[node.js] WebSockets and Apache proxy : how to configure mod_proxy_wstunnel?

I have :

1. Apache (v2.4) on port 80 of my server for www.domain1.com, with mod_proxy and mod_proxy_wstunnel enabled

2. node.js + socket.io on port 3001 of the same server.

Accessing www.domain2.com (with port 80) redirects to 2. thanks to the method described here. I have set this in the Apache configuration:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName www.domain2.com
    ProxyPass / http://localhost:3001/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:3001/
    ProxyPass / ws://localhost:3001/
    ProxyPassReverse / ws://localhost:3001/
</VirtualHost>

It works for everything, except the websocket part : ws://... are not transmitted like it should by the proxy.

When I access the page on www.domain2.com, I have:

Impossible to connect ws://www.domain2.com/socket.io/?EIO=3&transport=websocket&sid=n30rqg9AEqZIk5c9AABN.

Question: How to make Apache proxy the WebSockets as well?

As of Socket.IO 1.0 (May 2014), all connections begin with an HTTP polling request (more info here). That means that in addition to forwarding WebSocket traffic, you need to forward any transport=polling HTTP requests.

The solution below should redirect all socket traffic correctly, without redirecting any other traffic.

1. Enable the following Apache2 mods:

   sudo a2enmod proxy rewrite proxy_http proxy_wstunnel
   

2. Use these settings in your *.conf file (e.g. /etc/apache2/sites-available/mysite.com.conf). I've included comments to explain each piece:

   <VirtualHost *:80>
       ServerName www.mydomain.com
   
       # Enable the rewrite engine
       # Requires: sudo a2enmod proxy rewrite proxy_http proxy_wstunnel
       # In the rules/conds, [NC] means case-insensitve, [P] means proxy
       RewriteEngine On
   
       # socket.io 1.0+ starts all connections with an HTTP polling request
       RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} transport=polling       [NC]
       RewriteRule /(.*)           http://localhost:3001/$1 [P]
   
       # When socket.io wants to initiate a WebSocket connection, it sends an
       # "upgrade: websocket" request that should be transferred to ws://
       RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} websocket               [NC]
       RewriteRule /(.*)           ws://localhost:3001/$1  [P]
   
       # OPTIONAL: Route all HTTP traffic at /node to port 3001
       ProxyRequests Off
       ProxyPass           /node   http://localhost:3001
       ProxyPassReverse    /node   http://localhost:3001
   </VirtualHost>
   

3. I've included an extra section for routing /node traffic that I find handy, see here for more info.

User this link for perfact solution for ws https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_proxy_wstunnel.html

You have to just do below step..

Go to /etc/apache2/mods-available

Step...1

Enable mode proxy_wstunnel.load by using below command

$a2enmod proxy_wstunnel.load

Step...2

Go to /etc/apache2/sites-available

and add below line in your .conf file inside virtual host

ProxyPass "/ws2/"  "ws://localhost:8080/"

ProxyPass "/wss2/" "wss://localhost:8080/"

Note : 8080 mean your that your tomcat running port because we want to connect ws where our War file putted in tomcat and tomcat serve apache for ws. thank you

My Configuration

ws://localhost/ws2/ALLCAD-Unifiedcommunication-1.0/chatserver?userid=4 =Connected

For me it works after adding only one line in httpd.conf as below (bold line).

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName: xxxxx

    #ProxyPassReverse is not needed
    ProxyPass /log4j ws://localhost:4711/logs
<VirtualHost *:80>

Apache version is 2.4.6 on CentOS.

For "polling" transport.

Apache side:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName mysite.com
    DocumentRoot /my/path


    ProxyRequests Off

    <Proxy *>
        Order deny,allow
        Allow from all
    </Proxy>

    ProxyPass /my-connect-3001 http://127.0.0.1:3001/socket.io
    ProxyPassReverse /my-connect-3001 http://127.0.0.1:3001/socket.io   
</VirtualHost>

Client side:

var my_socket = new io.Manager(null, {
    host: 'mysite.com',
    path: '/my-connect-3001'
    transports: ['polling'],
}).socket('/');

Instead of filtering by URL, you can also filter by HTTP header. This configuration will work for any web applications that use websockets, also if they are not using socket.io:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName www.domain2.com

  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} =websocket [NC]
  RewriteRule /(.*)           ws://localhost:3001/$1 [P,L]
  RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} !=websocket [NC]
  RewriteRule /(.*)           http://localhost:3001/$1 [P,L]

  ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:3001/
</VirtualHost>

In addition to the main answer: if you have more than one service on the same server that uses websockets, you might want to do this to separate them, by using a custom path (*):

Node server:

var io = require('socket.io')({ path: '/ws_website1'}).listen(server);

Client HTML:

<script src="/ws_website1/socket.io.js"></script>
...
<script>
var socket = io('', { path: '/ws_website1' });
...

Apache config:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^/website1(.*)$ http://localhost:3001$1 [P,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}  ^/ws_website1 [NC]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} transport=websocket [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ ws://localhost:3001$1 [P,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI}  ^/ws_website1 [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://localhost:3001$1 [P,L]

(*) Note: using the default RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/socket.io would not be specific to a website, and websockets requests would be mixed up between different websites!

TODO:

1. Have Apache 2.4 installed (doesn't work with 2.2), a2enmod proxy and a2enmod proxy_wstunnel.load

2. Do this in the Apache config
   just add two line in your file where 8080 is your tomcat running port

   <VirtualHost *:80>
   ProxyPass "/ws2/" "ws://localhost:8080/" 
   ProxyPass "/wss2/" "wss://localhost:8080/"
   
   </VirtualHost *:80>
   

My setup:

• Apache 2.4.10 (running off Debian)
• Node.js (version 4.1.1) App running on port 3000 that accepts WebSockets at path /api/ws

As mentioned above by @Basj, make sure a2enmod proxy and ws_tunnel are enabled.

This is a screenshot of the Apache config file that solved my problem:

The relevant part as text:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName *******
  ServerAlias *******
  ProxyPass / http://localhost:3000/
  ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:3000/

  <Location "/api/ws">
      ProxyPass "ws://localhost:3000/api/ws"
  </Location>
</VirtualHost>

Hope that helps.

May be will be useful. Just all queries send via ws to node

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName www.domain2.com

  <Location "/">
    ProxyPass "ws://localhost:3001/"
  </Location>
</VirtualHost>

Did the following for a spring application running static, rest and websocket content.

The Apache is used as Proxy and SSL Endpoint for the following URIs:

• /app → static content
• /api → REST API
• /api/ws → websocket

Apache configuration

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName xxx.xxx.xxx    

    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyVia Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On

    <Proxy *>
         Require all granted
    </Proxy>

    RewriteEngine On

    # websocket 
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade}         =websocket                      [NC]
    RewriteRule ^/api/ws/(.*)           ws://localhost:8080/api/ws/$1   [P,L]

    # rest
    ProxyPass /api http://localhost:8080/api
    ProxyPassReverse /api http://localhost:8080/api

    # static content    
    ProxyPass /app http://localhost:8080/app
    ProxyPassReverse /app http://localhost:8080/app 
</VirtualHost>

I use the same vHost config for the SSL configuration, no need to change anything proxy related.

Spring configuration

server.use-forward-headers: true

With help from these answers, I finally got reverse proxy for Node-RED running on a Raspberry Pi with Ubuntu Mate and Apache2 working, using this Apache2 site config:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName nodered.domain.com
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} =websocket [NC]
    RewriteRule /(.*)           ws://localhost:1880/$1 [P,L]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} !=websocket [NC]
    RewriteRule /(.*)           http://localhost:1880/$1 [P,L]
</VirtualHost>

I also had to enable modules like this:

sudo a2enmod proxy
sudo a2enmod proxy_http
sudo a2enmod proxy_wstunnel