HTTPS upgrade

So I’ve finally migrated clinFHIR to using https rather than plain old http. It’s something I’ve meant to do for a while, but it wasn’t without issues!

I decided to use nginx as a reverse proxy to manage the interface, and also took the opportunity to rationalize the servers – they’ve proliferated over the years! (and cost more than they really need to 🙂 ). chatGPT was a real help!

clinFHIR itself should work pretty much as it did before – though I did note that my browser did seem a little confused initially – I needed to clear the browser cache, so if you are having issues then that is probably a good idea. 

One consequence of the migration is that clinFHIR cannot access non-https servers as it is a single page application – the http request comes from the browser which won’t allow a secure site to access a non-secure site. I don’t believe that will be an issue these days, but do reach out if it is a problem for you. I could proxy the call through the clinFHIR server if needed.

Graphbuilder (gb2.clinfhir.com) was a little more challenging. I got nginx set up ok, but after doing so, I realized that all my graphs had gone! They are saved in the local browser cache (unless they’ve been copied to the library) and the secure site was unable to access them from the non-secure site. This is by design, so there’s nothing I can do to change that.

After some thought, I’ve set up a different site at gb.clinfhir.com which has the same app, just served over https. For new users this is the site to use, but if you have existing graphs then you’ll need to continue to use gb2.clinfhir.com for the moment.

I’ll work on the migration strategy – at this time I’m thinking a file download / upload will be the easiest, but will post again when it’s all running. I’ll probably take the opportunity to tidy up the graph builder library – something else I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

In summary:

• clinfhir.com should work as before – just over https
• gb2.clinfhir.com should also work as before – still using http with existing graphs present
• gb.clinfhir.com  is a copy of gb2 but served over https and no existing graphs

I will post again when the migration strategy is complete – hopefully within the next couple of weeks.

Do reach out on the fhir chat if you have any issues or concerns.