Cloudron Subdomain pointing to a different IP for Apps not on Cloudron

[senthilkumaran]

I am hosting a family tree using a software called grampsweb and I want it host under a sub-domain that is managed by Cloudron.
In in google cloud console, I see that all the A record will be against the IP that cloudron is running and all sub-domains are effectively managed by cloudron, something like VHOSTS.

Now, if I want to host an application in a different instance(like grampsweb in a few digital ocean instance with an IP), and I want to point it to cloudron sub-domain, how can I go about doing this? I don't have a CNAME, I only have an IP address and I need to point it to an A record.

Thanks in advance.

Senthil

[robi]

@senthilkumaran Use the Add App Proxy app from the upper right of the App Store to do that.

[girish]

doc link - https://docs.cloudron.io/apps/#app-proxy

[scooke]

This sounds very confusing, but my answer, as I understand the question, is that Cloudron only manages domains, and subdomains, which have the A record for the Cloudron VPS. So if your Cloudron is at a server with an IP 1.2.3.4, then your DNS will have an A record of example.com at 1.2.3.4, with the *.example.com also having 1.2.3.4. BUT, you can make any number of other A records like grampwebs.example.com but the A record is 4.3.2.1, and that will resolve fine on the other server. Cloudron doesn't "have" sub-domains per se, only what the * allows combined with the subdomains you enter in the app installation. I supposed it does "have" it in the sense that any crazyname.example.com is going to resolve to the CLoudron, along with a message saying there is no app there (because of the *), but again, DNS is up to you and your registrar, not Cloudron. I should add that I use Wildcard, even with the Registrars that Cloudron can interact with using the API, simply because I like being that one-more-step-closer-in-control, and because sometimes I do use the Cloudron root domain with a different subdomain resolving to an entirely different server and web app.

[senthilkumaran]

I am following up here. @scooke

1. I added an A record to an IP against a domain managed by Cloudron - https://i.imgur.com/EXkfNKD.png
2. When I do nslookup, it points to the ip the cloudron is running - https://i.imgur.com/OatwR9K.png

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@robi , @girish - with using app-proxy works. But I am running into a problem with Mixed content type as my nginx on the host is in http and I will have get certbot certs against the domain to serve against https.

[senthilkumaran]

This was the basis of my original question.
https://i.imgur.com/3gtJVw1.png - wildcard means that all the *.thinnal.org will point to the cloudron's ip.
But interestingly, I have the root domain thinnal.org pointing to a different IP and it works fine.

[senthilkumaran]

When the domain is managed by a provider, say Google Cloud, I do not see this issue, I can add an A record from the DNS console, and I do this hybrid management. When I choose WildCard domain in the cloudron console, any A record I add to my DNS settings with my DNS provider, is not taking effect. It is like all subdomain access is hijacked with higher priority. And that was my original issue.

[joseph]

@senthilkumaran said in Cloudron Subdomain pointing to a different IP for Apps not on Cloudron:

https://i.imgur.com/3gtJVw1.png - wildcard means that all the *.thinnal.org will point to the cloudron's ip.

If you have *.domain.org and foo.domain.org entries in your DNS provider , then foo.domain.org being more specific wins. One crucial note: this is not a feature of DNS since DNS protocol itself no concept of wildcard. This feature comes from the DNS providers (I think this comes from bind9 configuration files).

But interestingly, I have the root domain thinnal.org pointing to a different IP and it works fine.

Yes! because *.domain.org does not include domain.org . It only includes subdomains of domain.org but not the bare domain itself. This is another important DNS quirk to know.