Ghost ignores remote mysql in production config

Ghost 1.16.2 Ghost-CLI 1.2.0 Node Version: 6.11.5

Installed via ghost cli, run via pm2.

config.production.json located in /var/www/ghost/current

{
  "url": "http://www.langton.cloud",
  "server": {
    "port": 80,
    "host": "127.0.0.1"
  },
  "database": {
    "client": "mysql",
    "connection": {
      "host": "ghost-rds.langton.cloud",
      "user": "user_for_ghost",
      "password": "incorrect",
      "database": "db_for_ghost"
    }
  },
  "mail": {
    "transport": "Direct"
  },
  "logging": {
    "transports": [
      "file",
      "stdout"
    ]
  },
  "process": "systemd"
}

Error:

[2017-11-05 04:05:40] ERROR

NAME: InternalServerError
CODE: ECONNREFUSED
MESSAGE: The server has encountered an error.

level:normal

InternalServerError: The server has encountered an error.
    at new GhostError (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/core/server/errors.js:9:26)
    at /var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/index.js:38:15
    at tryCatcher (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/util.js:16:23)
    at Promise._settlePromiseFromHandler (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:512:31)
    at Promise._settlePromise (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:569:18)
    at Promise._settlePromise0 (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:614:10)
    at Promise._settlePromises (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:689:18)
    at Async._drainQueue (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/async.js:133:16)
    at Async._drainQueues (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/async.js:143:10)
    at Immediate.Async.drainQueues (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/async.js:17:14)
    at runCallback (timers.js:672:20)
    at tryOnImmediate (timers.js:645:5)
    at processImmediate [as _immediateCallback] (timers.js:617:5)

Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:3306
    at Object.exports._errnoException (util.js:1020:11)
    at exports._exceptionWithHostPort (util.js:1043:20)
    at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (net.js:1090:14)
    --------------------
    at Protocol._enqueue (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/mysql/lib/protocol/Protocol.js:145:48)
    at Protocol.handshake (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/mysql/lib/protocol/Protocol.js:52:23)
    at Connection.connect (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/mysql/lib/Connection.js:130:18)
    at /var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/knex/lib/dialects/mysql/index.js:106:18
    at Promise._execute (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/debuggability.js:300:9)
    at Promise._resolveFromExecutor (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:483:18)
    at new Promise (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:79:10)
    at Client_MySQL.acquireRawConnection (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/knex/lib/dialects/mysql/index.js:104:12)
    at Object.create (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/knex/lib/client.js:239:16)
    at Pool._createResource (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/generic-pool/lib/generic-pool.js:354:17)
    at Pool.dispense [as _dispense] (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/generic-pool/lib/generic-pool.js:314:10)
    at Pool.acquire (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/generic-pool/lib/generic-pool.js:436:8)
    at /var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/knex/lib/client.js:289:19
    at Promise._execute (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/debuggability.js:300:9)
    at Promise._resolveFromExecutor (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:483:18)
    at new Promise (/var/www/ghost/versions/1.16.2/node_modules/bluebird/js/release/promise.js:79:10)

As you can see it tries to use 127.0.0.1 ignoring the config, any chance there is a bug here or the docs are out of date? Maybe i’m missing something…

[acburdine]

So that’s not exactly the issue. The config.<env>.json file is read from the current working directory of the process that runs Ghost. Because your pm2 process doesn’t specify a CWD, that’s likely where the problem is occurring.

You might try running this command (from inside your ghost install directory /var/www/ghost): NODE_ENV=production pm2 start ./current/index.js --name "Ghost" - that should fix the issue.

[chrisdlangton]

i see - i guess the default CWD is pwd right? not intuitive to first timers but I see the ease of that choice. Might want to make a call out in the docs or something on how to define or “handle” the CWD.

I’ll update my init.d script to change the working dir. thanks.