How to Set Up a WebSocket Server on Linux

What Are WebSockets?

WebSockets enable full-duplex, real-time communication between a client and server over a single persistent connection. They are ideal for chat applications, live notifications, and real-time dashboards on your Breeze.

Prerequisites

• A Breeze running Ubuntu 22.04 or later
• Node.js 18+ installed
• Nginx installed

Step 1: Create the WebSocket Server

mkdir /var/www/ws-server && cd /var/www/ws-server
npm init -y
npm install ws

Create server.js:

const { WebSocketServer } = require('ws');
const wss = new WebSocketServer({ port: 8080 });

wss.on('connection', (ws) => {
  console.log('Client connected');
  ws.on('message', (data) => {
    wss.clients.forEach((client) => {
      if (client.readyState === 1) {
        client.send(data.toString());
      }
    });
  });
  ws.on('close', () => console.log('Client disconnected'));
});
console.log('WebSocket server running on port 8080');

Step 2: Run with PM2

pm2 start server.js --name "ws-server"
pm2 save && pm2 startup

Step 3: Configure Nginx for WebSocket Proxying

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name ws.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_read_timeout 86400;
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/websocket /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d ws.yourdomain.com

Security Considerations

• Always use WSS (WebSocket Secure) in production via your SSL certificate
• Implement authentication by validating tokens on the initial connection
• Set proxy_read_timeout high enough to prevent Nginx from closing idle connections