Docker: ping ok but nodeJS unable to connect to internet

[Jim_Le]

Describe the problem/error/question

Thought I’d document this weird issue I noticed after upgrading from 1.42.0 to 1.44.1 (next).

• Essentially, n8n is no longer able to connect to the internet - all outgoing http calls get timed out with Response error code: ETIMEDOUT. The timeout length is 35s: AxiosError: timeout of 34876.80156183493ms exceeded.
• This impact is that most if not all workflows, credentials and UI elements such as dynamic dropdowns no longer work.
• Upon further investigation, the docker container is still able to make outgoing http calls but the nodeJS instance is the one timing out (See second screenshot).
• Not sure what I can do to replicate but 1.44.1 was working normally after fresh install and this bug happened shortly after the OpenAI outage yesterday. Maybe triggered by a crash?

What is the error message (if any)?

User settings loaded from: /home/node/.n8n/config
Initializing n8n process
n8n ready on 0.0.0.0, port 5678
Version: 1.44.1
Editor is now accessible via:
http://localhost:5678/
2024-06-05T06:09:52.273Z [Rudder] error: Response error code: ETIMEDOUT
2024-06-05T06:12:05.377Z [Rudder] error: Response error code: ETIMEDOUT
Error fetching feature flags Error [PostHogFetchNetworkError]: Network error while fetching PostHog
    at new PostHogFetchNetworkError (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/posthog-node/lib/index.cjs.js:740:16)
    at PostHog.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/posthog-node/lib/index.cjs.js:1129:51)
    at step (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/posthog-node/lib/index.cjs.js:135:27)
    at Object.throw (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/posthog-node/lib/index.cjs.js:84:53)
    at rejected (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/posthog-node/lib/index.cjs.js:71:36)
    at runNextTicks (node:internal/process/task_queues:60:5)
    at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:540:9)
    at processTimers (node:internal/timers:514:7) {
  error: DOMException [TimeoutError]: The operation was aborted due to timeout
      at node:internal/deps/undici/undici:12502:13
      at runNextTicks (node:internal/process/task_queues:60:5)
      at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:540:9)
      at processTimers (node:internal/timers:514:7),
  [cause]: DOMException [TimeoutError]: The operation was aborted due to timeout
      at node:internal/deps/undici/undici:12502:13
      at runNextTicks (node:internal/process/task_queues:60:5)
      at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:540:9)
      at processTimers (node:internal/timers:514:7)
}
2024-06-05T06:12:40.737Z [Rudder] error: Response error code: ECONNABORTED
2024-06-05T06:12:40.934Z [Rudder] error: Error: ECONNABORTED
2024-06-05T06:17:58.668Z [Rudder] error: Response error code: ETIMEDOUT
2024-06-05T06:20:11.785Z [Rudder] error: Response error code: ETIMEDOUT
2024-06-05T06:20:45.384Z [Rudder] error: Response error code: ECONNABORTED
2024-06-05T06:20:45.387Z [Rudder] error: Error: ECONNABORTED
AxiosError: timeout of 34876.80156183493ms exceeded
AxiosError: timeout of 34876.80156183493ms exceeded
AxiosError: timeout of 34876.80156183493ms exceeded

Information on your n8n setup

• n8n version: 1.44.1 (next)
• Database (default: SQLite): SQLite
• n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): main
• Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): Docker
• Operating system: Windows 11

[Jon]

Hey @Jim_Le,

In your second screenshot I can see a ping request but I can’t see anything that tries to connect using HTTP outside of n8n, A ping is not really the best test as it doesn’t test the same protocol. Can you try with something like wget and see if that works?

I suspect it is unrelated to the OpenAI outage and could just be something odd in Docker, Have you tried restarting the machine fully to see if that helps?

wget -q --output-document - www.google.com

[Jim_Le]

Thanks @Jon.

A machine restart did indeed fix the problem. I’m guessing there was something weird happening to my docker instance.