Running NodeJS in a Apache server

Question

I am trying to make a browser multiplayer game using Socket.IO and Express, although it's not very clear for me why Express is needed. I have the app in my server, in a folder called /game so to access the app, the user should type http://www.example.com/game instead of http://www.example.com:3000 which is how the tutorial is doing it. I know this is more of an Apache 2 VirtualHost configuration file issue but I didn't know where to post it. Here is my actual .conf file

# /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf
<VirtualHost *:80>

ServerAdmin [email protected]
DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/public_html
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass /game http://www.example.com:3000
ProxyPassReverse /game http://www.example.com:3000


ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Actually, when an user enters by typing the url with the port ( http://www.example.com:3000 ), the server returns a log message like 'user connected' BUT when I enter by typing the url I want ( http://www.example.com/game ) then it doesn't returns any message which is driving me crazy... index.js code:

var app = require('express')();
 var http = require('http').Server(app);
 var io = require('socket.io')(http);

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

 io.on('connection', function(socket){
   console.log('a user connected');
   socket.on('disconnect', function(){
     console.log('user disconnected');
 });
 socket.on('chat message', function(msg){
    onsole.log('message: ' + msg);
 });
 });

 http.listen(3000, function(){
   console.log('listening on *:3000');
 });

index.html code:

<!doctype html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Socket.IO App</title>
    <style>
     * { 
       margin: 0;
       padding: 0; 
       box-sizing: border-box; 
     }
     body { 
       font: 13px Helvetica, Arial; 
     }
     form { 
       background: #000; 
       padding: 3px; 
       position: fixed;
       bottom: 0; 
       width: 100%; 
     }
     form input { 
       border: 0; 
       padding: 10px; 
       width: 90%; 
       margin-right: .5%; 
     }
     form button { 
       width: 9%; 
       background: rgb(130, 224, 255); 
       border: none; 
       padding: 10px; 
      }
    #messages { 
       list-style-type: none; 
       margin: 0; padding: 0; 
    }
    #messages li { 
       padding: 5px 10px; 
    }
    #messages li:nth-child(odd) { 
       background: #eee; 
    }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <ul id="messages"></ul>
    <form action="">
      <input id="m" autocomplete="off" /><button>Send</button>
    </form>
    <script src="/socket.io/socket.io.js"></script>
    <script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.1.js"></script>
    <script>
    $(function () {
      var socket = io();
      $('form').submit(function(){
        socket.emit('chat message', $('#m').val());
        $('#m').val('');
        return false;
      });
    });
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Thanks in advance.

edit: Also, I have checked the browser console while accesing via example.com/game and it says the socket.io.js file is not found, but when entering the other way it does load the file correctly...

Hopefully this this will help: codingtricks.biz/run-nodejs-application-apache — Mirza Sisic
– Mirza Sisic, Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 1:42
Hi @MirzaSisic thanks for answer! It actually helped me but I have already seen that article and it doesn't solve my problem. Right now I can run my app and access it via example.com:3000 but I want to be able to access with example.com/game instead. Actually, both of them returns me to the correct page but when entering via example.com/game, it doesn't load the socket.io script (404) and the server doesn't returns any message as "an user connected". Thanks again! — Marcos
– Marcos, Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 1:58
When socket.io wasnt found, what is the url that is logged with it? And confirm if thats the correct url to your socket file — Frz Khan
– Frz Khan, Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 4:35
I was using a CDN url before. Now I have changed it to src="socket.io/socket.io.js" and now I don't get any error about the js file loading when requesting example.com/game but I get a 404 "polling-xhr.js:264 GET example.com/socket.io/… 404 (Not Found)" — Marcos
– Marcos, Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 14:09

Bertrand Martel · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-22 04:58:53Z

1

On client side, specify the path field of socket.io client :

var socket = io('http://www.example.com', {
  'path': '/game/socket.io'
});

or :

var socket = io(window.location.origin, {
  'path': window.location.pathname + '/socket.io'
});

In your apache config, also add ws rewrite rule to route websocket traffic, you will need proxy, proxy_http, proxy_wstunnel and rewrite module :

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Connection} Upgrade [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} websocket [NC]
RewriteRule /game/(.*) ws://www.example.com:3000/$1 [P,L]

ProxyPass        /game  http://www.example.com:3000
ProxyPassReverse /game  http://www.example.com:3000

You can find here a sample project using docker to reproduce your configuration (node app + apache reverse proxy)

edited Oct 22, 2017 at 4:58

answered Oct 22, 2017 at 2:36

Bertrand Martel

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12 Comments

Marcos Over a year ago

Hey thanks for answering! I will try this and come back with the results

Marcos Over a year ago

Okey, I have tried a bunch of different things but none of them worked. Actually, when I enter example.com:3000 it loads the page correctly and logs a message in the server. But when i enter example.com/game it doesn't just dont log the message but also it doesn't load the socket.io file and also some script I have... I don't know if I am explaining myself too bad but this is driving me crazy

Bertrand Martel Over a year ago

you should look at your browser dev console & apache logs to debug your issue

Marcos Over a year ago

I am doing it currently, that's actually what I have said in the last comment, I can attach a picture if needed, the only error I have got is from the browser dev console stating that when entering via example.com/game it CAN'T load the socket.io file and neither execute a method in the onload event from the body element in my HTML file. I don't know how to check / test if my .conf file is correctly set up because if I type example.com/game it actually loads the HTML file but not the JS (index.js)

Bertrand Martel Over a year ago

Replace /socket.io/socket.io.js with /game/socket.io/socket.io.js in client side

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