Using Socket.IO+Node.JS with HTTP and HTTPS

Question

I have a Node.JS server with Socket.IO that runs over HTTPs with Express. With this all users connect through an address, e.g. https://socket.example.com:443,

The problem is that virtual machines on the same local network have to take a longer path to the Socket.IO server, even though they are on the same network.

Is it possible to run the same NodeJS+Socket.IO application both with HTTPs and HTTP?

In this way, applications on the same network could connect to the server with just http + the machine's IP (eg.: http:192.168.0.1:3400), gaining more communication speed (and lowering costs on Google Cloud).

I run the application this way.

app = require('express')(),
serverSSL = require('https').Server(credentials, app);

io = require('socket.io')(serverSSL, {
    cors: {
        origin: "*",
        methods: ["GET", "POST"]
    }
});

Or will I have to put an nginx proxy to connect to the server via HTTPs and keep it running with HTTP on the main server?

-- EDIT 2022-01-18 --

My plan is to use PM2 to run the code, and since socket.IO requires an HTTP or HTTPS server at startup, I think it's better to use an HTTP server and a load balancer with NGINX to handle HTTPS.

https://socket.io/docs/v4/pm2/

-- EDIT 2022-01-19 --

Solution: https://github.com/socketio/socket.io/discussions/4600

Does this answer your question? [Enabling HTTPS on express.js](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11744975/enabling-https-on-express-js) — gre_gor, Jan 18 '23 at 20:54

Pathikrit Das · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-22T12:55:01.723

The thing is you cannot run http and https from the same port in nodejs But instead you can create two different servers like this



    const http = require('http');
    const https = require('https');
    const { Server } = require('socket.io');
    
    //httpServer
    const httpServer = http.createServer((req, res) => {
      res.writeHead(200);
      res.end('http server');
    });
    
    //httpserver
    const httpsServer = https.createServer({
      key: fs.readFileSync('path/to/key.pem'),
      cert: fs.readFileSync('path/to/cert.pem')
    }, (req, res) => {
      res.writeHead(200);
      res.end('https server');
    });

    //Initializing our socket.io Server
    const io = new Server({
      cors: {
        "Access-Control-Allow-Origin": "*",
        methods: ["GET", "POST", "OPTIONS"]
      },
      maxHttpBufferSize:1e8,
      pingTimeout:60000
    });

    
    io.attach(httpServer)
    io.attach(httpsServer)
    httpServer.listen(3000)
    httpServer.listen(4000)

.attach() works properly in older versions, however it is recommended to use .listen()
In place of the traditional http and https server, express http and https server can easily be used
The attached http and https server will listen to the same events
Therefore the clients you want can use both http and https servers

Using Socket.IO+Node.JS with HTTP and HTTPS

1 Answers1