How to run nodejs server over 443 ensuring nginx doesnt stop working

Question

My Nginx default file looks like this:

server {
       listen  80;
       server_name humanfox.com www.humanfox.com;
       rewrite  ^/(.*)$ https://www.humanfox.com$1 permanent;
}


server {
        listen 443 ssl spdy;
        server_name humanfox.com www.humanfox.com;
        ssl on;
        ssl_certificate /root/ca3/www.humanfox.com.crt;
        ssl_certificate_key /root/ca3/humanfox.com.key;
        access_log  /var/log/nginx/humanfox.com.access.log;
        error_log   /var/log/nginx/humanfox.com.error.log;
        rewrite     ^/(.*)$ https://www.humanfox.com$1 permanent;
}

Now, Nginx is running properly but when I try to run my nodejs server on port 443(https) it says EADDR already in use. When I kill the port to use my nodejs server instead, it also kills Nginx and Nginx stops working.

How do I run my nodejs server on 443 ensuring nginx doesn't close.

You cannot, only 1 program can listen on a port at the same time. You could move nodejs to another port and use nginx as a reverse proxy for nodejs. — fvu, Mar 13 '17 at 15:17
https://www.nginx.com/resources/admin-guide/reverse-proxy/ . The main problem to solve will be to configure it to make a distinction between locally served files and stuff that it should get from the nodejs server. — fvu, Mar 13 '17 at 15:21
It's not that hard, once you have grasped the logic behind it, and there are lots of references and tutorials discussing nginx as an rproxy — fvu, Mar 13 '17 at 15:33

per.eight · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-18T20:14:10.937

You can't run nodejs on port 443 and nginx to serve ssl(443) at the same time. You can do this by configuring nginx as a reverse proxy for nodejs.

Let say you are running nodejs in port 3000.

const http = require('http');
http.createServer((req,res) => {
  res.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type":"plain/html"});
  res.end('Node is Running');
}).listen(3000);

your nginx config should be:

server {
    listen 443 ssl spdy;

    server_name humanfox.com www.humanfox.com;
    ssl on;
    ssl_certificate /root/ca3/www.humanfox.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /root/ca3/humanfox.com.key;
    access_log  /var/log/nginx/humanfox.com.access.log;
    error_log   /var/log/nginx/humanfox.com.error.log;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarder-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-NginX-Proxy true;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
        proxy_redirect off;
    }
}

Hope it Helps.

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:53

You will not be able listen on the same port as nginx is already listening on.

What you can do is listen on some different port and configure nginx as a reverse proxy to connect to your node process. That way from the point of view of external users it will look exactly how you want - the Node app will be accessible on the 443 port - but there would be no conflict of ports.

See this answers for examples on how to do that:

How to run nodejs server over 443 ensuring nginx doesnt stop working

2 Answers2

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