can we configure http protocol version in express or nextjs server?

Configuring the HTTP protocol version directly within Express.js or Next.js involves understanding how these frameworks handle HTTP requests and what underlying technologies they rely on. As of my last update, here's how it works:

Express.js

Express.js itself is a framework for Node.js and does not directly handle the low-level HTTP protocol version. It operates on top of Node.js's HTTP server capabilities. The HTTP protocol version used in communications is typically determined by the client (browser or API consumer) and the Node.js server's ability to support that protocol version.

However, you can influence the HTTP protocol version used in your Express.js application by:

1. Using HTTPS with HTTP/2 in Node.js:

   • Node.js supports HTTP/2, which you can leverage in your Express.js application. However, this requires using the http2 module available in Node.js, and configuring it explicitly, as Express.js does not natively support HTTP/2 without additional setup.
   • Example:

     const http2 = require('http2');
     const fs = require('fs');
     const express = require('express');
     const app = express();
     
     app.get('/', (req, res) => {
       res.send('Hello World!');
     });
     
     const server = http2.createSecureServer({
       key: fs.readFileSync('your-server-key.pem'),
       cert: fs.readFileSync('your-server-cert.pem')
     }, app);
     
     server.listen(3000);
     

   • Note: This example uses the http2 module to create an HTTPS server that supports HTTP/2, with Express handling the routing.

2. Proxying Express.js through a Web Server:

   • You can also run Express.js behind a web server like Nginx or Apache configured to use HTTP/2. This way, the web server handles the HTTP/2 communication with the client, and then proxies the requests to the Express.js application over HTTP/1.1.

Next.js

Next.js is a React framework that can render both on the server-side and statically. It uses Node.js for the server-side part, similar to Express.js.

1. Custom Server:

   • If you're using a custom server setup with Next.js (e.g., custom Express server), you can apply the same method as described above for Express.js to enable HTTP/2.
   • Next.js itself doesn't limit you to a specific HTTP protocol version; it depends on how you configure your Node.js server or the proxy server in front of your Next.js application.

2. Deployment Environment:

   • The protocol version might also be determined by your deployment environment. For example, if you deploy to Vercel (the platform behind Next.js), it automatically supports HTTP/2 and even HTTP/3, without requiring any configuration on your part.