HTTP requests on localhost with neo4j and rails

[PaddyBadger]

Hey there,

I'm going around in circles trying to configure my neo4j / rails backend to accept http requests from a client to create a user, using rails routes and controllers. I'm testing using Postman against localhost, but have also tried and failed to use curl. No matter what data I send to the request, I receive an empty 404 response that is not logged by rails, but is logged by neo4j in the http logs.

I strongly suspect that I have either totally misunderstood how rails and neo4j should be working together, or I have misconfigured my http setup. Any clues would be much appreciated. I'll try to put the relevant code below, and many thanks in advance.

Attempted request log:

2018-10-19 20:57:40.087+0000 INFO [REQUEST] [AsyncLog @ 2018-10-19 20:57:40.087+0000]  127.0.0.1 -  [Fri Oct 19 13:57:40 PDT 2018] "/api/v1/users?name=fjlef&email=fkksi@efwef.co&password=password&password_confirmation=password" 404 -1 "" "PostmanRuntime/7.3.0" 1

application.rb:

require_relative 'boot'

require "rails"
# Pick the frameworks you want:
require "active_model/railtie"
require "active_job/railtie"
# require "active_record/railtie"
require 'neo4j/railtie'
# require "active_storage/engine"
require "action_controller/railtie"
require "action_mailer/railtie"
require "action_view/railtie"
require "action_cable/engine"
require "sprockets/railtie"
require "rails/test_unit/railtie"

# Require the gems listed in Gemfile, including any gems
# you've limited to :test, :development, or :production.
Bundler.require(*Rails.groups)

module ParadeBackend
  class Application < Rails::Application
    # Use the responders controller from the responders gem
    config.app_generators.scaffold_controller :responders_controller


    config.generators do |g|
      g.orm             :neo4j
    end

    # Configure where to connect to the Neo4j DB
    # Note that embedded db is only available for JRuby
    config.neo4j.session.type = :http
    config.neo4j.session.url = 'http://0.0.0.0:7474'
    config.neo4j.session_options = { basic_auth: { username: 'foo', password: 'bar'} }
    config.neo4j.session.options = {
        faraday_configurator: proc do |faraday|
            # The default configurator uses typhoeus (it was `Faraday::Adapter::NetHttpPersistent` for `neo4j-core` < 7.1.0), so if you override the configurator you must specify this
            faraday.adapter :typhoeus
            # Optionally you can instead specify another adaptor
            # faraday.use Faraday::Adapter::NetHttpPersistent

            # If you need to set options which would normally be the second argument of `Faraday.new`, you can do the following:
            faraday.options[:open_timeout] = 5
            faraday.options[:timeout] = 65
            faraday.options[:ssl] = { verify: true }
        end
        }
    #  or
    # config.neo4j.session.type = :bolt
    # config.neo4j.session.url = 'bolt://localhost:7687'
    #  or
    # config.neo4j.session.type = :embedded
    # config.neo4j.session.path = Rails.root.join('neo4j-db').to_s

    # Initialize configuration defaults for originally generated Rails version.
    config.load_defaults 5.2

    # Settings in config/environments/* take precedence over those specified here.
    # Application configuration can go into files in config/initializers
    # -- all .rb files in that directory are automatically loaded after loading
    # the framework and any gems in your application.
    config.autoload_paths << Rails.root.join('lib')
  end
end

config/environments/development.rb

Rails.application.configure do
  # Settings specified here will take precedence over those in config/application.rb.

  # In the development environment your application's code is reloaded on
  # every request. This slows down response time but is perfect for development
  # since you don't have to restart the web server when you make code changes.
  config.cache_classes = false

  # Do not eager load code on boot.
  config.eager_load = false

  # Show full error reports.
  config.consider_all_requests_local = true

  # Enable/disable caching. By default caching is disabled.
  # Run rails dev:cache to toggle caching.
  if Rails.root.join('tmp', 'caching-dev.txt').exist?
    config.action_controller.perform_caching = true

    config.cache_store = :memory_store
    config.public_file_server.headers = {
      'Cache-Control' => "public, max-age=#{2.days.to_i}"
    }
  else
    config.action_controller.perform_caching = false

    config.cache_store = :null_store
  end

  # Don't care if the mailer can't send.
  config.action_mailer.raise_delivery_errors = false

  config.action_mailer.perform_caching = false

  # Print deprecation notices to the Rails logger.
  config.active_support.deprecation = :log

  # Debug mode disables concatenation and preprocessing of assets.
  # This option may cause significant delays in view rendering with a large
  # number of complex assets.
  config.assets.debug = true

  # Suppress logger output for asset requests.
  config.assets.quiet = true

  # Raises error for missing translations
  # config.action_view.raise_on_missing_translations = true

  # Use an evented file watcher to asynchronously detect changes in source code,
  # routes, locales, etc. This feature depends on the listen gem.
  config.file_watcher = ActiveSupport::EventedFileUpdateChecker

  config.neo4j.session.type = :http
  config.neo4j.session.path = 'http://0.0.0.0:7474'
end

routes.rb:

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  devise_for :users
  namespace :api do
    namespace :v1 do
      resources :users, only: [:show, :create, :update, :destroy] do
        resources :preferences_and_traits, only: [:create, :destroy, :update], controller: 'users/preferences_and_traits'
        resources :current_locations, only: [:create, :destroy, :update], controller: 'users/current_locations'
        resources :major_relationships, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'users/major_relationships'
        resources :countries, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'users/countries'
        resources :travel_plans, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'users/travel_plans'
        resources :social_handles, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'users/social_handles'
        resources :phone_numbers, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'users/phone_numbers'
        resources :emails, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'users/emails'
        resources :jobs, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'users/jobs'
        resources :qualifications, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'users/qualifications'
        resources :groups, only: [:create, :destroy, :update, :index], controller: 'users/groups'
      end
      resources :contacts, only: [:index, :show, :create, :destroy] do
        resources :relationship_types, only: [:create, :destroy, :update], controller: 'contacts/relationship_types'
        resources :preferences_and_traits, only: [:create, :destroy, :update], controller: 'contacts/preferences_and_traits'
        resources :current_locations, only: [:create, :destroy, :update], controller: 'contacts/current_locations'
        resources :major_relationships, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/major_relationships'
        resources :countries, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/countries'
        resources :travel_plans, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/travel_plans'
        resources :social_handles, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/social_handles'
        resources :phone_numbers, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/phone_numbers'
        resources :emails, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/emails'
        resources :jobs, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/jobs'
        resources :qualifications, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/qualifications'

        resources :mutual_likes, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/mutual_likes'
        resources :future_relationship, only: [:create, :update], controller: 'contacts/future_relationship'
        resources :celebrations, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/celebrations'
        resources :reflective_days, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/reflective_days'
        resources :hangout_reminders, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/hangout_reminders'
        resources :contact_reminders, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/contact_reminders'
        resources :relationship_details, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/relationship_details'
        resources :mutual_contacts, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/mutual_contacts'
        resources :favorite_places, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/favorite_places'
        resources :mutual_trips, only: [:create, :destroy], controller: 'contacts/trips'
      end
      resources :sessions, only: [:create, :destroy]
    end
  end
end

rake routes output:

api_v1_users POST   /api/v1/users(.:format)                                           api/v1/users#create
api_v1_user  GET    /api/v1/users/:id(.:format)                                       api/v1/users#show
                      PATCH  /api/v1/users/:id(.:format)                                       api/v1/users#update
                      PUT    /api/v1/users/:id(.:format)                                       api/v1/users#update
                      DELETE /api/v1/users/:id(.:format)                                       api/v1/users#destroy

and neo4j.config

#*****************************************************************
# Neo4j configuration
#
# For more details and a complete list of settings, please see
# https://neo4j.com/docs/operations-manual/current/reference/configuration-settings/
#*****************************************************************

# The name of the database to mount
#dbms.active_database=graph.db

# Paths of directories in the installation.
#dbms.directories.data=data
#dbms.directories.plugins=plugins
#dbms.directories.certificates=certificates
#dbms.directories.logs=logs
#dbms.directories.lib=lib
#dbms.directories.run=run

# This setting constrains all `LOAD CSV` import files to be under the `import` directory. Remove or comment it out to
# allow files to be loaded from anywhere in the filesystem; this introduces possible security problems. See the
# `LOAD CSV` section of the manual for details.
dbms.directories.import=import

# Whether requests to Neo4j are authenticated.
# To disable authentication, uncomment this line
dbms.security.auth_enabled=false

# Enable this to be able to upgrade a store from an older version.
#dbms.allow_upgrade=true

# Java Heap Size: by default the Java heap size is dynamically
# calculated based on available system resources.
# Uncomment these lines to set specific initial and maximum
# heap size.
#dbms.memory.heap.initial_size=512m
#dbms.memory.heap.max_size=512m

# The amount of memory to use for mapping the store files, in bytes (or
# kilobytes with the 'k' suffix, megabytes with 'm' and gigabytes with 'g').
# If Neo4j is running on a dedicated server, then it is generally recommended
# to leave about 2-4 gigabytes for the operating system, give the JVM enough
# heap to hold all your transaction state and query context, and then leave the
# rest for the page cache.
# The default page cache memory assumes the machine is dedicated to running
# Neo4j, and is heuristically set to 50% of RAM minus the max Java heap size.
#dbms.memory.pagecache.size=10g

#*****************************************************************
# Network connector configuration
#*****************************************************************

# With default configuration Neo4j only accepts local connections.
# To accept non-local connections, uncomment this line:
dbms.connectors.default_listen_address=0.0.0.0

# You can also choose a specific network interface, and configure a non-default
# port for each connector, by setting their individual listen_address.

# The address at which this server can be reached by its clients. This may be the server's IP address or DNS name, or
# it may be the address of a reverse proxy which sits in front of the server. This setting may be overridden for
# individual connectors below.
dbms.connectors.default_advertised_address=0.0.0.0

# You can also choose a specific advertised hostname or IP address, and
# configure an advertised port for each connector, by setting their
# individual advertised_address.

# Bolt connector
dbms.connector.bolt.enabled=true
#dbms.connector.bolt.tls_level=OPTIONAL
dbms.connector.bolt.listen_address=localhost:7472

# HTTP Connector. There must be exactly one HTTP connector.
dbms.connector.http.enabled=true
dbms.connector.http.listen_address=0.0.0.0:7474
org.neo4j.server.http.unsafe.content_log.enabled=true
org.neo4j.server.http.log.config=neo4j-http-logging.xml

# HTTPS Connector. There can be zero or one HTTPS connectors.
dbms.connector.https.enabled=false
dbms.connector.https.listen_address=localhost:7473

# Number of Neo4j worker threads.
#dbms.threads.worker_count=

#*****************************************************************
# SSL system configuration
#*****************************************************************

# Names of the SSL policies to be used for the respective components.

# The legacy policy is a special policy which is not defined in
# the policy configuration section, but rather derives from
# dbms.directories.certificates and associated files
# (by default: neo4j.key and neo4j.cert). Its use will be deprecated.

# The policies to be used for connectors.
#
# N.B: Note that a connector must be configured to support/require
#      SSL/TLS for the policy to actually be utilized.
#
# see: dbms.connector.*.tls_level

#bolt.ssl_policy=legacy
#https.ssl_policy=legacy

#*****************************************************************
# SSL policy configuration
#*****************************************************************

# Each policy is configured under a separate namespace, e.g.
#    dbms.ssl.policy.<policyname>.*
#
# The example settings below are for a new policy named 'default'.

# The base directory for cryptographic objects. Each policy will by
# default look for its associated objects (keys, certificates, ...)
# under the base directory.
#
# Every such setting can be overriden using a full path to
# the respective object, but every policy will by default look
# for cryptographic objects in its base location.
#
# Mandatory setting

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.base_directory=certificates/default

# Allows the generation of a fresh private key and a self-signed
# certificate if none are found in the expected locations. It is
# recommended to turn this off again after keys have been generated.
#
# Keys should in general be generated and distributed offline
# by a trusted certificate authority (CA) and not by utilizing
# this mode.

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.allow_key_generation=false

# Enabling this makes it so that this policy ignores the contents
# of the trusted_dir and simply resorts to trusting everything.
#
# Use of this mode is discouraged. It would offer encryption but no security.

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.trust_all=false

# The private key for the default SSL policy. By default a file
# named private.key is expected under the base directory of the policy.
# It is mandatory that a key can be found or generated.

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.private_key=

# The private key for the default SSL policy. By default a file
# named public.crt is expected under the base directory of the policy.
# It is mandatory that a certificate can be found or generated.

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.public_certificate=

# The certificates of trusted parties. By default a directory named
# 'trusted' is expected under the base directory of the policy. It is
# mandatory to create the directory so that it exists, because it cannot
# be auto-created (for security purposes).
#
# To enforce client authentication client_auth must be set to 'require'!

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.trusted_dir=

# Client authentication setting. Values: none, optional, require
# The default is to require client authentication.
#
# Servers are always authenticated unless explicitly overridden
# using the trust_all setting. In a mutual authentication setup this
# should be kept at the default of require and trusted certificates
# must be installed in the trusted_dir.

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.client_auth=require

# A comma-separated list of allowed TLS versions.
# By default only TLSv1.2 is allowed.

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.tls_versions=

# A comma-separated list of allowed ciphers.
# The default ciphers are the defaults of the JVM platform.

#dbms.ssl.policy.default.ciphers=

#*****************************************************************
# Logging configuration
#*****************************************************************

# To enable HTTP logging, uncomment this line
dbms.logs.http.enabled=true

# Number of HTTP logs to keep.
#dbms.logs.http.rotation.keep_number=5

# Size of each HTTP log that is kept.
#dbms.logs.http.rotation.size=20m

# To enable GC Logging, uncomment this line
#dbms.logs.gc.enabled=true

# GC Logging Options
# see http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19957-01/819-0084-10/pt_tuningjava.html#wp57013 for more information.
#dbms.logs.gc.options=-XX:+PrintGCDetails -XX:+PrintGCDateStamps -XX:+PrintGCApplicationStoppedTime -XX:+PrintPromotionFailure -XX:+PrintTenuringDistribution

# Number of GC logs to keep.
#dbms.logs.gc.rotation.keep_number=5

# Size of each GC log that is kept.
#dbms.logs.gc.rotation.size=20m

# Size threshold for rotation of the debug log. If set to zero then no rotation will occur. Accepts a binary suffix "k",
# "m" or "g".
#dbms.logs.debug.rotation.size=20m

# Maximum number of history files for the internal log.
#dbms.logs.debug.rotation.keep_number=7

#*****************************************************************
# Miscellaneous configuration
#*****************************************************************

# Enable this to specify a parser other than the default one.
#cypher.default_language_version=3.0

# Determines if Cypher will allow using file URLs when loading data using
# `LOAD CSV`. Setting this value to `false` will cause Neo4j to fail `LOAD CSV`
# clauses that load data from the file system.
#dbms.security.allow_csv_import_from_file_urls=true


# Value of the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header sent over any HTTP or HTTPS
# connector. This defaults to '*', which allows broadest compatibility. Note
# that any URI provided here limits HTTP/HTTPS access to that URI only.
#dbms.security.http_access_control_allow_origin=*

# Value of the HTTP Strict-Transport-Security (HSTS) response header. This header
# tells browsers that a webpage should only be accessed using HTTPS instead of HTTP.
# It is attached to every HTTPS response. Setting is not set by default so
# 'Strict-Transport-Security' header is not sent. Value is expected to contain
# dirictives like 'max-age', 'includeSubDomains' and 'preload'.
#dbms.security.http_strict_transport_security=

# Retention policy for transaction logs needed to perform recovery and backups.
dbms.tx_log.rotation.retention_policy=1 days

# Enable a remote shell server which Neo4j Shell clients can log in to.
#dbms.shell.enabled=true
# The network interface IP the shell will listen on (use 0.0.0.0 for all interfaces).
#dbms.shell.host=127.0.0.1
# The port the shell will listen on, default is 1337.
#dbms.shell.port=1337

# Only allow read operations from this Neo4j instance. This mode still requires
# write access to the directory for lock purposes.
#dbms.read_only=false

# Comma separated list of JAX-RS packages containing JAX-RS resources, one
# package name for each mountpoint. The listed package names will be loaded
# under the mountpoints specified. Uncomment this line to mount the
# org.neo4j.examples.server.unmanaged.HelloWorldResource.java from
# neo4j-server-examples under /examples/unmanaged, resulting in a final URL of
# http://localhost:7474/examples/unmanaged/helloworld/{nodeId}
#dbms.unmanaged_extension_classes=org.neo4j.examples.server.unmanaged=/examples/unmanaged

#********************************************************************
# JVM Parameters
#********************************************************************

# G1GC generally strikes a good balance between throughput and tail
# latency, without too much tuning.
dbms.jvm.additional=-XX:+UseG1GC

# Have common exceptions keep producing stack traces, so they can be
# debugged regardless of how often logs are rotated.
dbms.jvm.additional=-XX:-OmitStackTraceInFastThrow

# Make sure that `initmemory` is not only allocated, but committed to
# the process, before starting the database. This reduces memory
# fragmentation, increasing the effectiveness of transparent huge
# pages. It also reduces the possibility of seeing performance drop
# due to heap-growing GC events, where a decrease in available page
# cache leads to an increase in mean IO response time.
# Try reducing the heap memory, if this flag degrades performance.
dbms.jvm.additional=-XX:+AlwaysPreTouch

# Trust that non-static final fields are really final.
# This allows more optimizations and improves overall performance.
# NOTE: Disable this if you use embedded mode, or have extensions or dependencies that may use reflection or
# serialization to change the value of final fields!
dbms.jvm.additional=-XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions
dbms.jvm.additional=-XX:+TrustFinalNonStaticFields

# Disable explicit garbage collection, which is occasionally invoked by the JDK itself.
dbms.jvm.additional=-XX:+DisableExplicitGC

# Remote JMX monitoring, uncomment and adjust the following lines as needed. Absolute paths to jmx.access and
# jmx.password files are required.
# Also make sure to update the jmx.access and jmx.password files with appropriate permission roles and passwords,
# the shipped configuration contains only a read only role called 'monitor' with password 'Neo4j'.
# For more details, see: http://download.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/management/agent.html
# On Unix based systems the jmx.password file needs to be owned by the user that will run the server,
# and have permissions set to 0600.
# For details on setting these file permissions on Windows see:
#     http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/management/security-windows.html
#dbms.jvm.additional=-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=3637
#dbms.jvm.additional=-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=true
#dbms.jvm.additional=-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false
#dbms.jvm.additional=-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.password.file=/absolute/path/to/conf/jmx.password
#dbms.jvm.additional=-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.access.file=/absolute/path/to/conf/jmx.access

# Some systems cannot discover host name automatically, and need this line configured:
#dbms.jvm.additional=-Djava.rmi.server.hostname=$THE_NEO4J_SERVER_HOSTNAME

# Expand Diffie Hellman (DH) key size from default 1024 to 2048 for DH-RSA cipher suites used in server TLS handshakes.
# This is to protect the server from any potential passive eavesdropping.
dbms.jvm.additional=-Djdk.tls.ephemeralDHKeySize=2048

# This mitigates a DDoS vector.
dbms.jvm.additional=-Djdk.tls.rejectClientInitiatedRenegotiation=true

#********************************************************************
# Wrapper Windows NT/2000/XP Service Properties
#********************************************************************
# WARNING - Do not modify any of these properties when an application
#  using this configuration file has been installed as a service.
#  Please uninstall the service before modifying this section.  The
#  service can then be reinstalled.

# Name of the service
dbms.windows_service_name=neo4j

#********************************************************************
# Other Neo4j system properties
#********************************************************************
dbms.jvm.additional=-Dunsupported.dbms.udc.source=tarball

[PaddyBadger · Accepted solution]

Yup, my misunderstanding, I needed to also be running the rails server. DOH