WebSocket Relay Server with Analytics Dashboard

Overview

This project provides a WebSocket relay server that allows clients to connect to specific channels and relay messages between them. It includes a real-time analytics dashboard with authentication to monitor connections, messages, and channel activity.

Features

• WebSocket Relay Functionality

  • Channel-based message relaying
  • Automatic channel creation and cleanup
  • Multiple clients can connect to the same channel
  • Messages from one client are relayed to all other clients in the same channel

• Analytics Dashboard

  • Password-protected admin interface
  • Real-time statistics and metrics
  • Monitor active connections and channels
  • Track message relay activity
  • View client connection details

• Security

  • Simple password authentication for dashboard
  • Session management
  • Configurable admin password

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v14 or higher recommended)
• npm (v6 or higher)

Steps

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/uditrajput03/ws-relay.git
cd ws-relay

2. Install dependencies:

npm install

3. Configure the server (optional):

# Set custom port and admin password as environment variables
export PORT=9000
export ADMIN_PASSWORD=your-secure-password

4. Start the server:

npm start

The server will start on the configured port (default: 8080).

Usage

Connecting with websocat

You can use websocat to connect to the relay server:

Client-1:

websocat ws://your-server:8080/my-channel -

Client-2:

websocat ws://your-server:8080/my-channel -

Messages typed in one terminal will be relayed to the other terminal, and vice versa.

Custom Clients

To create your own WebSocket clients that connect to the relay:

const socket = new WebSocket('ws://your-server:8080/my-channel');

socket.onopen = () => {
  console.log('Connected to relay server');
};

socket.onmessage = (event) => {
  console.log('Received message:', event.data);
};

// Send a message
socket.send('Hello from my client!');

Accessing the Dashboard

1. Navigate to http://your-server:8080/dashboard in your browser
2. Enter the admin password (default: admin123)
3. View real-time statistics and monitor connections

Dashboard Features

• Summary Cards: Quick overview of total connections, active connections, channels, and messages
• Channel Metrics: View connections and message counts for each channel
• Active Clients: List of all currently connected clients with details
• Recent Activity: Log of recent connection and disconnection events

Configuration Options

Environment Variable	Description	Default Value
PORT	Server port number	8080
ADMIN_PASSWORD	Dashboard login password	admin123

Security Considerations

• Change the default password: Always change the default admin password before deploying to production
• Use HTTPS in production: For production environments, set up HTTPS to secure connections
• Set secure cookies: Update the session configuration with cookie: { secure: true } when using HTTPS

Deployment

For production deployment, consider:

1. Using a process manager like PM2:

npm install -g pm2
pm2 start server.js --name "websocket-relay"

2. Setting up a reverse proxy (Nginx/Apache) to handle HTTPS and load balancing

License

MIT License

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

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Created by uditrajput03 | Last updated: 2025-07-11