Proxy 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 set up IG to proxy WebSocket traffic, configure the websocket property of ReverseProxyHandler. By default, IG does not proxy WebSocket traffic. For more information, see ReverseProxyHandler.

Proxy WebSocket Traffic

Set up AM:
1. (From AM 6.5.x) Select Identities > demo, and set the demo user password to Ch4ng31t.
2. (For AM 6.5.3 and later versions) Select Services > Add a Service, and add a Validation Service with the following Valid goto URL Resources :
  - http://openig.example.com:8080/*
  - http://openig.example.com:8080/*?*
3. Select Applications > Agents > Identity Gateway, add an agent with the following values:
  - Agent ID : ig_agent
  - Password : password
    
    For AM 6.5.x and earlier versions, set up an agent as described in Set Up an IG Agent in AM 6.5 and Earlier.

Set up IG:

(For IG in standalone mode) If your application uses the Sec-WebSocket-Protocol, add the list of Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header values in the original request to the subprotocols that are proxied by IG:
- Linux
- Windows
$HOME/.openig/config/admin.json
appdata\OpenIG\config\admin.json
```
{
  "vertx": {
    "webSocketSubProtocols": ["v1.notifications.forgerock.org"]
  }
}
```
Set an environment variable for the IG agent password, and then restart IG:
```
$ export AGENT_SECRET_ID='cGFzc3dvcmQ='
```
The password is retrieved by a SystemAndEnvSecretStore, and must be base64-encoded.

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://openam.example.com:8088/openam/",
        "version": "7.1"
      }
    },
    {
      "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, see 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.

Test the setup:
1. If you are logged in to AM, log out and clear any cookies.
2. Go to http://openig.example.com:8080/websocket.
  
  The SingleSignOnFilter redirects the request to AM for authentication.
3. 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.
4. Enter text on the WebSocket echo screen, and note that the text is echoed back.

IG 7.1.2

Proxy WebSocket Traffic