skip to Main Content

I want to connect a React Native application using Socket.io to a server that is inside a Kubernetes Cluster hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GKE).

There seems to be an issue with the Nginx Ingress Controller declaration but I cannot find it.

I have tried adding nginx.org/websocket-services; rewriting my backend code so that it uses a separate NodeJS server (a simple HTTP server) on port 3004, then exposing it via the Ingress Controller under a different path than the one on port 3003; and multiple other suggestions from other SO questions and Github issues.

Information that might be useful:

  1. Cluster master version: 1.15.11-gke.15
  2. I use a Load Balancer managed with Helm (stable/nginx-ingress) with RBAC enabled
  3. All deployments and services are within the namespace gitlab-managed-apps
  4. The error I receive when trying to connect to socket.io is: Error: websocket error

For the front-end part, the code is as follows:

App.js

const socket = io('https://example.com/app-sockets/socketns', {
    reconnect: true,
    secure: true,
    transports: ['websocket', 'polling']
});

I expect the above to connect me to a socket.io namespace called socketdns.

The backend code is:

app.js

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const server = require('http').createServer(app);
const io = require('socket.io')(server);
const redis = require('socket.io-redis');

io.set('transports', ['websocket', 'polling']);
io.adapter(redis({
    host: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development' ? 'localhost' : 'redis-cluster-ip-service.gitlab-managed-apps.svc.cluster.local',
    port: 6379
}));
io.of('/').adapter.on('error', function(err) { console.log('Redis Adapter error! ', err); });

const nsp = io.of('/socketns');

nsp.on('connection', function(socket) {
    console.log('connected!');
});

server.listen(3003, () => {
    console.log('App listening to 3003');
});

The ingress service is:

ingress-service.yaml

apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: nginx
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /$1
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: "100m"
    certmanager.k8s.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-connect-timeout: "7200"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-read-timeout: "7200"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-send-timeout: "7200"
    nginx.org/websocket-services: "app-sockets-cluster-ip-service"
  name: ingress-service
  namespace: gitlab-managed-apps
spec:
  tls:
  - hosts:
    - example.com
    secretName: letsencrypt-prod
  rules:
  - host: example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - backend:
          serviceName: app-cms-cluster-ip-service
          servicePort: 3000
        path: /?(.*)
      - backend:
          serviceName: app-users-cluster-ip-service
          servicePort: 3001
        path: /app-users/?(.*)
      - backend:
          serviceName: app-sockets-cluster-ip-service
          servicePort: 3003
        path: /app-sockets/?(.*)
      - backend:
          serviceName: app-sockets-cluster-ip-service
          servicePort: 3003
        path: /app-sockets/socketns/?(.*)

2

Answers


  1. Chosen as BEST ANSWER

    The solution is to remove the nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /$1 annotation.

    Here is a working configuration: (please note that apiVersion has changed since the question has been asked)

    Ingress configuration

    ingress-service.yaml

    apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
    kind: Ingress
    metadata:
      annotations:
        kubernetes.io/ingress.class: nginx
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-redirect: "true"
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/force-ssl-redirect: "true"
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/use-regex: "true"
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: "64m"
        cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: "letsencrypt-prod"
      name: ingress-service
      namespace: default
    spec:
      tls:
      - hosts:
        - example.com
        secretName: letsencrypt-prod
      rules:
      - host: example.com
        http:
          paths:
          - backend:
              service:
                name: app-sockets-cluster-ip-service
                port:
                  number: 3003
            path: /app-sockets/?(.*)
            pathType: Prefix
    

    On the service (Express.js):

    app.js

    const redisAdapter = require('socket.io-redis');
    
    const io = require('socket.io')(server, {
        path: `${ global.NODE_ENV === 'development' ? '' : '/app-sockets' }/sockets/`,
        cors: {
            origin: '*',
            methods: ['GET', 'POST'],
        },
    });
    
    io.adapter(redisAdapter({
        host: global.REDIS_HOST,
        port: 6379,
    }));
    
    io.of('/').adapter.on('error', err => console.log('Redis Adapter error! ', err));
    
    io.on('connection', () => { 
    //...
    });
    

    The global.NODE_ENV === 'development' ? '' : '/app-sockets' bit is related to an issue in development. If you change it here, you must also change it in the snippet below.

    In development the service is under http://localhost:3003 (sockets endpoint is http://localhost:3003/sockets).

    In production the service is under https://example.com/app-sockets (sockets endpoint is https://example.com/app-sockets/sockets).

    On frontend

    connectToWebsocketsService.js

    /**
     * Connect to a websockets service
     * @param tokens {Object}
     * @param successCallback {Function}
     * @param failureCallback {Function}
     */
    export const connectToWebsocketsService = (tokens, successCallback, failureCallback) => {
        //SOCKETS_URL = NODE_ENV === 'development' ? 'http://localhost:3003' : 'https://example.com/app-sockets'
        const socket = io(`${ SOCKETS_URL.replace('/app-sockets', '') }`, {
            path: `${ NODE_ENV === 'development' ? '' : '/app-sockets' }/sockets/`,
            reconnect: true,
            secure: true,
            transports: ['polling', 'websocket'], //required
            query: {
                // optional
            },
            auth: {
                ...generateAuthorizationHeaders(tokens), //optional
            },
        });
    
        socket.on('connect', successCallback(socket));
        socket.on('reconnect', successCallback(socket));
        socket.on('connect_error', failureCallback);
    };
    

    Note: I wasn't able to do it on the project mentioned in the question, but I have on another project which is hosted on EKS, not GKE. Feel free to confirm if this works for you on GKE as well.


  2. Just change annotations to

    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/websocket-services: "app-sockets-cluster-ip-service"
    

    instead of

    nginx.org/websocket-services: "app-sockets-cluster-ip-service" 
    

    Mostly it will resolve your issue.

    Login or Signup to reply.
Please signup or login to give your own answer.
Back To Top
Search