Browser requests are going to FrontEnd and Backend Server

[Rodrigo de los santos]

I´m deploying a fresh dspace 7.6 install with Azure PaaS and IaaS. I have a Postgres Database running in PaaS and two ubuntu 22.04, one running as backend and the other running as frontend server.

I´ve deployed the backend and frontend in a lab environment with the official doc Installing DSpace - DSpace 7.x Documentation - LYRASIS Wiki 

I´ve setup all with no SSL and no reverse proxy just to test and document the procedure.

After start UI I´ve got some 500 Error.  Researching and troubleshooting I´ve found that my browser was trying to contact backend directly (instead of requesting through UI) so I was forced to open tomcat port (8080) in firewall. After that the ui worked fine.  

 

I´m not a Dspace expert and i´m not fully aware of DSpace Architecture. Is this a normal behavior? Do I need to open FrontEnd and Backend to internet in production environment?  

Thanks in advance

PD=Please forgive my english

Rodrigo de los Santos

[DSpace Technical Support]

Hi Rodrigo,

That is correct behavior for DSpace 7.  In DSpace 7, the user interface is a Javascript-based UI (built on Angular).  This means the UI runs in the user's browser. All the data needed to generate the UI must be gathered by the user's browser via requests to the backend.  So, yes, the user's browser MUST be able to contact your backend.

Simply put, your frontend and backend MUST have the same level of access on the web.  If the frontend is publicly accessible, so must be the backend.  It's not possible to hide or lock down the backend if your frontend is publicly accessible (as that will result in 500 errors as you've seen).

Tim

[Rodrigo de los santos]

Thank you!