c++iosnginxwebsocketwebsocket++

How to get a WebSocket server run on aws

I'm developing an iOS app that requires realtime dual-way server/client messaging.

I'm trying to use WebSocket++ to develop a WebSocket server app on an AWS EC2. Have to use C++ because that's the only language I know on the server side. The problem is I'm a fresh guy on server side development. I have 2 very basic questions:

1, Do I need have to setup an HTTP server like apache/nginx in order to get websocket running? That is, can websocket app live independently alone?

2, I have now setup an nginx server in case it is a must have, is there any resource that I can refer to to make nginx & websocket work together well?

Solution

    1. No, you don't need a Web server, a (reverse) Web proxy or anything to have your C++ WebSocket server talk to WebSocket clients.

    2. Nginx (as HAproxy) supports reverse proxying WebSocket. This can make sense in certain situations, like you want to terminate TLS at the proxy and forward plain WebSocket to your backend server, or you want to load-balance incoming WebSocket connections to multiple backend nodes. However, as said, this isn't required.