Can grpc and express server run by same nodejs server, or grpc has to be different server

Question

I am trying to create a REST server which will be based on Node/Express. How to add a GRPC server in the same REST server, or it has to be completely different NodeJS server which will host only the GRPC server.

There is a blogpost+repo by Diego Garcia, that says that it is possible. However it uses the Go language https://medium.com/@drgarcia1986/listen-grpc-and-http-requests-on-the-same-port-263c40cb45ff — neoneye, Mar 29 '20 at 22:48

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 08 '19 at 23:51

4

You cannot add a gRPC server to an Express server. You can run a gRPC server in the same process as an Express server, but they will serve on separate ports and run independently.

answered Jul 08 '19 at 23:51

murgatroid99

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I tried this approach, I think that's the way to go. – Asutosh Jul 10 '19 at 16:55
@Asutosh would you mind adding your own answer or expand this one to show how you actually did it? Thanks. – Archimedes Trajano Nov 10 '20 at 19:38

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 11 '20 at 03:36

This is what I did which is basically triggering the GRPC server start on the listen callback of express

import express from "express";

import { Server,  ServerCredentials } from "grpc";

const server = new Server();
server.bind('0.0.0.0:50051', ServerCredentials.createInsecure());

const router = express.Router();

express()
  .use("/", router)
  .listen(3000, () => {
    server.start();
    console.log("listening");
  });

Can grpc and express server run by same nodejs server, or grpc has to be different server

2 Answers2

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