node-http-proxy POST request times out - node.js

Question

I am using node-http-proxy for the POST request as follows:
route.js
---------
var express = require('express');
var httpProxy = require('http-proxy');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({secure:false});
var jsonParser = bodyParser.json();
proxy.on('proxyReq', function(proxyReq, req, res, options) {
logger.debug("proxying for",req.url);
//set headers
logger.debug('proxy request forwarded succesfully');
});
proxy.on('error', function (err, req, res) {
res.writeHead(500, {
'Content-Type': 'text/plain'
});
res.end('Something went wrong. And we are reporting a custom error message.');
});
proxy.on('proxyRes', function (proxyRes, req, res) {
console.log('RAW Response from the target', JSON.stringify(proxyRes.headers, true, 2));
});
module.exports = function(app){
app.post('/recording',jsonParser,function(req,res){
// update request body
proxy.web(req, res, { target: <<host>>:<<port>>});
});
}
app.js
---------
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
require('./routes')(app);
app.listen(8080);
console.log("Demo server running");
I also use bodyparser middleware and it has a known issue as mentioned in Gitbug issue. So I tried adding this line as the last line in app.js
app.use(require('connect-restreamer')());
But still the POST request hangs and ultimately fails. How do I fix this ? Is there any alternatives for bodyparser ?

Answer 1

Try reversing the order of the bodyParser- and proxy middleware:
module.exports = function(app){
app.post('/recording', function(req,res){
// update request body
proxy.web(req, res, { target: <<host>>:<<port>>});
}, jsonParser);
}
Think this issue is similar to: socket hang up error with nodejs.

Answer 2

To expand on this a bit, what's happening here is that the node request is a stream, it can only be read once, after that the stream data is consumed.
When you use body-parser middleware in express, it will consume the request stream body - if you try to proxy the request after this, there's no body stream to send, so the other end of the proxy receives a POST with a content-length, etc... but waits indefinitely to receive the POST body which never arrives.
If you want to proxy POST/PUT or really any requests that contain a body, you have to do that before any middleware consumes the body. That's why #chimmurai answer above works.
Also, be aware that for the same reason, middleware that executes after you proxy a request will be affected the same way, once the request stream is consumed there won't be anything for subsequent middleware to read. That's the reason for things like connect-restreamer.