Hi Cloudron community,
I’ve hit a bit of a snag while working through a custom setup involving an external reverse proxy and Cloudron app deployment.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- Configured a second VPS running an external reverse proxy (via Nginx Proxy Manager) to forward certain subdomains to my Cloudron instance on a primary VPS.
- Followed a pattern similar to the "Deploying Anubis (AI Crawler Filtering)" setup creating Docker Compose stacks on the proxy server, including a Redis container for session and metrics support.
- Used REDIRECT_DOMAINS in Anubis (the proxy component) to map Cloudron subdomains (e.g., app1.example.cloud, app2.example.cloud) properly.
Everything appears correct, but the issue is: Nginx keeps restarting intermittently on the proxy server causing 502 / gateway errors when users hit certain Cloudron-hosted apps.
Here’s what I’ve tried:
- Double-checked the nginx.conf for syntax errors nginx -t shows no problems.
- Validated SSL certificate settings for *.example.cloud, with Let’s Encrypt configured and working.
- Confirmed Cloudron apps are healthy and listening correctly when accessed directly (not via the proxy).
- Ensured both VPS firewalls (UFW on VPS1 and VPS2) allow traffic on TCP 443 and 80, plus internal management ports.
A few questions I’m hoping the community can help with:
- Has anyone seen Nginx auto-restarting in this route-proxy setup, and what diagnostics helped (e.g., journalctl, Docker resource limits)?
- When routing Cloudron subdomains through a proxy, are there specific headers, health checks, or Nginx tuning parameters that are essential?
- Is there a better architecture approach like using Cloudron’s built-in reverse proxy instead or a more crash-resilient pattern for handling incoming traffic?
I want to nail down a stable and secure proxy layer without disrupting Cloudron’s internal routing.
Thanks in advance for any insights or experiences you can share!
Mark Pousee