explorer-monorepo/docs/FRONTEND_DEPLOYMENT_FIX.md

Frontend Deployment Fix

Problem

The explorer at https://explorer.d-bis.org/ shows "Page not found" because:

1. Nginx is proxying to Blockscout (port 4000) which serves its own UI
2. The custom frontend (explorer-monorepo/frontend/public/index.html) is not deployed to /var/www/html/ on VMID 5000

Solution

Step 1: Update Nginx Configuration

Update nginx to serve the custom frontend from /var/www/html/ instead of proxying everything to Blockscout.

Run in VMID 5000:

# Option 1: Use the fix script
cd /home/intlc/projects/proxmox/explorer-monorepo
bash scripts/fix-nginx-serve-custom-frontend.sh

# Option 2: Run commands directly
bash scripts/fix-nginx-serve-custom-frontend.sh

This script will:

• Backup current nginx config
• Update nginx to serve custom frontend from /var/www/html/
• Keep API proxying to Blockscout on port 4000
• Handle SSL certificates (create self-signed if Let's Encrypt not available)
• Test and restart nginx

Step 2: Deploy Custom Frontend

Deploy the custom frontend to /var/www/html/index.html:

From Proxmox host:

cd /home/intlc/projects/proxmox/explorer-monorepo
bash scripts/deploy-frontend-to-vmid5000.sh

Or manually from VMID 5000:

# If you have access to the repo in VMID 5000
cp /home/intlc/projects/proxmox/explorer-monorepo/frontend/public/index.html /var/www/html/index.html
chown www-data:www-data /var/www/html/index.html

Or using SSH from Proxmox host:

# Using existing deploy script
cd /home/intlc/projects/proxmox/explorer-monorepo
PASSWORD="L@kers2010" bash scripts/deploy.sh

Step 3: Verify

# Check if frontend file exists
ls -la /var/www/html/index.html

# Test HTTP endpoint
curl -s http://localhost/ | head -10

# Test HTTPS endpoint (if accessible)
curl -k -s https://localhost/ | head -10

# Check nginx logs
tail -f /var/log/nginx/blockscout-access.log
tail -f /var/log/nginx/blockscout-error.log

Nginx Configuration Details

The updated nginx config:

• Root path (/): Serves custom frontend from /var/www/html/index.html
• API path (/api/): Proxies to Blockscout on port 4000
• Static assets: Served from /var/www/html/ with caching
• Blockscout UI: Available at /blockscout/ if needed

Troubleshooting

Frontend still shows "Page not found"

1. Check if file exists: ls -la /var/www/html/index.html
2. Check file permissions: chown www-data:www-data /var/www/html/index.html
3. Check nginx config: nginx -t
4. Check nginx error logs: tail -20 /var/log/nginx/blockscout-error.log

Nginx config errors

1. Restore backup: cp /etc/nginx/sites-available/blockscout.backup.* /etc/nginx/sites-available/blockscout
2. Test config: nginx -t
3. Check syntax: cat /etc/nginx/sites-available/blockscout

Frontend not updating

1. Clear browser cache (hard refresh: Ctrl+Shift+R)
2. Check if file was updated: stat /var/www/html/index.html
3. Reload nginx: systemctl reload nginx

Files Modified

• /etc/nginx/sites-available/blockscout - Nginx configuration
• /var/www/html/index.html - Custom frontend (needs to be deployed)