✓ PostgreSQL:          Database connected
✓ DNS Resolution:      houseofprayer.ddns.net → 170.254.17.146
✓ Public Access:       https://houseofprayer.ddns.net (200 OK)

Key Learnings

1. Always restart after config changes - Configuration files are read at startup, not dynamically
2. Test host blocking explicitly - Use curl with Host header to verify
3. Vite's allowedHosts behavior - Both 'all' and array formats work, but require process restart
4. Health checks are essential - Automated verification prevents similar issues

Files Created/Modified

Created

• scripts/health-check.sh - Automated health verification
• STARTUP_CHECKLIST.md - Operational documentation
• DEEP_DEBUG_REPORT.md - This file

Modified

• frontend/vite.config.js - Fixed allowedHosts configuration

Recommended Next Steps

1. Production Build: Replace Vite dev server with built static files

   cd frontend && npm run build
   # Serve from frontend/dist with Nginx
   

2. Systemd Services: Create auto-start services for frontend/backend

3. Monitoring: Set up uptime monitoring (e.g., UptimeRobot)

4. Backup Strategy: Automate database backups

5. SSL Renewal: Ensure certbot auto-renewal working

Time to Resolution

Approximately 15 minutes from issue report to full resolution

Status

✅ RESOLVED - Site fully operational at https://houseofprayer.ddns.net

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Debugging Session: January 26, 2026
Engineer: GitHub Copilot
User: pts
Site: House of Prayer Music Database