WebSocket over Nginx

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WebSocket gives us a completely different experience compared to traditional HTTP. I’ve been digging into it a bit lately. How to deploy a WebSocket application and expose it to the public is the main topic of this post. Since I’ve always had a soft spot for Nginx, I will outline the configurations for setting up WebSockets on Nginx below.

  1. First, check your Nginx version using nginx -v. If it’s below 1.4, sorry, but you need to update it immediately. Otherwise, native WebSocket support won’t work.

  2. The basic configuration is actually quite simple. Below is my setup for a chat application. We start by configuring an upstream, and then configure the reverse proxy within the specific server location block. Another major advantage of Nginx is its powerful reverse proxy capabilities. Since WebSocket apps usually run on non-standard ports (other than 80), using this proxy allows you to seamlessly integrate the app with the rest of your website.

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upstream lab_chat {
    server 127.0.0.1:8080; # your websocket app here
}

location ~ /wschat/ {
    proxy_pass  http://test_chat; # Required
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_http_version 1.1; # Required
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; # Required
    proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade"; # Required
    proxy_send_timeout 1h; # Send timeout. Make sure to configure this as needed, otherwise it defaults to 60s and disconnects.
    proxy_read_timeout 1h; # Read timeout
}
  1. References & Advanced Configurations