Returning 401 error for all routes with hapijs

Question

We're using Hapi JS for our rest server. We store the authentication tokens for the users on Redis. Now, if for some reason node loses connection with Redis, we need to return 401 Authorization failed error to all the clients from all the routes so the clients can logout automatically.

So, is there a way to return 401 from all routes without changing the code in the route handler functions?

Answer 1

You can make use of the Hapi server extension event 'onRequest'.

var hapi = require('hapi');
var Boom = require('boom');

var server = new hapi.Server();
//Configure your server

//Add an extension point

server.ext('onRequest', function (request, reply) {
    var status;
    //Check status of redis instance

    if (status) {
        //Redis is running, continue to handler
        return reply.continue();
    } else {
        //Redis is down, reply with error
        return reply(Boom.unauthorized('Auth server is down'));
    }
});

This is probably not how you will verify the status your redis instance, but I hope you get the point.

One can look up various other extension points here.