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https://github.com/paeselhz/R-Tools-Google-Cloud-FollowUp

This is a followup of the original document - RStudio and Shiny Server on GCP
https://github.com/paeselhz/R-Tools-Google-Cloud-FollowUp

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This is a followup of the original document - RStudio and Shiny Server on GCP

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# Google Cloud Platform - Configuring R Tools with NGINX as Front-End Server

The follow up guide of [Google Cloud Platform - How-To deploy Shiny Server and RStudio Server](https://github.com/paeselhz/RStudio-Shiny-Server-on-GCP), introducing NGINX tools to consolidate a website hosting RStudio Server and Shiny Server on the web.



# Introduction



Differently from the previous version of the tutorial, which can be acessed [here](https://github.com/paeselhz/RStudio-Shiny-Server-on-GCP), this tutorial is more complex, and requires an intermediate knowledge of linux based code, and how permissions work. Also, this guide requires the user to already be the owner of a public domain on the web, which can be bought from multiple sources, as Google Domains, or GoDaddy, or any other of your choice.



This tutorial was developed using code run at a Linux Trusty (14.04) Virtual Machine.



### Disclaimer



The actions of this tutorial imply knowledge from the user, and are more complicated to perform. Take care not to brick your Virtual Machine by running code unadvertedly! Also, is indicated to create an image of your VM instance before trying this tutorial.



# The First Steps



To complete this tutorial, you'll need to have the following:

- Static IP connected to your VM Instance (which can be done viewing the tutorial [here](/docs/vm_external_ip.md)).

- A domain in your name, and connected to the external IP of your VM Instance.

- Time to understand the way things are done to execute them easily.



Now, open the shell of your VM instance, to install a few programs in order to enable a secure firewall, install the nginx to run as a front-end server, and clone a git to help create an SSL certificate for your website, giving the user the `https://` authentication.



The programs needed will be downloaded with the following lines of code:



```

sudo apt-get install ufw nginx git

```



Then, clone the git that helps with the creation of the SSL certificate.



```

cd /

sudo git clone https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt

```



Now, let's set the three main ports used by this VM instance by allowing them into ufw: 22 (SFTP), 443 (Secure Connections), 80 (Default HTTP Connections)



```

sudo ufw allow https

sudo ufw allow http

sudo ufw allow 22/tcp

```



In order to start the configuration and the creation of the SSL certificate, you need to stop any NGINX process running at your vm instance and enabling the firewall by running: 



```

sudo service nginx stop

sudo ufw enable

```



Now that you have all setup, you can go to your domain administrator page of your choice, and set the A argument of your domain with the Host `@` and the Set pointing to your `EXTERNAL_IP_ADDRESS` of your machine. Also, now is a good time to set a subdomain to connect to the RStudio directly like`rstudio.yourdomain.com`.



# SSL certificates for both yourdomain.com and rstudio.yourdomain.com



You have set both, domain and subdomain, pointing to the EXTERNAL_IP_ADDRESS of your VM instance. Now, you need to create and download the SSL certificates for both, in order to guarantee a secure connection from user to server. To do so, you need to execute the following code:



```

cd /letsencrypt

sudo ./letsencrypt-auto certonly --standalone -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

sudo ./letsencrypt-auto certonly --standalone -d rstudio.yourdomain.com

```



If all went correctly, both executions should have returned successfully, with the keys stored at `/etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com` and `/etc/letsencrypt/live/rstudio.yourdomain.com`. Now it's time to reverse proxy the connection to allow both RStudio and Shiny Server to be connected securely via HTTPS.



## Configuring NGINX reverse proxy



To allow the HTTP upgrades and Connection upgrades required to perform the revese proxy, you will need to edit the configuration file of the nginx server. To do that you need to run `sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf`. And near the end of the configuration file (around line 60), you'll insert the snippet below **(beware to insert that before the Virtual Host Configs)**.



```

##

# Map reverse proxy settings for RStudio and Shiny Server

##

map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {

    default upgrade;

    '' close;

}

 

##

# Virtual Host Configs

##

```



After that, you've mapped the connection, now it's time to insert the reverse proxy codes in order to allow the connection to be securely made. Go to the folder `/etc/nginx/sites-available` and delete the default file by running:



```

sudo rm default

```



Now you can create the file that will store all the configurations used by the Shiny/Rstudio Servers running: `sudo nano shiny-server`. Below lies the code that will run the connections to, and from the NGINX server.



```

server {

   listen 80;

   server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

   return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;

}



server {

   listen 443 ssl;

   server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

   ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;

   ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

   ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;

   ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

   ssl_ciphers AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH:!aNULL;

 

   location / {

       proxy_pass http://localhost:3838;

       proxy_redirect http://localhost:3838/ https://$host/;

       proxy_http_version 1.1;

       proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

       proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;

       proxy_read_timeout 20d;

   }

}



server {

   listen 80;

   server_name rstudio.yourdomain.com;

   return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;

}



server {

   listen 443 ssl;

   server_name rstudio.yourdomain.com;

   ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/rstudio.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;

   ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/rstudio.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

   ssl_protocols TLSv1 TLSv1.1 TLSv1.2;

   ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

   ssl_ciphers AES256+EECDH:AES256+EDH:!aNULL;



   location / {

      proxy_pass http://localhost:8787;

      proxy_redirect http://localhost:8787/ https://$host/;

      proxy_http_version 1.1;

      proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

      proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;

      proxy_read_timeout 20d;

   }

}

```



After creating this file, you need to connect it to the sites-enabled feature by running:



```

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/shiny-server /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/shiny-server

```



You can check the consistency of your NGINX configuration running:



```

sudo nginx -t

```



If all went correctly, you can restart your NGINX server with the code:



```

sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart

```



## Checking connection



If all went correctly, you'll be able to see a locker at the side of your page, when you access both `yourdomain.com` and `rstudio.yourdomain.com` declaring that your page is securely connected to the network.



# Final Remarks



This tutorial requires more than the average knowledge, and should be read carefully before you make any mistake that can ruin the state of your Virtual Machine.



You can find more informations about RStudio Server, Shiny Server, and how to setup the reverse proxy in both nginx and apache using the links below:



- RStudio Server documentation (http://docs.rstudio.com/ide/server-pro/)

- Shiny Server documentation (http://docs.rstudio.com/shiny-server/)

- Configuring Reverse Proxy with RStudio Servers ([here](https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/213733868-Running-Shiny-Server-with-a-Proxy))



Thanks! Luis Paese