Nginx websocket proxy for Node.js

Question

I am trying to use Node.js to read phoenix channels using npm package phoenix-channels. Phoenix channels are multiplexed on top of websockets. I'm using an NGINX proxy in front of my phoenix webserver, so for NGINX, it's just a websocket.

Phoenix channels work fine going to a web page, as you can see here (you'll see data coming through in the web page).

It also works fine from nodejs on my internal network:

test_chan.js (with explicit IP and port):

const { Socket } = require('phoenix-channels')

let socket = new Socket("https://192.168.1.113:4445/socket")

socket.connect()

// Now that you are connected, you can join channels with a topic:
let channel = socket.channel("room:lobby", {})

channel.on("new_msg", payload => {
  console.log(`${payload.body}`);
});

channel.join()
  .receive("ok", resp => { console.log("Joined successfully", resp) })
  .receive("error", resp => { console.log("Unable to join", resp) })

However if I replace the explicity IP:PORT address with the domain name, and run it from externally, it doesn't work (the only difference here from the script above is the URL):

test_chan.js (through domain name, and via my NGINX proxy):

const { Socket } = require('phoenix-channels')

let socket = new Socket("https://suprabonds.com/socket")

socket.connect()

// Now that you are connected, you can join channels with a topic:
let channel = socket.channel("room:lobby", {})

channel.on("new_msg", payload => {
  console.log(`${payload.body}`);
});

channel.join()
  .receive("ok", resp => { console.log("Joined successfully", resp) })
  .receive("error", resp => { console.log("Unable to join", resp) })

So the suprabonds.com websockets works fine in a browser through the proxy, but doesn't work as a nodejs script.

Here is my nginx conf for suprabonds.com:

sites-enabled relevant server section:

server {
    server_name suprabonds.com www.suprabonds.com;
    
    location / {
        proxy_pass  http://localhost:4445;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }


    listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/suprabonds.com/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/suprabonds.com/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot


}

Any idea as to what I'm doing wrong?

EDIT

Here are the /var/log/nginx/access.log latest entries:

86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:52:56 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 301 178 "-" "-"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:52:58 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 301 178 "-" "-"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:03 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 301 178 "-" "-"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:08 +0000] "GET /phoenix/live_reload/socket/websocket?vsn=2.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 101 143 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:87.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/87.0"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:08 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?token=undefined&vsn=2.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 101 113098 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:87.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/87.0"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:19 +0000] "GET /phoenix/live_reload/socket/websocket?vsn=2.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 101 79 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:87.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/87.0"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:19 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?token=undefined&vsn=2.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 101 27025 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:87.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/87.0"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:20 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?token=undefined&vsn=2.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 101 479 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:87.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/87.0"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:20 +0000] "GET /phoenix/live_reload/socket/websocket?vsn=2.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 101 79 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:87.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/87.0"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:23 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 301 178 "-" "-"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:24 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 301 178 "-" "-"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:26 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 301 178 "-" "-"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:31 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 301 178 "-" "-"
86.143.74.170 - - [22/Apr/2021:15:53:41 +0000] "GET /socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0 HTTP/1.1" 301 178 "-" "-"

The firefox ones are the ones that work fine. The others (with 301 178 in them) are the ones from the non-working Node.js script (that is, the one using the domain name). The error.log file in the same location is empty.
Please note that I'm also using noip dynamic dns.

anything in the error log? So the script you just shared work with the IP but NOT! with the hostname... Thats strange. Sounds like the host could not be resolved but thats doest make much sense. Do you have the backend available or a demo of it so I can test it? — Timo Stark
– Timo Stark, Commented Apr 22, 2021 at 13:48
Recommendation based on past config problems with nginx with similar behavior: Use 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost for proxy_pass — Brian Burton
– Brian Burton, Commented Apr 28, 2021 at 10:02
Have you tried bypassing the http upgrade and just using wss://suprabonds.com/socket? — xdumaine
– xdumaine, Commented Apr 28, 2021 at 12:43

Gregory Ostermayr · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-28 17:42:39Z

1

+300

If you change your URL to:

let socket = new Socket("wss://suprabonds.com/socket/websocket?token=undefined")

or

let socket = new Socket("wss://suprabonds.com/socket/websocket?vsn=1.0.0")

It will connect

answered Apr 28, 2021 at 17:42

Gregory Ostermayr

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3 Comments

Thomas Browne Over a year ago

works... please give me a pointer as to what's going wrong? IE why does this work externally but the other code works fine on my internal network (btw your code works fine on my internal network too so all good).

Gregory Ostermayr Over a year ago

I feel that nginx isn't proxying the "upgrade" headers - maybe lowercase "upgrade" needs to be "Upgrade" with a capital U? I'm guessing

Thomas Browne Over a year ago

that's not making a difference, but I don't care 'cos I now have it working with your code. I'll google around for the reason that your URL works whereas mine doesn't.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Nginx websocket proxy for Node.js

test_chan.js (with explicit IP and port):

test_chan.js (through domain name, and via my NGINX proxy):

sites-enabled relevant server section:

EDIT

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

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Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

test_chan.js (with explicit IP and port):

test_chan.js (through domain name, and via my NGINX proxy):

sites-enabled relevant server section:

EDIT

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

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