Question

Run Node server on DigitalOcean and run client on Zeit/Vercel

Posted on July 19, 2020
Node.js
Asked by jpangelle

My intention is to run my server on a DigitalOcean droplet using a subdomain, server.mywebsite.com.

But I still want to run my client on Vercel (previously known as Zeit) at mywebsite.com.

So:

frontend -> mywebsite.com on Vercel backend -> server.mywebsite.com on DigitalOcean

Is this possible?

I tried following this post, but with no success: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/questions/how-do-i-create-an-a-record-in-zeit-now-to-point-to-digital-ocean-droplet

I added my droplet’s IP address to my Vercel config as an A record and pointing to server.mywebsite.com, but when I visit server.mywebsite.com, I just get a 404 Vercel error.

The deployment could not be found on Vercel.

DEPLOYMENT_NOT_FOUND

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jpangelle • July 20, 2020

Accepted Answer

Solved. There were two things I need to fix:

1. Vercel Settings I was adding server.mywebsite.com to the A record in Vercel instead of just the subdomain portion server. Their UI did not make it clear that I was accidentally adding the domain server.mywebsite.com.mywebsite.com. Also needed to add a second record, www.server. Point them both to the DigitalOcean IP.

2. DigitalOcean Settings Needed to add two A records in the DigitalOcean Domains settings. One for server and one for www.server both pointing to my DigitalOcean droplet IP.

nasaa1997 • December 17, 2020

@jpangelle can you explain above answer? I added admin.website.com to the A record in the digital ocean. But it points to vercel.