Knowledge Base

Node.js application in Plesk returns error: 403 Forbidden

Symptoms

Node.js application shows the following error if PHP support is set as PHP FPM handler served by nginx in Domains > example.com > PHP Settings:
```
403 Forbidden
```

The following entries can be found in /var/log/httpd/error_log:

[ E 2017-11-01 06:28:15.9276 989090/Ty age/Cor/App/Implementation.cpp:304 ]: Could not spawn process for application /home/httpd/vhosts/example.com/app.example.com: An error occurred while starting the web application. It exited before signaling successful startup back to Phusion Passenger.

Cause

Plesk does not support the scenario when PHP-FPM is being used along with Node.js on the same domain

Resolution

If it is needed to have 2 technologies on one site — both PHP and Node.js, it is recommended to use separate subdomains for each application.

For example, a site with PHP application — www.example.com , chat as Node.js application — chat.example.com .

Otherwise, log into Plesk and change the handler type from FPM to the FastCGI under Domains > example.com > PHP Settings.