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Troubleshooting

Introduction​

This page provides basic troubleshooting steps for the applications.

Docker​

When running the application using docker it may seem difficult at first to troubleshoot failures. This section covers some basic troubleshooting strategies.

Status Validation​

You can get a summary of all the running docker containers using the docker ps command.

It will provide this information under these headings:

  1. CONTAINER ID: Container IDs
  2. IMAGE: Image names on which the containers are based
  3. COMMAND: The command that created the containers
  4. CREATED: The time of containers
  5. STATUS: Whether or not the containers are healthy
  6. PORTS: The exposed ports they use
  7. NAMES: The names of the running containers

Here is an example:

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE           COMMAND                CREATED        STATUS        PORTS                    NAMES
3a6743b03029   docker-app      "docker-entrypoint.s…" 42 minutes ago Up 41 minutes 0.0.0.0:4321->4321/tcp   docker-app-1
f86a9f480819   talawa-api-dev  "/bin/bash /init-dat…" 42 minutes ago Up 42 minutes 0.0.0.0:4000->4000/tcp   talawa-api-dev
83ae5ff56a3f   redis:8.0       "docker-entrypoint.s…" 42 minutes ago Up 42 minutes 0.0.0.0:6379->6379/tcp   talawa-api-redis
44c8a0f38b04   minio/minio     "/usr/bin/docker-ent…" 42 minutes ago Up 42 minutes 0.0.0.0:9000->9001/tcp   talawa-api-minio-1
3a9deccdb68e   caddy/caddy:2.9 "caddy run --config …" 42 minutes ago Up 42 minutes 0.0.0.0:9080->9080/tcp   caddy-service
132dacf0aff4   mongo           "/bin/bash /init-mon…" 42 minutes ago Up 42 minutes 0.0.0.0:27017->27017/tcp mongo

You can get information on each of the headings by using filters like this:

  1. CONTAINER ID: docker ps --format '{{.ID}}'
  2. IMAGE: docker ps --format '{{.Names}}'
  3. COMMAND: docker ps --format '{{.Command}}'
  4. CREATED: docker ps --format '{{.RunningFor}}'
  5. STATUS: docker ps --format '{{.Status}}'
  6. PORTS: docker ps --format '{{.Ports}}'
  7. NAMES: docker ps --format '{{.Names}}'

Accessing The Container CLI​

You can access the CLI of each container using the docker interactive TTY mode flags -it.

Here is an example accessing the /bin/bash CLI of the talawa-api-dev container:

$ docker exec -it talawa-api-dev /bin/bash
root@f86a9f480819:/usr/src/app# ls
CODEOWNERS          Caddyfile         Dockerfile.prod
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md  DOCUMENTATION.md  INSTALLATION.md
CONTRIBUTING.md     Dockerfile.dev    ISSUE_GUIDELINES.md
root@f86a9f480819:/usr/src/app# exit
$

Here is an example accessing the /bin/mongosh CLI of the mongo container:

$ docker exec -it mongo /bin/mongosh
...
...
...
rs0 [direct: primary] test> show databases
admin        80.00 KiB
config      356.00 KiB
local         1.92 MiB
talawa-api    2.49 MiB
rs0 [direct: primary] test> exit
$

Viewing Container Logs​

You can view the container logs in real time by using the docker logs -f command. The output will update dynamically as you run the app.

In this case we see the logs of the mongo container. The -n 10 flag makes the output start with the most recent 10 rows of logs which makes the output less verbose.

$ docker logs -f mongo -n 10
mongosh","version":"6.12.0|2.3.8"},"platform":"Node.js v20.18.1, LE","os":{"name":"linux","architecture":"x64","version":"3.10.0-327.22.2.el7.x86_64","type":"Linux"},"env":{"container":{"runtime":"docker"}}}}}
{"t":{"$date":"2025-02-22T01:14:08.038+00:00"},"s":"I",  "c":"NETWORK",  "id":51800,   "ctx":"conn2194","msg":"client metadata","attr":{"remote":"127.0.0.1:36844","client":"conn2194","negotiatedCompressors":[],"doc":{"application":{"name":"mongosh 2.3.8"},"driver":{"name":"nodejs|mongosh","version":"6.12.0|2.3.8"},"platform":"Node.js v20.18.1, LE","os":{"name":"linux","architecture":"x64","version":"3.10.0-327.22.2.el7.x86_64","type":"Linux"},"env":{"container":{"runtime":"docker"}}}}}
{"t":{"$date":"2025-02-22T01:14:08.040+00:00"},"s":"I",  "c":"NETWORK",  "id":6788700, "ctx":"conn2193","msg":"Received first command on ingress connection since session start or auth handshake","attr":{"elapsedMillis":2}}
{"t":{"$date":"2025-02-22T01:14:08.040+00:00"},"s":"I",  "c":"NETWORK",  "id":22943,   "ctx":"listener","msg":"Connection accepted","attr":{"remote":"127.0.0.1:36848","uuid":{"uuid":{"$uuid":"1ef5fcbd-4913-45fe-bc66-7bc3600a941a"}},"connectionId":2195,"connectionCount":24}}
{"t":{"$date":"2025-02-22T01:14:08.043+00:00"},"s":"I",  "c":"NETWORK",  "id":22943,   "ctx":"listener","msg":"Connection accepted","attr":{"remote":"127.0.0.1:36854","uuid":{"uuid":{"$uuid":"48522796-7b00-46df-a5d1-3e2a9ec7edd8"}},"connectionId":2196,"connectionCount":25}}

Non-Docker​

This section covers troubleshooting for non-Docker deployments.

Check If Application Is Running​

pgrep -f "pnpm run serve"

If this returns a number, the application is running. No output means it's not running.

View Application Logs​

Development: Logs appear in the terminal where you run

`pnpm run serve`

Production: Redirect output to a log file when starting:

pnpm run serve > app.log 2>&1 &

View logs:

tail -f app.log

Common Issues​

Application won't start:

  • Run pnpm install to install dependencies
  • Check .env file is configured correctly
  • Check if port 4321 is already in use: lsof -i :4321

Application crashes:

  • Check logs for error messages
  • Verify Talawa API server is running
  • Verify .env variables are correct

Port already in use:

  • Find what's using the port: lsof -i :4321
  • Stop that process or use a different port