Wasp•2w ago

Wasp websockets with multi-region fly.io app

If I have my Wasp app deployed to fly.io in multiple regions and utilize websockets, do I need to worry about routing the websocket connection to the proper server? Are there technically 2 separate websocket connections running that aren't aware of eachother?

15 Replies

kapa.ai•2w ago

Hi @wardbox. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave: ---------------------- Based on the provided knowledge sources, there isn't enough specific information to fully answer your question about how Wasp handles WebSocket connections in a multi-region Fly.io deployment scenario. The documentation primarily covers basic WebSocket setup and Fly.io deployment, but doesn't address the intricacies of WebSocket behavior in a multi-region setup. However, I can provide some general information about Wasp's WebSocket implementation: 1. Wasp uses Socket.IO for WebSocket functionality, as mentioned in the Web Sockets documentation. 2. Wasp handles setting up WebSocket URLs and CORS configuration automatically. 3. The useSocket hook is provided for client-side WebSocket access, and all components using this hook share the same underlying socket connection. Regarding Fly.io deployment: 1. Fly.io runs applications in datacenters around the world to keep them physically close to users, as stated in the Fly.io Regions documentation. 2. Fly.io uses a global Anycast network to route users to the nearest server. Given this information, it's likely that Fly.io's infrastructure handles routing WebSocket connections to the appropriate region. However, without specific documentation on how Wasp and Fly.io manage WebSockets in a multi-region setup, I can't provide a definitive answer about whether there are separate WebSocket connections running in each region or how they might be coordinated. For a more accurate and detailed answer, you may want to consult Wasp's documentation directly or reach out to Wasp's support channels for clarification on this specific use case. ---------------------- Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon: ---------------------- Sorry @wardbox, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist: Perhaps try again in 15mins?

AAA•2w ago

I wish you luck with websockets they are tricky!!

wardboxOP•2w ago

lol thank you, just gonna give it a whirl with multi-region and see what happens. i dont know much about the backend infrastructure they use to actually serve in different regions

miho•2w ago

Yep, the tricky part about WebSockets is that they have state (persistent connection which might store some state in memory) which is not usual in a scalable stateless API. Ways around it are: the load balancer should consistently route requests based on the IP address (user connects to the same server always) or keeping the state outside of the API e.g. Redis or something like that. I'm not sure if you can configure Fly's load balancer to route requests as I described. We are looking into improving our Websockets support: https://github.com/wasp-lang/wasp/issues/1228 let us know which things block you on your way!

GitHub

Add support for many WebSocket servers · Issue #1228 · wasp-lang/wa...

The current implementation of WebSockets will work just fine for a single server. To make it really production ready, we should add support for the following: Sticky sessions (so long polling recon...

wardboxOP•5d ago

@kapa.ai separate question about websockets and deploying to fly.io. every time i do a fresh deploy for the very first interaction with a websocket it takes a few seconds to register, then they're really smooth after. this only happens after a new wasp deployment and then is fine once i do it once. what might be causing this? could it be a delay in spinning up the client machine?

kapa.ai•5d ago

Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books: ---------------------- Based on the information provided in the knowledge sources, I don't have specific details about the behavior you're experiencing with WebSockets after deploying to Fly.io. However, I can offer some insights that might be relevant to your situation: 1. Cold starts: The delay you're experiencing could be related to a cold start issue. When you deploy a new version of your app, the first request might take longer as the server needs to spin up and initialize all the necessary resources. This is a common occurrence in serverless or containerized environments. 2. Database connections: If your WebSocket functionality involves database operations, there might be a delay in establishing the initial database connection. This is suggested by an issue mentioned in the Github Issue #427, where there was a problem with Prisma client initialization on the first start after a clean build. 3. Server initialization: The server might need some time to fully initialize all its components, including the WebSocket setup, when it first starts up after a new deployment. 4. Fly.io specific behavior: Fly.io runs applications in datacenters around the world, as mentioned in the Fly.io Regions documentation. There might be some initial delay as Fly.io routes your request to the appropriate server for the first time after a new deployment. To get a better understanding of what's happening, you could try the following: 1. Check the server logs on Fly.io immediately after deployment to see if there are any initialization messages or errors that might explain the delay. 2. Monitor the performance metrics on Fly.io to see if there are any spikes in resource usage during the initial WebSocket connection. 3. If possible, add some logging on the server-side WebSocket initialization to track how long different parts of the process take. Remember, this is a general interpretation based on limited information. For a more accurate diagnosis, you might need to investigate further or reach out to Wasp's support channels with specific details about your deployment and WebSocket implementation. ---------------------- Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon: ---------------------- Sorry @wardbox, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist: Perhaps try again in 15mins?

wardboxOP•5d ago

@kapa.ai it happens even if i deploy then leave for a few hours without testing it out, it's always on the first websocket interaction

kapa.ai•5d ago

Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books: ---------------------- Based on the information you've provided and the context from our previous conversation, it seems that the delay you're experiencing is not related to the initial deployment process, but rather to the first WebSocket interaction after a period of inactivity. This behavior suggests a possible cold start issue with Fly.io's infrastructure. Here's what might be happening: 1. Cold starts: Fly.io, like many cloud platforms, may scale down or hibernate inactive applications to save resources. When a request comes in after a period of inactivity, the application needs to "wake up" or scale up again, which can cause a delay. This is consistent with your observation that it happens even after leaving the app untouched for a few hours. 2. Server initialization: When the server restarts after being inactive, it needs to reinitialize all its components, including the WebSocket setup. This initialization process could contribute to the delay you're experiencing. 3. Database connections: If your WebSocket functionality involves database operations, the initial connection to the database might need to be re-established after a period of inactivity, causing additional delay. Unfortunately, the provided knowledge sources don't contain specific information about how Wasp or Fly.io handle these scenarios with WebSockets. However, this behavior is common in cloud environments that optimize resource usage. To mitigate this issue, you could consider: 1. Using Fly.io's "always on" feature, if available, to prevent your application from scaling down completely. 2. Implementing a "warm-up" mechanism that periodically sends requests to your application to keep it active. 3. Optimizing your server initialization process to reduce the time it takes to set up WebSocket connections.

wardboxOP•5d ago

@kapa.ai is there anything i could do with wasp to test this automatically to froce a connection?

kapa.ai•5d ago

For a more definitive solution, you might want to reach out to Wasp's support channels or consult Fly.io's documentation about their scaling behavior and how it affects WebSocket connections. They might have specific recommendations for handling WebSocket connections in a way that minimizes cold start delays. ---------------------- Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon: ---------------------- Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books: Sorry @wardbox, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist: Perhaps try again in 15mins? ---------------------- Based on the knowledge sources provided and our previous conversation, there isn't specific information about Wasp's built-in capabilities for automatically testing or forcing WebSocket connections. However, I can suggest a general approach that might help you test this scenario: 1. You could create a simple client-side script using Wasp's WebSocket functionality to automatically establish a connection after deployment. Here's a basic example of how you might structure this using the useSocket hook provided by Wasp:

import { useSocket } from '@wasp/client/webSocket'

function TestWebSocket() {
  const { socket, isConnected } = useSocket()

  useEffect(() => {
    if (socket) {
      console.log('Attempting to connect...')
      socket.connect()
    }
  }, [socket])

  useEffect(() => {
    if (isConnected) {
      console.log('WebSocket connected successfully')
      // You could emit a test event here
      socket.emit('testEvent', 'Hello server')
    }
  }, [isConnected])

  return null
}

import { useSocket } from '@wasp/client/webSocket'

function TestWebSocket() {
  const { socket, isConnected } = useSocket()

  useEffect(() => {
    if (socket) {
      console.log('Attempting to connect...')
      socket.connect()
    }
  }, [socket])

  useEffect(() => {
    if (isConnected) {
      console.log('WebSocket connected successfully')
      // You could emit a test event here
      socket.emit('testEvent', 'Hello server')
    }
  }, [isConnected])

  return null
}

2. You could then include this component in your main app or create a separate page for testing purposes. 3. To automate the process further, you might consider setting up a simple CI/CD pipeline that deploys your app and then runs a script to hit the page containing this test component. However, it's important to note that this approach might not fully simulate the cold start scenario you're experiencing, as it would be actively keeping the connection alive. For a more comprehensive solution, you might need to combine this with some server-side logging or metrics to capture the initialization time of the WebSocket server after periods of inactivity. Remember, this is a general suggestion based on Wasp's WebSocket implementation as described in the Web Sockets documentation. For more specific guidance or built-in testing tools, you may need to consult the latest Wasp documentation or reach out to the Wasp community for support. ---------------------- Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon: ---------------------- Sorry @wardbox, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist: Perhaps try again in 15mins?

AAA•5d ago

Are you saying that you're expecting the connection to last a few hours and so?

wardboxOP•5d ago

nah it seems like it's only the very first connection that is delayed then any time after it's fine

AAA•5d ago

Hmm I don't have this problem! Websockets are an integral part of my platform - it could be a logic problem? Websockets really were (and still are) a big pain!

miho•3d ago

@AAA what could Wasp do to make websockets better for your use case? 🙂

AAA•3d ago

I mean everything works tip top - i'll let you know when I scale! 😍

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Wasp websockets with multi-region fly.io app

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