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Scaling WebSockets — Lessons from Real-Time Apps

Scaling WebSockets — Lessons from Real-Time Apps

Single-server WebSocket worked in dev. Production with load balancers? Redis pub/sub saved the day.

WebSockets are easy to set up. Scaling them? That's a different story.

The Challenge

When I built Drawsheet and Connect, single-server WebSocket worked fine in dev. But in production with multiple instances behind a load balancer, messages stopped reaching the right clients.

The Fix: Pub/Sub Layer

I added Redis pub/sub between WebSocket servers. When a message comes in on Server A, it publishes to Redis. Server B subscribes and forwards to its connected clients.

Key Takeaways

  1. Sticky sessions help but aren't enough for true horizontal scaling
  2. Redis pub/sub is lightweight and battle-tested for WS fan-out
  3. Heartbeat pings are essential — don't trust TCP keepalive alone
  4. Reconnection logic on the client side saves your UX

Real-time is addictive once you get it right.

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