How to Set Up LSWS as a WebSocket Proxy

WebSocket changes the way the Internet works: It is a protocol that allows the server and the client to have a bidirectional conversation where the client doesn’t just request content from the server but the server also sends content to the client whenever there is content to be sent (without waiting to be asked). This bidirectional conversation allows for realtime web experiences. Where HTTP tries to simulate real-time interaction at great expense (through incessant refreshing), WebSocket makes realtime interaction a reality. This upgrades all sorts of web applications: stock tickers, data center monitors, news feeds… but probably the most exciting feature of realtime Internet is the ability for multiple users to see and react to each other's actions in real time.

LiteSpeed Web Server can work as a WebSocket proxy. See how:

The first step is to have a working WebSocket backend set up. Explaining how to achieve this is out of this wiki's scope but there are plenty of online tutorials that can be consulted. One such tutorial involves using an Nginx backend with an nchan module.

Assuming you have a backend WebSocket up and running on port 80 at ws://domain.com/sub/xx1, you will need to test it to ensure it is working.

There are many tools available for such testing. You can either try some online tools such as Echo Test or download chrome extension tools like Simple WebSocket Client. We will use Chrome Simple WebSocket Client as an example in this wiki.

This screenshot shows a successful test. If it had failed, you would see a Simple WebSocket Client undefined error, like so:

In the LSWS WebAdmin Console, navigate to Virtual Host (Native) > General > Web Socket Proxy Setup

Configure URI and Address. The URI can be a plain URI (starting with “/”). The URI can be an exact match. If a plain URI ends with a “/”, then this WebSocket backend will include all sub-URIs under this URI, such as /sub/ should include /sub/001, /sub/002… etc. However, the regular expression, such as /sub/*, will not work for WebSocket.

Save and restart LSWS.

LSWS supports ProxyPass for WebSocket, used like so:

ProxyPass / ws://localhost:3000/

Note: This directive must be placed in an Apache vhost configuration file, not in .htaccess.

For example, for RocketChat, create two files like these, replacing EXAMPLE and www.example.com with the cPanel username and the actual domain:

/etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/EXAMPLE/www.example.com/proxy.conf

/etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/std/2_4/EXAMPLE/www.example.com/proxy.conf

Add the following code to both files:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://localhost:3000/$1 [P,L]
ProxyPass / ws://localhost:3000/
</IfModule>

Rebuild the Apache configuration file, and restart LSWS:

/scripts/buildhttpdconf

/usr/local/lsws/bin/lswsctrl restart

Test front-end port 443

wss://example.com/sub/xx1

If all is working fine you should see the following: