Resolve "Implement an exponential backoff for the websocket reconnecting"

backend/src/baserow/ws/consumers.py

@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ class CoreConsumer(AsyncJsonWebsocketConsumer):
         user = self.scope['user']
         web_socket_id = self.scope['web_socket_id']
 
+        if not user:
+            return
+
         # If the user has already joined another page we need to discard that
         # page first before we can join a new one.
         await self.discard_current_page()

changelog.md

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## Unreleased
+
+* Prevent websocket reconnect loop when the authentication fails.
+
 ## Released (2021-03-01)
 
 * Redesigned the left sidebar.

web-frontend/modules/core/plugins/realTimeHandler.js

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ export class RealTimeHandler {
     this.page = null
     this.pageParameters = {}
     this.subscribedToPage = true
+    this.lastToken = null
+    this.authenticationSuccess = true
     this.registerCoreEvents()
   }
 
@@ -24,6 +26,16 @@ export class RealTimeHandler {
 
     const token = this.context.store.getters['auth/token']
 
+    // Check if we already had a failed authentication response from the server before.
+    // If so, and if the authentication token has not changed, we don't need to connect
+    // because we already know it will fail.
+    if (!this.authenticationSuccess && token === this.lastToken) {
+      this.delayedReconnect()
+      return
+    }
+
+    this.lastToken = token
+
     // The web socket url is the same as the PUBLIC_BACKEND_URL apart from the
     // protocol.
     const rawUrl = this.context.app.$env.PUBLIC_BACKEND_URL
@@ -76,22 +88,32 @@ export class RealTimeHandler {
       // page is already null we can mark it as subscribed.
       this.subscribedToPage = this.page === null
 
-      // Automatically reconnect if the socket closes.
-      if (this.reconnect) {
-        this.attempts++
-        this.context.store.dispatch('notification/setConnecting', true)
-
-        this.reconnectTimeout = setTimeout(
-          () => {
-            this.connect(true)
-          },
-          // After the first try, we want to try again every 5 seconds.
-          this.attempts > 0 ? 5000 : 0
-        )
-      }
+      // Automatically reconnect after the given timeout.
+      this.delayedReconnect()
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * If reconnecting is enabled then a timeout is created that will try to connect
+   * to the backend one more time.
+   */
+  delayedReconnect() {
+    if (!this.reconnect) {
+      return
+    }
+
+    this.attempts++
+    this.context.store.dispatch('notification/setConnecting', true)
+
+    this.reconnectTimeout = setTimeout(
+      () => {
+        this.connect(true)
+      },
+      // After the first try, we want to try again every 5 seconds.
+      this.attempts > 1 ? 5000 : 0
+    )
+  }
+
   /**
    * Subscribes the client to a given page. After subscribing the client will
    * receive updated related to that page. This is for example used when a user
@@ -155,6 +177,10 @@ export class RealTimeHandler {
     // because we already know about the change.
     this.registerEvent('authentication', ({ store }, data) => {
       store.dispatch('auth/setWebSocketId', data.web_socket_id)
+
+      // Store if the authentication was successful in order to prevent retries that
+      // will fail.
+      this.authenticationSuccess = data.success
     })
 
     this.registerEvent('group_created', ({ store }, data) => {

web-frontend/modules/core/store/auth.js

@@ -109,12 +109,12 @@ export const actions = {
     clearTimeout(this.refreshTimeout)
     commit('SET_REFRESHING', true)
 
-    // The token expires within an hour. We have to calculate how many seconds are
-    // left and 30 seconds before it expires we will refresh the token.
+    // The token expires within a given time. When 80% of that time has expired we want
+    // to fetch a new token.
     this.refreshTimeout = setTimeout(() => {
       dispatch('refresh', getters.token)
       commit('SET_REFRESHING', false)
-    }, (getters.tokenExpireSeconds - 30) * 1000)
+    }, Math.floor((getters.tokenExpireSeconds / 100) * 80) * 1000)
   },
   /**
    * The web socket id is generated by the backend when connecting to the real time