mod_wstunnel¶

• Table of contents
• mod_wstunnel
  • Description
    • Example: websocket tunnel to VNC server via noVNC client
    • Example: websocket tunnel to a trivial "echo" script which reads and echoes line-by-line

Module: mod_wstunnel

(since lighttpd 1.4.46)

WebSocket tunnel endpoint. This module terminates the websocket tunnel from a client. This module then passes data (without websocket frames) to a backend and encodes responses from backend in websocket frames before sending responses to client.

Note: if looking to proxy websockets to a backend, then see Docs_ModProxy, Docs_ModCGI, or other backends, some of which can be enabled to be transparent proxies to backends after client sends Upgrade: websocket

Description¶

Brief description of mod_wstunnel directives

option	description
wstunnel.server	backend server definition(s) for hosts to which to send requests; options for each backend host
wstunnel.balance	load-balancing algorithm for backends ("fair", "least-connection", "round-robin", "hash", or "sticky")
wstunnel.debug	debug level (value between 0 and 65535)
wstunnel.frame-type	websocket frame type: "text" or "binary"
wstunnel.map-extensions	map multiple extensions to the same backend
wstunnel.origins	list of permitted origins in Origin request header (optional)
wstunnel.ping-interval	send websocket PING frame at given interval in sec (default 0; none sent)

Details for wstunnel.server parameters can be found in mod_fastcgi documentation, since the wstunnel module shares the same code infrastructure with the FastCGI module, and fastcgi.server parameters are very similar.

Example: websocket tunnel to VNC server via noVNC client¶

Follow instructions to download and install, or use available packages for your Linux/*BSD distribution.
https://github.com/novnc/noVNC
x11vnc

If noVNC files are installed in /usr/share/novnc, and x11vnc is running as VNC server with x11vnc -localhost -forever -display :0 then lighttpd mod_wstunnel can be configured with:

server.document-root = "/usr/share/novnc" 
server.indexfiles = ("index.html")
server.modules += ( "mod_wstunnel" )
$HTTP["url"] =~ "^/websockify" {
    wstunnel.server = ( "" => ( ( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => "5900" ) ) )
    wstunnel.frame-type = "binary" 
    server.stream-request-body  = 2
    server.stream-response-body = 2
}

Please take proper precautions to limit access to the VNC server, possibly including requiring proper authentication and limiting access to certain source IPs.

Example: websocket tunnel to a trivial "echo" script which reads and echoes line-by-line¶

Simple example showing lighttpd mod_proxy supporting websockets to another lighttpd instance using mod_wstunnel to terminate the websocket tunnel and send/receive payloads to backend "echo" script.
(Using mod_proxy as an intermediate is not required at all, and the example would be simpler without it. However, this example demonstrates WebSockets works through mod_proxy and through mod_wstunnel)

• /dev/shm/echo.pl
  

  #!/usr/bin/perl -Tw
  $SIG{PIPE} = 'IGNORE';
  for (my $FH; accept($FH, STDIN); close $FH) {
      select($FH); $|=1;
      print $FH $_ while (<$FH>);
  }
  

• /dev/shm/lighttpd-wstunnel.conf (listening on port 8081; start with lighttpd -D -f /dev/shm/lighttpd-wstunnel.conf; Ctrl-C to quit)
  

  server.document-root = "/tmp"  # not used in this example
  server.bind = "127.0.0.1" 
  server.port = 8081
  mimetype.assign = (".txt" => "text/plain", ".html" => "text/html" )
  
  server.modules += ("mod_wstunnel")
  wstunnel.server = (
    "/ws/" => (
      (
        "socket" => "/dev/shm/psock",
        "bin-path" => "/dev/shm/echo.pl",
        "max-procs" => 1
      )
    )
  )
  

• /dev/shm/lighttpd-proxy.conf (listening on port 8080; start with lighttpd -D -f /dev/shm/lighttpd-proxy.conf in another shell; Ctrl-C to quit)
  

  server.document-root = "/tmp"  # not used in this example
  server.bind = "127.0.0.1" 
  server.port = 8080
  
  server.modules += ("mod_proxy")
  proxy.server = ( "/" => (( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => "8081" )))
  proxy.header = ( "upgrade" => "enable" )
  

• /dev/shm/count.html (load into local browser as ///dev/shm/count.html and watch it count 1 .. 5; connects to localhost:8080)
  (Alternatively, place in /tmp/count.html (i.e. under server.document-root) and load in browser as http://127.0.0.1:8080/count.html)
  

  <!DOCTYPE html>
  <!-- modified from example in https://github.com/joewalnes/websocketd README.md -->
  <pre id="log"></pre>
  <script>
    // helper function: log message to screen
    var logelt = document.getElementById('log');
    function log(msg) { logelt.textContent += msg + '\n'; }
    // helper function: send websocket msg with count (1 .. 5)
    var ll = 0;
    function send_msg() { if (++ll <= 5) { log('SEND: '+ll); ws.send(ll+'\n'); } }
    // setup websocket with callbacks
    var ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:8080/ws/');
    ws.onopen = function()         { log('CONNECT\n'); send_msg(); };
    ws.onclose = function()        { log('DISCONNECT'); };
    ws.onmessage = function(event) { log('RECV: ' + event.data); send_msg(); };
  </script>