Manually connect to signaling server

[oed]

• Version: 0.36.4
• Platform: Browser: Chromium / Firefox
• Subsystem: libp2p

Type: Question

Low - An optional functionality does not work.

Severity: Low

Description:

I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to connect to a signaling server without putting it in config.Addresses.Swarm. I have two main reasons for this: 1. webrtc-signal can make ipfs throw an error when starting if the user has a plugin that blocks webrtc, 2. starting ipfs with signaling servers makes the startup a few seconds slower.

I've tried connecting to signaling servers using ipfs.swarm.connect (both with and without peerIds), but this throws errors, e.g.

// Websocket signaling server
Error: No available transports to dial peer QmbrLCJ9GcbR1sHh9pjwyn8eo45pCD6YW9F3jW3QJ42XBk!
    at createError (index.js:4)
    at CONNECTION_FAILED (errors.js:6)
    at nextTransport (index.js:227)
    at eval (index.js:240)
    at eval (transport.js:106)
    at eval (index.js:59)
    at eval (tryEach.js:78)
    at eval (once.js:12)
    at replenish (eachOfLimit.js:61)
    at iterateeCallback (eachOfLimit.js:50) undefined
// Webrtc signaling server
3box.js:1918 wr Error: Dial was aborted
    at createError (index.js:4)
    at DIAL_ABORTED (errors.js:7)
    at Queue.abort (queue.js:143)
    at Queue.blacklist (queue.js:168)
    at ClassIsWrapper.eval (queue.js:251)
    at Object.onceWrapper (events.js:238)
    at ClassIsWrapper.emit (events.js:146)
    at ClassIsWrapper.emit (base.js:36)
    at ClassIsWrapper.close (base.js:27)
    at nextTransport (index.js:226) undefined

Is there some other way of connecting to a singaling server without specifying it in the initial config?

[alanshaw]

Unfortunately no, and really not being able to connect to the signalling server should not bring the node down (or at least there should be an option to allow).

Please be aware that the "*-star" protocols are being phased out in favour of relay and distributed signalling. See more here libp2p/js-libp2p#385

[oed]

Thanks @alanshaw! I had a look at the issue you linked to but found it unclear what my alternatives are. Is it still a work in progress, or is there some other way of discovering other browser nodes that is available now?
I've looked at the docs for delegate routers, would that provide everything needed or would I still need to use something else as well?

[lidel]

not being able to connect to the signalling server should not bring the node down (or at least there should be an option to allow).

Devil in the details :-) We switched to js-libp2p-websocket-star-multi some time ago.
This means, js-ipfs will fail to start only if NONE of signaling servers is up
(see how we set ignore_no_online in /src/core/runtime/libp2p-browser.js#L23).

TL;DR: If you have only one ws-star configured, it becomes a single point of failure.

@oed Try adding 2-3 backup signaling servers to make your setup more robust, or set libp2p.wsStarIgnoreErrors: true in options passed to the constructor of js-ipfs if you are ok with running node without any of them (keep in mind it means your node has no means of discovery, as DHT is not available in JS yet).

[oed]

Thanks, that's very helpful @lidel!