Outbound http and https requests from server to honor http_proxy env variables (oembed)

[jascott]

After discussion in Rocket.Chat#support and some investigation, it was concluded that links to images and pages were not embedding in the chat channel because the http_proxy environment variables were not being honored.

The solution we discussed was to make oembed detect the http_proxy variables and use them if they exist.

Want to back this issue? Post a bounty on it! We accept bounties via Bountysource.

[Sing-Li]

Hints for Digital Ocean Hacktoberfest bounty hunters.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3862813/how-can-i-use-an-http-proxy-with-node-js-http-client

https://github.com/RocketChat/Rocket.Chat/blob/master/packages/rocketchat-oembed/server/server.coffee#L12

(not a bug because there env variables are not a standard, but something we can honor as a feature)
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Proxy_settings

[kakawait]

Duplicate #851 (consider closing one of them) where I explain other possible solutions

Apply proxy on http is pretty easy but on https is a bit harder

[luozengbin]

https://www.npmjs.com/package/global-tunnel is easy to fix this issue.
i just hack rocketchat_oembed.js with fllowing code.

$ diff rocketchat_oembed.js rocketchat_oembed.js.orgn
35,39d34
< globalTunnel = Npm.require('global-tunnel');
< globalTunnel.initialize(); // 1

[Mitsugaru]

@luozengbin can you elaborate on that? Have an instance of Rocket.Chat deployed from a docker container, just not sure where to put the two lines you mentioned...

@Sing-Li I get that handling deployments behind corporate proxies is probably a low priority... but perhaps could we have some proxy fields in the administration panel that it could then read and use for outbound connections?

[pwr22]

Still present, any movement on this so far?

[wesbland]

This has been closed, but I'm still seeing the issue on the latest versions of Rocket.Chat. Is there some sort of advice/wiki page for setting up a regular proxy (not a reverse proxy) that isn't obvious?

[maxdwit]

+1 have the same issue. Behind proxy I dont see any preview links

[sysr-q]

Can confirm this is still an issue on 0.69.0 (unless I'm missing something obvious).
Behind a regular corporate proxy, there's no embeds.

[conman2305]

Seeing this issue as well on 0.69.1. Any updates? Should I open a new issue?

[sysr-q]

For anyone who comes across this, I figured out a (partial) solution if you're running Rocket.Chat under Ubuntu Snaps.

From your Rocket.Chat server, run: sudo systemctl edit snap.rocketchat-server.rocketchat-server.service

Add the following contents:

[Service]
Environment=HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:8080/
Environment=HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:8080/
Environment=NO_PROXY='something.example.com,*.intranet.example.com'

You can leave out the NO_PROXY line if you need, but at $EMPLOYER, we link intranet stuff so for Rocket.Chat to show previews for internal stuff that's required.

[pagnotta]

There is also a solution for the "manual" Ubuntu install:

In the systemd unit file /lib/systemd/system/rocketchat.service you can set environment variables, I added HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY there. Link preview works now.

[Unit]
Description=The Rocket.Chat server
After=network.target remote-fs.target nss-lookup.target nginx.target mongod.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/node /opt/Rocket.Chat/main.js
StandardOutput=syslog
StandardError=syslog
SyslogIdentifier=rocketchat
User=rocketchat
Environment=MONGO_URL=mongodb://localhost:27017/rocketchat ROOT_URL=https://<yourdomain>:3000/ PORT=3000 HTTP_PROXY=http://<yourproxyurl>:<PORT> HTTPS_PROXY=http://<yourproxyurl>:<PORT>
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

[magicbelette]

Becarful if you set a HTTP(S)_PROXY it will be you use for everything, even for communication with other local Rocket.Chat instances. NO_PROXY is not read either. See #11484

[Abraka]

Agreed, HTTP(S)_PROXY its not a solution here. There should be a option under link preview option in rocket chat administration called "proxy settings for downloading external content". And thats it...see? Easy peasy.

[reetp]

For more Proxy stuff see:
#2657