Hyperledger Composer module local_connection.json when deployed on Google Compute Engine - node.js

Question

I have a hyperledger composer project that runs smoothly on localhost but I tried to deployed it to Google Cloud Compute Engine and does not work properly.
The project is divided in two parts: a composer network, and a nodejs backend to interact with the network. T
I followed the developer and deploy to single organization tutoriales from Composer site.
The nodejs server handles the registration and sign in logic and expose a rest api to interact with the client side. This is my code:
index.js
//post call to register graduate on the network
app.post('/api/registerGraduate', function(req, res) {
console.log("Creando cuenta graduado");
var graduateRut = req.body.graduaterut;
var cardId = req.body.cardid;
var firstName = req.body.firstname;
var lastName = req.body.lastname;
var email = req.body.email;
var phoneNumber = req.body.phonenumber;
network.registerGraduate(cardId, graduateRut, firstName, lastName, email, phoneNumber)
.then((response) => {
//return error if error in response
if (response.error != null) {
res.json({
error: response.error
});
} else {
//else return success
res.json({
success: response
});
}
});
});
network.js
registerGraduate: async function (cardId, graduateRut,firstName, lastName, email, phoneNumber) {
try {
//connect as admin
businessNetworkConnection = new BusinessNetworkConnection();
await businessNetworkConnection.connect('admin#degree');
//get the factory for the business network
factory = businessNetworkConnection.getBusinessNetwork().getFactory();
//create graduate participant
const graduate = factory.newResource(namespace, 'Graduate', graduateRut);
graduate.firstName = firstName;
graduate.lastName = lastName;
graduate.email = email;
graduate.phoneNumber = phoneNumber;
//add graduate participant
const participantRegistry = await businessNetworkConnection.getParticipantRegistry(namespace + '.Graduate');
await participantRegistry.add(graduate);
//issue identity
const identity = await businessNetworkConnection.issueIdentity(namespace + '.Graduate#' + graduateRut, cardId);
//import card for identity
await importCardForIdentity(cardId, identity);
//disconnect
await businessNetworkConnection.disconnect('admin#degree');
return true;
}
catch(err) {
//print and return error
console.log(err);
var error = {};
error.error = err.message;
return error;
}
},
I'm testing the rest api with postman. The error I'm getting back is "error": "Cannot find module './local_connection.json'" but that happens only the first time I send the post request. The second time the error is Error: Failed to add object with ID '166438715' in collection with ID 'Participant:org.degree.ucsd.University' as the object already exists.
Apparently despite the error is writing the data to the blockchain, but if I try to get the data I get an error stating that the cardid is not found.
So, what did I miss? If it works on localhost but not on a Google VM, is it the authentication? How can I solve this?
Thanks for your help!
EDIT!
importCardForIdentity function:
async function importCardForIdentity(cardName, identity) {
//use admin connection
adminConnection = new AdminConnection();
businessNetworkName = 'degree';
//declare metadata
const metadata = {
userName: identity.userID,
version: 1,
enrollmentSecret: identity.userSecret,
businessNetwork: businessNetworkName
};
//get connectionProfile from json, create Idcard
const connectionProfile = require('./local_connection.json');
const card = new IdCard(metadata, connectionProfile);
//import card
await adminConnection.importCard(cardName, card);
}

Answer 1

the 2nd error reported, is because (as you indicate), the participant is already created.
The real issue is trying to locate the newly issued 'graduateRut' business network card ('not found') from your client REST API or postman - in your current setup it would look for this on the same client under $HOME/.composer - is this on a different node to your nodeJS backend?
Also is your ImportCardForIdentity function something like shown here ?
Unable to issue identity card using Hyperledger Composer Javascript API