CODEWITHSUNDEEP
websocket
Riyafa Abdul Hameed
Riyafa Abdul Hameed

Reputation: 7973

Should WebSocket server only handle GET requests?

I have a WebSocket server written which only handles upgrade requests which are GET requests. If a POST or any other kind of request with the required headers comes it is handled by a HTTP server.

In the specification it is not stated explicitly that the WebSocket upgrade request should be a GET request. If the upgrade request is not a GET request should the server handle it as a WebSocket upgrade request, should it pass it to be handled by the HTTP server or should it respond to it with a status code like 400 Bad Request ?

Could this be a design decision where the server decides not to handle methods which are not GET requests?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 4224

Answers (1)

jfriend00
jfriend00

Reputation: 707158

From section 4.1 (Client Requirements) of the webSocket specification, it says this:

The method of the request MUST be GET, and the HTTP version MUST be at least 1.1

And, then later in section 4.2.1 (Reading the Client's Opening Handshake) of the webSocket specification, it says this:

The client's opening handshake consists of the following parts. If the server, while reading the handshake, finds that the client did not send a handshake that matches the description below (note that as per [RFC2616], the order of the header fields is not important), including but not limited to any violations of the ABNF grammar specified for the components of the handshake, the server MUST stop processing the client's handshake and return an HTTP response with an appropriate error code (such as 400 Bad Request).

  1. An HTTP/1.1 or higher GET request, including a "Request-URI" [RFC2616] that should be interpreted as a /resource name/ defined in Section 3 (or an absolute HTTP/HTTPS URI containing the /resource name/).

So, there are multiple places where it says the http request must be a GET.

As for your specific questions:

Should WebSocket server only handle GET requests?

Yes, a webSocket connection will always start with a GET request, not a POST or any other method.

If the upgrade request is not a GET request should the server handle it as a WebSocket upgrade request, should it pass it to be handled by the HTTP server or should it respond to it with a status code like 400 Bad Request ?

As described in the above reference portion of the specfication, the server should respond with a status code like 400 Bad Request.

Could this be a design decision where the server decides not to handle methods which are not GET requests?

Yes.

Upvotes: 10

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