naval-radar-reverse-proxy

Naval Radar - Reverse Proxy

This project implements a WebSocket server that acts as an adapter between WebSocket clients and TCP servers. It allows WebSocket clients to establish and interact with a TCP connection via the WebSocket interface. The server is configurable using environment variables for flexibility and ease of deployment.

It is necessary to set up a reverse proxy server to use the Web UI. For security reasons, the Web UI cannot directly connect to the radar simulator with a TCP connection. The reverse proxy server acts as an intermediary that forwards the WebSocket messages from the Web UI to the radar simulator and vice versa.

Features

• Establish TCP connections with remote servers through WebSocket messages.
• Forward messages from WebSocket clients to TCP servers and vice versa.
• Dynamically connect, disconnect, and communicate with TCP servers.
• Configurable WebSocket server port using environment variables.

Requirements

• Node.js: Ensure you have Node.js installed on your machine.

Installation

1. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd naval-radar-reverse-proxy

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Create a .env file in the project root to configure environment variables:

   touch .env

4. Add the following variable to the .env file:

   WEBSOCKET_PORT=8080

Usage

1. Start the server:

   node server.js

   or

   npm start

2. Connect to the WebSocket server at:

   ws://localhost:8080
   

3. Use the following commands to interact with the server:

   • Connect to a TCP server:

     connect <ip-address> <port>
     

     Example:

     connect 127.0.0.1 9000
     

   • Disconnect from the TCP server:

     disconnect
     

   • Send a message to the TCP server:

     <your-message>
     

Environment Variables

The following environment variables can be set in the .env file:

Variable	Default	Description
WEBSOCKET_PORT	8080	The port on which the WebSocket server runs.

Logs and Debugging

• The server logs incoming WebSocket messages and interactions with the TCP server.
• Example logs:

  WebSocket server running on ws://localhost:8080
  Received message from Client: connect 127.0.0.1 9000
  Sent message to TCP server: Hello, TCP Server!