Proxy Server Over NodeJs

I finish writing a HTTP Proxy Server using NodeJs.

NodeJs is a non–blocking event-driven I/O framework for the V8 JavaScript engine (The Chrome JS engine).

Clarifying, nothing is blocking in NodeJs. Everything is handled by events. This feature provides networking applications that can handle a thousands of request and do more stuff at same time!

On my experience, complex and critical applications, like web servers, run so fast on NodeJs.

Let’s take a look at my HTTP Proxy Server Features.

• A Complete Proxy Server
• Written over Node JS framework
• Customizable request handlers
• Javascript to write server side code!
• Easy configuration to handle all browsers

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Setting up the Server

To Run the server you need to install nodejs first:

Just go to http://nodejs.org/ and download the latest version. Then go to https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Installation and follow the instructions to install node.

Then you can checkout the proxy:

svn checkout http://node-proxy-server.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ node-proxy-server-read-only

Next, open a terminal, navigate to the proxy directory and type:

~$ node proxy.js

Now the server is running on localhost:8000.

It’s time to setup your browser to listen it. Do the follow (On Mozila FireFox):

• Go to Edit > Preferences on the menu bar
• In the tab “Advanced” Select “Network” and click on “Settings”
• Select the option “Manual proxy configuration”
• In the textbox HTTP Proxy write: localhost and set the port to 8000.
• Click on Ok and it’s done! You’re Ready to Browse.

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Extending the server

You can extend your server adding request handlers in the handlers.js file.

A handler must be an object that contains a ‘pattern’ (string which matches the urls) and an ‘action’ (function that indicates what to do with the request). For example:

var handler = {
    pattern : 'facebook',
    action : function(response) {
        response.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/html'});
        response.end("Hello facebook!");  
    }
}

The handler must be in a list of handlers that are exported to the server module:

 exports.handlers = [handler];

That’s all! If you want to write more complex modules, you can read the node js documentation (http://nodejs.org/docs/v0.4.3/api/http.html) or contact me.

Check out the repository

svn checkout http://node-proxy-server.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ node-proxy-server-read-only

Enjoy the code!