It was a firewall issue. I disabled my firewall and it works.

Nginx is running in a container

I don’t think it is. On my other machine it’s running in the docker container, but not this one.

Using serverIP:5870 has the same result as using listmonk.mysite.com:5870. It loads a broken page https://i.stack.imgur.com/gIy4A.jpg with broken links. IE: the URLs are http://localhost:9000/subscription/form.

Thanks, I checked out your link. I think my most recent comment below answers some of your questions. https://lemmy.world/comment/5586470

Are you able to access listmonk directly without the reverse proxy? What is the URL I. The browser when you do that?

Besides the info I put in the OP, I’m not sure what else you’re asking.

LAN IP address of the docker host

No idea what this is, so I looked it up https://www.howtogeek.com/devops/how-to-get-a-docker-containers-ip-address-from-the-host/ and ran docker ps then put the container ID at the end of this docker inspect -f '{{range.NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' docker-container-ID. It output an IP address which I used for proxy_pass http://docker-IP:5870;, restarted nginx, and nothing seems to have changed.

Thanks! I was using 127.0.0.1 because that’s what other people were successfully using: https://github.com/knadh/listmonk/issues/1590#issuecomment-1812399067. I had tried variations of proxy_pass http://app:5870; because I’m running listmonk successfully on another server using proxy_pass http://app:9000;, but that is when nginx is running from inside the docker container:

services:
  db:
    <<: *db-defaults
    container_name: listmonk_db
    volumes:
      - type: volume
        source: listmonk-data
        target: /var/lib/postgresql/data

  app:
    <<: *app-defaults
    container_name: listmonk_app
    depends_on:
      - db
    volumes:
      - ./config.toml:/listmonk/config.toml
      - ./listmonk/uploads:/listmonk/uploads

  nginx:
    image: nginx:mainline-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./data/nginx:/etc/nginx/conf.d
      - ./data/certbot/conf:/etc/letsencrypt
      - ./data/certbot/www:/var/www/certbot
    networks:
      - listmonk
    depends_on:
      - app
    command: "/bin/sh -c 'while :; do sleep 6h & wait $${!}; nginx -s reload; done & nginx -g \"daemon off;\"'"

  certbot:
    image: certbot/certbot
    restart: unless-stopped
    container_name: certbot
    volumes:
      - ./data/certbot/conf:/etc/letsencrypt
      - ./data/certbot/www:/var/www/certbot
    networks:
      - listmonk
    depends_on:
      - nginx
    entrypoint: "/bin/sh -c 'trap exit TERM; while :; do certbot renew; sleep 12h & wait $${!}; done;'"

I forgot to try proxy_pass http://listmonk_app:5870; though. I just tried that and I got the same error that I get with proxy_pass http://app:5870;.

Job for nginx.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status nginx.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

systemctl status nginx.service
● nginx.service - Centmin Mod NGINX Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nginx.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
  Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service.d
           └─failure-restart.conf, openfileslimit.conf
   Active: failed (Result: start-limit) since Sun 2023-11-26 01:07:52 UTC; 1min 57s ago
  Process: 34289 ExecStop=/bin/sh -c /bin/kill -s TERM $(/bin/cat /usr/local/nginx/logs/nginx.pid) (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 18426 ExecReload=/bin/sh -c /bin/kill -s HUP $(/bin/cat /usr/local/nginx/logs/nginx.pid) (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 25700 ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/nginx -c /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 34339 ExecStartPre=/usr/local/sbin/nginx -t (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 25702 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Nov 26 01:07:47 centos7test systemd[1]: nginx.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1
Nov 26 01:07:47 centos7test systemd[1]: Failed to start Centmin Mod NGINX Server.
Nov 26 01:07:47 centos7test systemd[1]: Unit nginx.service entered failed state.
Nov 26 01:07:47 centos7test systemd[1]: nginx.service failed.
Nov 26 01:07:52 centos7test systemd[1]: nginx.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Nov 26 01:07:52 centos7test systemd[1]: Stopped Centmin Mod NGINX Server.
Nov 26 01:07:52 centos7test systemd[1]: start request repeated too quickly for nginx.service
Nov 26 01:07:52 centos7test systemd[1]: Failed to start Centmin Mod NGINX Server.
Nov 26 01:07:52 centos7test systemd[1]: Unit nginx.service entered failed state.
Nov 26 01:07:52 centos7test systemd[1]: nginx.service failed.

journalctl -xe
--
-- The result is timeout.
Nov 26 01:08:56 centos7test systemd[1]: Dependency failed for /mnt/HC_Volume_33691542.
-- Subject: Unit mnt-HC_Volume_33691542.mount has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit mnt-HC_Volume_33691542.mount has failed.
--
-- The result is dependency.
Nov 26 01:08:56 centos7test systemd[1]: Job mnt-HC_Volume_33691542.mount/start failed with result 'dependency'.
Nov 26 01:08:56 centos7test systemd[1]: Job dev-disk-by\x2did-scsi\x2d0HC_Volume_33691542.device/start failed with result 'timeout'.
Nov 26 01:09:01 centos7test systemd[1]: Started Session 313 of user root.
-- Subject: Unit session-313.scope has finished start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit session-313.scope has finished starting up.
--
-- The start-up result is done.
Nov 26 01:09:01 centos7test CROND[34567]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Nov 26 01:09:10 centos7test kernel: Firewall: *TCP_IN Blocked* IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=85.203.42.26 DST= LEN
Nov 26 01:09:35 centos7test kernel: Firewall: *TCP_IN Blocked* IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=205.185.121.3 DST= LE
Nov 26 01:09:45 centos7test kernel: Firewall: *TCP_IN Blocked* IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=107.148.82.29 DST= LE
Nov 26 01:09:53 centos7test kernel: Firewall: *TCP_IN Blocked* IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=62.204.41.118 DST= LE
Nov 26 01:10:01 centos7test systemd[1]: Started Session 314 of user root.
-- Subject: Unit session-314.scope has finished start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit session-314.scope has finished starting up.
--
-- The start-up result is done.
Nov 26 01:10:01 centos7test systemd[1]: Started Session 315 of user root.
-- Subject: Unit session-315.scope has finished start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit session-315.scope has finished starting up.
--
-- The start-up result is done.
Nov 26 01:10:01 centos7test CROND[34680]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Nov 26 01:10:01 centos7test CROND[34679]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib64/sa/sa1 1 1)
Nov 26 01:10:11 centos7test kernel: Firewall: *TCP_IN Blocked* IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=91.92.246.145 DST= LE
Nov 26 01:10:12 centos7test kernel: Firewall: *TCP_IN Blocked* IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=85.203.42.26 DST= LEN
Nov 26 01:10:21 centos7test kernel: Firewall: *TCP_IN Blocked* IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=85.209.11.142 DST= LE
Nov 26 01:10:22 centos7test sshd[34734]: Received disconnect from 180.101.88.196 port 14758:11:  [preauth]
Nov 26 01:10:22 centos7test sshd[34734]: Disconnected from 180.101.88.196 port 14758 [preauth]
Nov 26 01:10:40 centos7test kernel: Firewall: *TCP_IN Blocked* IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=162.216.150.164 DST=
lines 1377-1425/1425 (END)

I tried some of the solutions here https://serverfault.com/questions/351212/nginx-redirects-to-port-8080-when-accessing-url-without-slash

proxy_set_header Host $host:$server_port; didn’t seem to change anything.

I also tried

  proxy_pass http://listmonk.example.com:5870/;
  proxy_redirect http://listmonk.example.com:5870/ http://listmonk.example.com/;

Maybe this https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30097334/nodejs-on-nginx-not-working-without-a-port-number-in-the-url is the answer, but I don’t understand it.

The main issue is that Lemmy lacks many basic features that are included in Reddit, either by default or via RES and Toolbox addons. I listed some in the OP and the OP link.

I chose Xenforo because it’s been around for a long time, is feature-rich, and the most polished/professional software.

I also wasn’t considering hosting my own Lemmy instance at the time, which I now recognize as a future possibility, if it continues to develop more basic features.

Lemmy only federates Lemmy instances as far as I know. Forums have lots of benefits that Lemmy instances do not. They’re way more polished due to being around for so much longer.

Forums are different for sure, but I think they’re similar enough. There’s even a phpBB front-end for Lemmy.

I picked Xenforo for my own reasons, but there are plenty of free forum software (which I listed in the link) that can be used.

I think the one thing missing is a way to federate forums.