How do you write an SSL redirect in NodeJS running on AWS EC2 without using port 80 (http) or port 43 (https)? - node.js

Question

I have two node servers on a single host. One HTTP server with the responsibility of redirecting to HTTPS, and one HTTPS server responsible for serving my application:
const express = require('express');
const https = require('https');
const http = require('http')
const fs = require('fs');
const app = express();
const httpsOptions = {
key: fs.readFileSync('./local-ssl/key.pem'),
cert: fs.readFileSync('./local-ssl/cert.pem'),
passphrase: '*****'
}
//other stuff
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
res.writeHead(301, { "Location": "https://" + req.headers['host'] + req.url });
res.end();
}).listen(80);
https.createServer(httpsOptions, app).listen(443)
This works great locally.
The issue is, when I deploy this code and run these servers on AWS EC2 you cannot start servers on ports 80 and 443. I am trying to figure out how I can get around this issue. If I run them on different ports, the servers will not respond, and worse, redirect incorrectly.
Example:
If I serve HTTP on 8081 and HTTPS on 8443, when a redirect occurs, the code redirects to
https://my-fun-url.com:8081
which of course does not work because I am not responding to HTTPS on port 8081.
Now, I've explored the option of port forwarding, but how would this work? If I forward ports 80 and 443 to internal ports (let's say) 3000 and 4000 the same redirection problem will occur.
I have scoured the internet for so long and to me this is a simple requirement for any web-app. I would very much appreciate some detailed guidance on my strategy.

Answer 1

If you want to keep ports 8081 and 8443, then you simply replace 8081 with 8443 in the host header:
httpsHost = req.headers.host.replace('8081', '8443');
res.writeHead(301, {
"Location": "https://" + httpsHost + req.url
});
Now, I've explored the option of port forwarding, but how would this work? If I forward ports 80 and 443 to internal ports (let's say) 3000 and 4000 the same redirection problem will occur.
Not exactly. When someone navigates to http://my-fun-url.com (80) the request is forwarded to 3000. Your http server will respond with a redirect to https://my-fun-url.com (443) which will be forwarded to 4000, and the https server will take it from there.
The difference between the two methods is that with ports 80 and 443 being the default, they are implied and therefore can be left out from the host part of the URL. Which makes the redirect easier as there's no port in the host to replace in the first place, just the protocol part (HTTP/HTTPS).