Too many redirects on Nginx

[neko]

I had my website up and running, I made some changes to html templates and restart gunicorn with kill -HUP <pid> reading the official documentation. After that I'm facing this ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS on browser. What could be wrong in my nginx conf file for this to happen?

upstream capngo_server {
 server unix:/home/uday/website/cap_env/run/gunicorn.sock fail_timeout=0;
}

server {
    server_name capfoundationindia.com www.capfoundationindia.com;
    
    client_max_body_size 4G;
    access_log /home/uday/logs/nginx-access.log;
    error_log /home/uday/logs/nginx-access.log;
    


    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_hedaer X-Forwarded-Proto https;
        proxy_set_header Host $https_host;
        proxy_redirect off;
        if (!-f $request_filename) {
            proxy_pass http://capngo_server;
            break;
        }
    error_page 500 502 503 504 /500.html;
    location = /500.html {
        root /home/uday/static/;
    }

    listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/capfoundationindia.com/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/capfoundation.com/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl--nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencypt/ssl-dhparrams.pem; # managed by Certbot

}

server {
    if ($host = capfoundationindia.com) {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    } # managed by Certbot

    listen 80;
    server_name capfoundation.com www.capfoundation.com;
    return 404; # managed by Certbot
}

[Osiris]

Well, currently, I'm getting a 404 File not found on port 80..? Which is kinda weird, because I would expect the redirect to HTTPS..

On HTTPS on port 443 however, I can see the redirect loop. I can't see it in nginx, but perhaps gunicorn is responsible for this redirect? I don't have any experience with gunicorn however. Can it produce some kind of access log to see what gets accessed and what response gunicorn produces?

In any case, as stated above, your HTTP to HTTPS redirect isn't working too, so that's something else to fix next to the HTTPS -> HTTPS redirect loop.

Also note that your certificate is only valid for capfoundationindia.com and not for the www subdomain www.capfoundationindia.com.

[neko]

Hey, thanks for replying but I don't think gunicorn redirects url.

[rg305]

This section makes little sense:

@neko

server {
    if ($host = capfoundationindia.com) {
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
    } # managed by Certbot

    listen 80;
    server_name capfoundation.com www.capfoundation.com;
    return 404; # managed by Certbot
}

It says when the name is "capfoundationindia.com", then redirect.
But the section handles two names "capfoundation.com www.capfoundation.com".
So what happens when the name is "www.capfoundation.com" ?
404

@neko

What could be wrong in my nginx conf file for this to happen?

There must be more that you are not showing...

Try showing the full configuration:
nginx -T

[neko]

sudo nginx -T
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
# configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf:
user www-data;
worker_processes auto;
pid /run/nginx.pid;
include /etc/nginx/modules-enabled/*.conf;

events {
	worker_connections 768;
	# multi_accept on;
}

http {

	##
	# Basic Settings
	##

	sendfile on;
	tcp_nopush on;
	tcp_nodelay on;
	keepalive_timeout 65;
	types_hash_max_size 2048;
	# server_tokens off;

	# server_names_hash_bucket_size 64;
	# server_name_in_redirect off;

	include /etc/nginx/mime.types;
	default_type application/octet-stream;

	##
	# SSL Settings
	##

	ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3; # Dropping SSLv3, ref: POODLE
	ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

	##
	# Logging Settings
	##

	access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;
	error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log;

	##
	# Gzip Settings
	##

	gzip on;

	# gzip_vary on;
	# gzip_proxied any;
	# gzip_comp_level 6;
	# gzip_buffers 16 8k;
	# gzip_http_version 1.1;
	# gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;

	##
	# Virtual Host Configs
	##

	include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
	include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}


#mail {
#	# See sample authentication script at:
#	# http://wiki.nginx.org/ImapAuthenticateWithApachePhpScript
# 
#	# auth_http localhost/auth.php;
#	# pop3_capabilities "TOP" "USER";
#	# imap_capabilities "IMAP4rev1" "UIDPLUS";
# 
#	server {
#		listen     localhost:110;
#		protocol   pop3;
#		proxy      on;
#	}
# 
#	server {
#		listen     localhost:143;
#		protocol   imap;
#		proxy      on;
#	}
#}

# configuration file /etc/nginx/modules-enabled/50-mod-http-image-filter.conf:
load_module modules/ngx_http_image_filter_module.so;

# configuration file /etc/nginx/modules-enabled/50-mod-http-xslt-filter.conf:
load_module modules/ngx_http_xslt_filter_module.so;

# configuration file /etc/nginx/modules-enabled/50-mod-mail.conf:
load_module modules/ngx_mail_module.so;

# configuration file /etc/nginx/modules-enabled/50-mod-stream.conf:
load_module modules/ngx_stream_module.so;

# configuration file /etc/nginx/mime.types:

types {
    text/html                             html htm shtml;
    text/css                              css;
    text/xml                              xml;
    image/gif                             gif;
    image/jpeg                            jpeg jpg;
    application/javascript                js;
    application/atom+xml                  atom;
    application/rss+xml                   rss;

    text/mathml                           mml;
    text/plain                            txt;
    text/vnd.sun.j2me.app-descriptor      jad;
    text/vnd.wap.wml                      wml;
    text/x-component                      htc;

    image/png                             png;
    image/tiff                            tif tiff;
    image/vnd.wap.wbmp                    wbmp;
    image/x-icon                          ico;
    image/x-jng                           jng;
    image/x-ms-bmp                        bmp;
    image/svg+xml                         svg svgz;
    image/webp                            webp;

    application/font-woff                 woff;
    application/java-archive              jar war ear;
    application/json                      json;
    application/mac-binhex40              hqx;
    application/msword                    doc;
    application/pdf                       pdf;
    application/postscript                ps eps ai;
    application/rtf                       rtf;
    application/vnd.apple.mpegurl         m3u8;
    application/vnd.ms-excel              xls;
    application/vnd.ms-fontobject         eot;
    application/vnd.ms-powerpoint         ppt;
    application/vnd.wap.wmlc              wmlc;
    application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml  kml;
    application/vnd.google-earth.kmz      kmz;
    application/x-7z-compressed           7z;
    application/x-cocoa                   cco;
    application/x-java-archive-diff       jardiff;
    application/x-java-jnlp-file          jnlp;
    application/x-makeself                run;
    application/x-perl                    pl pm;
    application/x-pilot                   prc pdb;
    application/x-rar-compressed          rar;
    application/x-redhat-package-manager  rpm;
    application/x-sea                     sea;
    application/x-shockwave-flash         swf;
    application/x-stuffit                 sit;
    application/x-tcl                     tcl tk;
    application/x-x509-ca-cert            der pem crt;
    application/x-xpinstall               xpi;
    application/xhtml+xml                 xhtml;
    application/xspf+xml                  xspf;
    application/zip                       zip;

    application/octet-stream              bin exe dll;
    application/octet-stream              deb;
    application/octet-stream              dmg;
    application/octet-stream              iso img;
    application/octet-stream              msi msp msm;

    application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document    docx;
    application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet          xlsx;
    application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation  pptx;

    audio/midi                            mid midi kar;
    audio/mpeg                            mp3;
    audio/ogg                             ogg;
    audio/x-m4a                           m4a;
    audio/x-realaudio                     ra;

    video/3gpp                            3gpp 3gp;
    video/mp2t                            ts;
    video/mp4                             mp4;
    video/mpeg                            mpeg mpg;
    video/quicktime                       mov;
    video/webm                            webm;
    video/x-flv                           flv;
    video/x-m4v                           m4v;
    video/x-mng                           mng;
    video/x-ms-asf                        asx asf;
    video/x-ms-wmv                        wmv;
    video/x-msvideo                       avi;
}

# configuration file /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/capngo.conf:
upstream capngo_server {
  # fail_timeout=0 means we always retry an upstream even if it failed
  # to return a good HTTP response (in case the Unicorn master nukes a
  # single worker for timing out).
  server unix:/home/uday/website/cap_env/run/gunicorn.sock fail_timeout=0;
}

server {
    server_name capfoundationindia.com www.capfoundationindia.com;

    client_max_body_size 4G;
    access_log /home/uday/logs/nginx-access.log;
    error_log /home/uday/logs/nginx-error.log;

    location /static/ {
        alias   /home/uday/website/capngo/capngo_main/static/;
    }

    location /media/ {
        alias   /home/uday/website/capngo/capngo_main/media/;
    }

    location / {

        # an HTTP header important enough to have its own Wikipedia entry:
        #   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Forwarded-For
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;


        # enable this if and only if you use HTTPS, this helps Rack
        # set the proper protocol for doing redirects:
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https;

        # pass the Host: header from the client right along so redirects
        # can be set properly within the Rack application
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;

        # we don't want nginx trying to do something clever with
        # redirects, we set the Host: header above already.
        proxy_redirect off;

        # set "proxy_buffering off" *only* for Rainbows! when doing
        # Comet/long-poll stuff.  It's also safe to set if you're
        # using only serving fast clients with Unicorn + nginx.
        # Otherwise you _want_ nginx to buffer responses to slow
        # clients, really.
        # proxy_buffering off;

        # Try to serve static files from nginx, no point in making an
        # *application* server like Unicorn/Rainbows! serve static files.
	if ($host = capfoundationindia.com) {
            return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
        } # managed by Certbot	       

    }

    # Error pages
    error_page 500 502 503 504 /500.html;
    location = /500.html {
        root /home/uday/static/;
    }

    listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/capfoundationindia.com/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/capfoundationindia.com/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot

}


server {



    listen   80;
    server_name capfoundationindia.com www.capfoundationindia.com;
    return 404; # managed by Certbot


}

# configuration file /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf:
# This file contains important security parameters. If you modify this file
# manually, Certbot will be unable to automatically provide future security
# updates. Instead, Certbot will print and log an error message with a path to
# the up-to-date file that you will need to refer to when manually updating
# this file.

ssl_session_cache shared:le_nginx_SSL:10m;
ssl_session_timeout 1440m;
ssl_session_tickets off;

ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;

ssl_ciphers "########";

[rg305]

@neko

What could be wrong in my nginx conf file for this to happen?

Technically... I can't find a real problem.
But for whatever reason, certbot with --nginx doesn't seem to work well with it.
[loop found - see next post]
I would change that to:
certbot with --webroot -w /some/new/challenge/folder
Which you would have to make an exclusion for in the port 80 redirection.
Change:

@neko

server {
    listen   80;
    server_name capfoundationindia.com www.capfoundationindia.com;
    return 404; # managed by Certbot
}

To:

server {
    listen 80;
    location ^/(?!\.well-known) {              # skip challenge requests
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;  # send requests to HTTPS
    }# location
    root /some/new/challenge/folder;           # you will need to properly name and create this path
}# server

[rg305]

This section loops onto itself:

@neko

	if ($host = capfoundationindia.com) {
            return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
        } # managed by Certbot	

[neko]

Yes, I thought that too so I tried removing the if statement but I don't understand why that didn't work either.

[rg305]

It remains in the 443 section.
Which loops it to the 443 section.
Which loops it to the 443 section.
Which loops it to the 443 section.
...
LOL

You removed it from the port 80 section.

[rg305]

You could try just adding "www."
Change:

@neko

return 301 https://$host$request_uri;

To:
return 301 https://www.$host$request_uri;

So that when it's the short name it goes to the longer name.
And when it's the longer name it skips the redirection.

[neko]

@neko

if ($host = capfoundationindia.com) {
            return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
        }

OMG! This actually worked.
I removed it from port 80 earlier.
Removed it from 443 and everything's fine.

[rg305]

Of course it worked! - LOL
That section was within the HTTPS server section, and said:
When this name "", go the the HTTPS server section for content.
Which would send it to itself (over and over).
[when you entered the short name]
But since both names need to be validated, the validation would continue to fail.

[rg305]

@neko

Removed it from 443 and everything's fine.

I don't know about everything being fine...
You probably have no redirections at all now.

It is definitely closer to being fine!

[neko]

@rg305

You probably have no redirections at all now.

I added the redirection code back to port 80 section and now it redirects me to https.

[rg305]

A little bit better.

There are four possible ways to connect:

1. http://capfoundationindia.com
2. http://www.capfoundationindia.com
3. https://capfoundationindia.com
4. https://www.capfoundationindia.com

Right now only #1 redirects to #3.
#2 returns:

curl -Iki http://www.capfoundationindia.com
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found

Both (#3 & #4) return Forbidden, so I'm not sure if either of them work:

curl -Iki https://capfoundationindia.com
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Server: nginx/1.18.0 (Ubuntu)
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2021 06:24:06 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 162
Connection: keep-alive

curl -Iki https://capfoundationindia.com/
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Server: nginx/1.18.0 (Ubuntu)
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2021 06:24:11 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 162
Connection: keep-alive

[neko]

Ones with www. are not redirected. For 403, it's an error on my side with nginx file which I'm working on.