Metabase welcome page for “as a service” [SOLVED]

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1

Environment:
Debian GNU/Linux
Bitnami LAMP stack + Metabase jar

How is the following code applied? Is it a stand-alone file or must it replace something in an existing configuration file?

server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name mymetabasedomain.com;
location / {
proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
}
}

The most relevant file appears to be this 500+ line file:
~/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/httpd.conf

Guide followed:

2

@mesquest The configuration snippet is for Nginx. You are using Apache.
You would have to follow an Apache tutorial, example this:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-apache-as-a-reverse-proxy-with-mod_proxy-on-debian-8

3

Thanks @flamber, the apache tutorial was very helpful but Metabase welcome page remains inaccessible. Does the script below appear reasonable?

<VirtualHost *:80>
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:3000/
ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:3000/

Guides followed:


Environment:
Debian GNU/Linux
Bitnami LAMP stack + Metabase jar

4

@mesquest Yes, that looks correct. I really haven't dappled in Apache for more than 10 years.

5

@flamber, from the below guide I have tried the following command:
~$ ss -tunelp | grep 3000
Normally this should return some diagnostics per the guide in step 4 but it doesn’t in this case. Does that mean there’s nothing coming thru on port 3000? Perhaps I just haven’t added the Proxy script to the right file? Do you have any suggestions as to how to proceed?
https://computingforgeeks.com/install-metabase-with-systemd-on-debian-linux/

6

@mesquest
Is Metabase even running?
The ss command will list anything running, and grep with limit results. So it has nothing to do with what you do in Apache.
But since you are running with some user instead of root, then you might need to do sudo
sudo ss -tunelp | grep 3000
Again, this is specific to how you are running, since that seems to be the default of Bitnami LAMP.

The computingforgeeks article is terrible.

What is the reason for not using the official SystemD guide? What is that missing or what is it you want to do differently?
https://www.metabase.com/docs/latest/operations-guide/running-metabase-on-debian.html
It seems like you are fairly new to Linux, which is why you are hitting some blockers.

7

Yes, thanks @flamber, Metabase appears to be running though the “sudo ss -tunelp | grep 3000” doesn’t return anything and the “sudo systemctl status metabase.service” only a portion of the expected output:

image
image1280×440 109 KB

Agreed, the computingforgeeks article is terrible. But it does provide helpful readouts for the above that indicate Metabase may not be fully functional (a series of completed tasks followed by “Metabase Initialization COMPLETE” isn't showing up).

That and where Nginx’s Apache equivalent script goes isn’t clear. With Nginx it would go in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf. So with Apache I’m guessing it would go in /etc/apache/apache.conf or overwrite it’s VirtualHost file. Actually I've been bouncing around for days trying to figure out where this script should be placed:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:3000/
ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:3000/

And yes, my unfamiliarity with Linux means I’m bumping around trying to find even the most basic things such as the filepath “/etc/systemd/system” (something tells me this isn't an actual filepath per se that I can just "cd" into) and a clear indicator of Metabase’s status as in “Metabase Initialization COMPLETE”.

8

@mesquest I totally get that, but we cannot write guides, which expects no knowledge of Linux, since then they would be overly long and then people should not try to host Metabase themselves, but either use Metabase Cloud or hire someone to help them.
I'm sure that it would be similar difficult for someone trying to setup Metabase on Windows, if they had no knowledge of Windows.

9

Well I got the Metabase welcome page to come up finally! The key may be where to put the Apache proxy script, in my setup it must go in the primary configuration file at /opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/httpd.conf
The only things I would add to the guide are:

  1. nginx.conf – Where that goes and a secondary example for Apache,
  2. $ sudo systemctl status metabase.service – show what a successful readout looks like,
  3. $ sudo chown syslog:adm /var/log/metabase.log gives an invalid user error (may want to double check that one).

Metabase is an incredibly versatile open source tool but the tradeoff is it requires quite allot of technical aptitude and determination to use. Thankfully there’s a cloud option to fall back on.

10

@mesquest You could have tried something like LEMP instead, which comes with Nginx instead of Apache.

Most of your problems comes from the selection of Bitnami LAMP instead of a clean Debian/Ubuntu.

But no-one is saying that you have to use Apache (or Nginx for that matter). Using a reverse-proxy can be extremely useful for certain things, but it comes with it's own technical requirements, which we're definitely not going to try to cover, since both Apache and Nginx are huge projects with advanced configurations.

We want people to use Cloud if they prefer not to deal with configs or don't have the technical capacity.