最小化node.js服务器之间的延迟和带宽使用

Question

I have a node.js script which sends data frequently to a node.js server. Right now client is using node.js request module to send post request and server is handling through request http server.

client:

const request = require('request');
// some iteration over time for sending event
request.post('http://localhost:8080/event', 
   { json: true, body: body }, 
   (err, res, body) => {
                callback(err)
   })

Server:

const http = require('http')
const server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
    let body = []
    req.on('data', body.push.bind(body))
    req.on('end', () => {
      console.log(Buffer.concat(body).toString())
      res.end()
    })
  })

I want to minimize the bandwidth usage and latency.

Here are my thoughts:

1. I was thinking to use http/2 as it may have better performance (not sure, just from some r&d) but it's still experimental in node.js.

2. right now it's using http, will websocket make any difference on that case as socket can send data over single connection without sending headers all the time.

what will be the best approach to minimize the latency and bandwidth usage?

Note: I am not expecting to use any third party service provider for that (want to improve from coding perspective).

Answer 1

If the question is WebSocket vs. HTTP/2, I'd go with WebSocket.

1. WebSocket frames are a bit smaller, 2-14 bytes of overhead per frame, compared to HTTP/2's fixed 9. For small messages therefore WebSocket offers less overhead. Which should result in better performance ¹ .

2. As of right now, WebSocket is still better supported in servers, proxies and firewalls.

If the question is more general "how to reduce latency", then I'd abandon JavaScript and switch to C++ and zero-copy binary communication.

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¹ Though, to be sure, benchmark both and compare.