Unable to upload files (images)

[PunkStarStudios]

Issue Description

Since moving to my own server (from parse.com), I am unable to upload images/files of any size. Downloading files/images and updating/fetching data works fine.

The only issues that seem to match mine refer to file sizes being large with a fix bing to update nginx.conf (as well as the server and location contexts in the relevant site config files) to have the setting :
client_max_body_size 100m;

This fix has not worked for me - I've tried uploading files as small as 2mb with no luck.

I have tried to upload images as part of an array in one object (where an array is expected), as well as a simply one off file in another object (where no array is expected).
An error happens with both cases.

Steps to reproduce

Please include a detailed list of steps that reproduce the issue. Include curl commands when applicable.

In my macOS application I initialize Parse as so:
[Parse initializeWithConfiguration:[ParseClientConfiguration configurationWithBlock:^(id configuration) {
configuration.applicationId = @"myappid";
configuration.clientKey = @"myClientKey";
configuration.server = @"https://myservername.com/parse/";
}]];

I am able to retrieve and update records normally.... both through macOS app and restFUL via linux box.

I attempt to upload an image using :

.
//openDlg is a file dialog box that allows the user to select the file. I've omitted the code for simplicity here.
NSString *filePath = [[openDlg URL] path];
PFFile *theImage = [PFFile fileWithName:filename contentsAtPath:filePath];
//set various fields
newFlyerObject[@"clientObjectId"] = @"test";
newFlyerObject[@"locationObjectId"] = @"test";
//set the image
newFlyerObject[@"image"] = theImage;

[newFlyerObject saveInBackgroundWithBlock:^(BOOL succeeded, NSError error) {
if(error){
NSLog(@"** Error saving new flyer (%@) %@",error,error.userInfo);
} else {
//Everything was saved
[self.dataFlyers addObject:objectToSave];
[self.tableFlyerList reloadData];
}
[self changeLevelValue:-1 eventDescription:@"LoadFlyerFromDisc (A)"];
}];

Expected Results

File and values saved to the database.

Actual Outcome

Nothing is saved and the error is :
*** Error saving new flyer (Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=3840 "JSON text did not start with array or object and option to allow fragments not set." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=JSON text did not start with array or object and option to allow fragments not set.}) {
NSDebugDescription = "JSON text did not start with array or object and option to allow fragments not set.";
}

If I remove the line newFlyerObject[@"image"] = theImage;
The object is saved fine (albeit with no image data).

Environment Setup

Installed parse-server-example followed by the required NPMs:
express
mongoldb-runner
parse-server
parse-server-fs-adapter

• Server

  • parse example server version : 2.15.9
  • parse-server version : 2.3.6
  • parse-server-fs-adapter version : 1.0.1
  • Operating System: Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS
  • Hardware: ASUSTeK rack server X86_64, P9D-M Series
  • Localhost or remote server? (AWS, Heroku, Azure, Digital Ocean, etc): Local

• Database

  • MongoDB version: 3.0.14
  • Storage engine: Storage Engine? Mongo is locally installed.
  • Hardware: ASUSTeK rack server X86_64, P9D-M Series
  • Localhost or remote server? (AWS, mLab, ObjectRocket, Digital Ocean, etc): Local

Logs/Trace

Include all relevant logs. You can turn on additional logging by configuring VERBOSE=1 in your environment.
I cleaned out the logs and ran the code.
NO log files located in /var/www/parse/logs
NO log files located in /var/log/nginx

[PunkStarStudios]

I have an interesting update.....
Tried using restFUL....

curl -X POST
-H "X-Parse-Application-Id: myappid"
-H "X-Parse-REST-API-Key: myrestkey"
-H "Content-Type: image/jpg"
--data-binary '@1.jpg'
https://myserver.com/parse/files/1.jpg

Results in an error.

404 Not Found
nginx/1.10.1
(html tags removed)

but

curl -X POST
-H "X-Parse-Application-Id: myappid"
-H "X-Parse-REST-API-Key: myrestkey"
-H "Content-Type: image/jpg"
--data-binary '@1.jpg'
http://myserver.com:1337/parse/files/1.jpg

does not result in an error.
Huh.
Unfortunately - connecting to the parse server via http isn't an option - OSX balks at it.

I can however retrieve a file via both HTTP and HTTPS.

[PunkStarStudios]

Some more troubleshooting...
I took that parse-server-fs-fileadapter thing out of the parse instance (index.js).
restarted parse after stopping it (npm start)

Files still get served.

But I noticed that CURL posting a file via HTTPS still does not work. And posting it via HTTP does - it reports back that it was put into a specific directory (/var/www/parse/files/appid/xxxx.jpg).
But it doesn't actually exist there - it does exist in mongo's fs.files ... which I assume is it's GridStore thing that is built in.

By dumb luck - I happened to setup a directory that matches what's found in the FileRouter.js file (/node_modules/parse-server/lib/Routers) - so things are MOSTLY working... but not 100%.
I'd abandon the FS router if I could (if I had some way to move all those files into gridstore), but then I'd still be left with the problem that I can't upload files via https.

[PunkStarStudios]

Ok - so I quasi have this figured out.
It's probably an NGINX sites file configuration causing me grief ... but... well.. the thing is I thought the filerouter.js would do something that it isn't doing.

I have parse server installed under
/var/www/parse

I have a whole slew of files stored under
/var/www/parse/files/appid/

If in my HTTPS section of the NGINX file (/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default) I have this ...
location /parse/files {
root /var/www;
autoindex on; //Just in there for debugging purposes
}

I get those files no problem. Parse API calls give me an url like myserver/parse/files/appid/filename.jps
And I can get that file no problem via browser or in code via http or https
But I can't upload via HTTPS (just http)

However.
If I get rid of that location /parse/files section I can upload and download via HTTP or HTTPS and it goes into the mongo gridstore.
However - I am not able to access the physical files residing on /var/www/parse/files/appid/

I thought filerouter.js did some fancy routing to send you to that directory should it not be found in grid store.... but perhaps I am wrong.

Can anyone suggest how parse server can default to to that physical directory should the actual file not be found in the gridstore mongo table?

[PunkStarStudios]

SCORE.
Well I figured it out... and I'm posting some tips here for future hair-puller-outters.

This is what I had to do to fix my problem. First off - I am not using grid store... Gridstore does work just fine if you start out fresh but if you have a few thousand images stored in a folder and not in gridstore - I have not figured out a way to push all those into mongo.gridstore and retain links to existing entries...

Anyhow... first I am using parse-server-fs-adapter
So in my index.js file I have
var FileAdapter = require('parse-server-fs-adapter');
...
var api = new ParseServer({
...
filesAdapter: new FileAdapter({
filesSubDirectory: './myAppID'
})
});

Secondly - for my /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default file (no I won't go into details on obtaining an SSL certificate and all that here)....

server {
listen 80;
server_name myserver.com;
client_max_body_size 100m;

    location /parse/ {
            root /var/www;

useful for debugging otherwise turn off to "hide" files

autoindex on;

    }

    error_log /etc/nginx/logs/80.txt debug;

}

HTTPS - serve HTML from /usr/share/nginx/html, proxy requests to /parse/

through to Parse Server

server {
listen 443;
client_max_body_size 100m;

    server_name myserver.com;
    error_log /etc/nginx/logs/443.txt debug;

    ssl on;
    # Use certificate and key provided by Let's Encrypt:
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/myserver.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/myserver.com/privkey.pem;
    ssl_session_timeout 5m;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
    ssl_ciphers 'EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH';
    # Pass requests for /parse/ to Parse Server instance at localhost:1337
    location /parse/ {
            root /var/www;
            proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
            proxy_set_header X-NginX-Proxy true;
            proxy_pass http://localhost:1337;
            proxy_ssl_session_reuse off;
            proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
            proxy_redirect off;
            #WebSocket support
            proxy_http_version 1.1;
            proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
            proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }

    location ~ /.well-known {
            allow all;
    }

}

Parse is installed under
/var/www/parse

The physical files are stores under
/var/www/parse/files/myappid/