How to use HTTPS on Node.js using Express/Socket.io

32
votes

Im trying to run my node server with https. I'm using express and socket.io.

This is my code for https:

var httpsPort = 443;
var privateKey = fs.readFileSync(mykeypath');
var certificate = fs.readFileSync(mycertificatepath');
var credentials = {key: privateKey, cert: certificate};
var https = require('https').Server(credentials,app);
var io = require('socket.io')(https);

https.listen(httpsPort, function(){
logger.info('listening on *:' + httpsPort);
});


app.get('/initGame', function (req,res){

var slots = require('./slots.json', 'utf8');
var userObject = {
    address : req.connection.remoteAddress,
    userAgent : req.headers['user-agent']
};
db.getPlayedGames(userObject,function(playedGames){
    logger.debug(playedGames);
    if(typeof playedGames == 'undefined' ){
        playedGames=0;
    }else{
        playedGames = playedGames.games_played;
    }
    var spinsLeft = 10-playedGames;
    res.json({
        spinsLeft: spinsLeft,
        slots: slots
    });
  });
});

on my client its the following:

var myServer = "//" + document.domain + ":443";

$.get( myServer + "/initGame", function(data) {
    totalSpinsLeft = data.spinsLeft;
    $('#trysLeft').text(totalSpinsLeft);
    Seven.init(data.slots);
}).fail(function(){
    setTimeout(function(){
        $('#spinner2').text('Fehler bitte neu laden!');
    },3000);

});

Right now im getting the following exception on my server:

uncaughtException: Missing PFX or certificate + private key.

EDIT: right now im getting

Bad Request

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand. Reason: You're speaking plain HTTP to an SSL-enabled server port. Instead use the HTTPS scheme to access this URL, please.

2
node.jsexpresshttpssocket.io

2 Answers

83
votes

It is hard to test your example without your key and cert files instead I am going to provide an example where I am using Express, socket.io, and https.

First I will create the key and cert files, so inside a directory run the following commands from your terminal:

The command below it is going to generate a file containing an RSA key.

$ openssl genrsa 1024 > file.pem

Here you will be asked to input data but you can leave blank pressing enter until the crs.pem is generated. 

$ openssl req -new -key file.pem -out csr.pem

Then a file.crt file will be created containing an SSL certificate. 

$ openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in csr.pem -signkey file.pem -out file.crt

So in my app.js file where I am setting and starting the server notice that I am using the files file.pem and file.crt generated in the last step:

var fs = require('fs');
var https = require('https');

var express = require('express');
var app = express();

var options = {
  key: fs.readFileSync('./file.pem'),
  cert: fs.readFileSync('./file.crt')
};
var serverPort = 443;

var server = https.createServer(options, app);
var io = require('socket.io')(server);

app.get('/', function(req, res) {
  res.sendFile(__dirname + '/public/index.html');
});

io.on('connection', function(socket) {
  console.log('new connection');
  socket.emit('message', 'This is a message from the dark side.');
});

server.listen(serverPort, function() {
  console.log('server up and running at %s port', serverPort);
});

and then my public/index.html where I am consuming the server:

<!doctype html>
<html>

  <head>

  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>I am alive!!</h1>

    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/socket.io/1.3.5/socket.io.js"></script>

    <script>
      var URL_SERVER = 'https://localhost:443';
      var socket = io.connect(URL_SERVER);

      socket.on('message', function(data) {
        alert(data);
      });
    </script>
  </body>

</html>

then finally if you access from the browser at https://localhost, you will see an alert with a message that is coming from the websocket server.

2
votes

This is how I managed to set it up with express:

var fs = require( 'fs' );
var app = require('express')();
var https        = require('https');
var server = https.createServer({
    key: fs.readFileSync('./test_key.key'),
    cert: fs.readFileSync('./test_cert.crt'),
    ca: fs.readFileSync('./test_ca.crt'),
    requestCert: false,
    rejectUnauthorized: false
},app);
server.listen(8080);

var io = require('socket.io').listen(server);

io.sockets.on('connection',function (socket) {
    ...
});

app.get("/", function(request, response){
    ...
})

I hope that this will save someone's time.