WebSocket traffic

When a user agent requests an upgrade from HTTP or HTTPS to the WebSocket protocol, IG detects the request and performs an HTTP handshake request between the user agent and the protected application.

If the handshake is successful, IG upgrades the connection and provides a dedicated tunnel to route WebSocket traffic between the user agent and the protected application. IG does not intercept messages to or from the WebSocket server.

The tunnel remains open until it is closed by the user agent or protected application. When the user agent closes the tunnel, the connection between IG and the protected application is automatically closed.

The following sequence diagram shows the flow of information when IG proxies WebSocket traffic:

To configure IG to proxy WebSocket traffic, configure the websocket property of ReverseProxyHandler. By default, IG does not proxy WebSocket traffic.

Proxy WebSocket traffic

Set up AM:

(From AM 6.5.3) Select Services > Add a Service, and add a Validation Service with the following Valid goto URL Resources:
- http://ig.example.com:8080/*
- http://ig.example.com:8080/*?*
Select Applications > Agents > Identity Gateway and register an IG agent with the following values:
- Agent ID: ig_agent
- Password: password
  
  For AM 6.5.x and earlier versions, register an agent as described in Register an IG agent in AM 6.5 and earlier.
  
  Use secure passwords in a production environment. Consider using a password manager to generate secure passwords.

(Optional) Authenticate the agent to AM as described in Authenticate an IG agent to AM.

IG agents are automatically authenticated to AM by a deprecated authentication module in AM. This step is currently optional, but will be required when authentication chains and modules are removed in a future release of AM.

Set up IG:

Add the following route to IG, to serve .css and other static resources for the sample application:

Linux
Windows

$HOME/.openig/config/routes/static-resources.json

appdata\OpenIG\config\routes\static-resources.json

{
  "name" : "sampleapp-resources",
  "baseURI" : "http://app.example.com:8081",
  "condition": "${find(request.uri.path,'^/css')}",
  "handler": "ReverseProxyHandler"
}

Add the following route to IG:

Linux
Windows

$HOME/.openig/config/routes/websocket.json

appdata\OpenIG\config\routes\websocket.json

{
  "name": "websocket",
  "baseURI": "http://app.example.com:8081",
  "condition": "${find(request.uri.path, '^/websocket')}",
  "heap": [
    {
      "name": "SystemAndEnvSecretStore-1",
      "type": "SystemAndEnvSecretStore"
    },
    {
      "name": "AmService-1",
      "type": "AmService",
      "config": {
        "agent": {
          "username": "ig_agent",
          "passwordSecretId": "agent.secret.id"
        },
        "secretsProvider": "SystemAndEnvSecretStore-1",
        "url": "http://am.example.com:8088/openam/"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "ReverseProxyHandler",
      "type": "ReverseProxyHandler",
      "config": {
        "websocket": {
          "enabled": true
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "handler": {
    "type": "Chain",
    "config": {
      "filters": [
        {
          "name": "SingleSignOnFilter-1",
          "type": "SingleSignOnFilter",
          "config": {
            "amService": "AmService-1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "handler": "ReverseProxyHandler"
    }
  }
}

For information about how to set up the route in Studio, refer to Proxy for WebSocket traffic in Structured Editor.

Notice the following features of the route:

The route matches requests to /websocket, the endpoint on the sample app that exposes a WebSocket server.
The SingleSignOnFilter redirects unauthenticated requests to AM for authentication.
The ReverserProxyHandler enables IG to proxy WebSocket traffic, and, after IG upgrades the HTTP connection to the WebSocket protocol, passes the messages to the WebSocket server.
1. Test the setup:

If you are logged in to AM, log out and clear any cookies.
Go to http://ig.example.com:8080/websocket. The SingleSignOnFilter redirects the request to AM for authentication.
Log in to AM as user demo, password Ch4ng31t.

AM authenticates the user, creates an SSO token, and redirects the request back to the original URI, with the token in a cookie.

The request then passes to the ReverseProxyHandler, which routes the request to the HTML page /websocket/index.html of the sample app. The page initiates the HTTP handshake for connecting to the WebSocket endpoint /websocket/echo.
Enter text on the WebSocket echo screen, and note that the text is echoed back.

Vert.x-specific configuration for WebSocket connections

Configure Vert.x-specific configuration for WebSocket connections, where IG does not provide its own first-class configuration. Vert.x options are described in HttpClientOptions.

The following example configures Vert.x options for Websocket connections:

{
  "type": "ReverseProxyHandler",
  "config": {
    "websocket": {
      "enabled": true,
      "vertx": {
        "maxWebSocketFrameSize": 200000000,
        "maxWebSocketMessageSize": 200000000,
        "tryUsePerMessageWebSocketCompression": true
      }
    }
  }
}

IG 2023.9

WebSocket traffic

Vert.x-specific configuration for WebSocket connections