TURN Gotchas & Troubleshooting

TURN Gotchas & Troubleshooting

Common mistakes, security best practices, and troubleshooting for Cloudflare TURN.

Quick Reference

Critical Constraints

Limits Per TURN Allocation

Per user (not account-wide):

• IP addresses: >5 new unique IPs per second
• Packet rate: 5-10k packets per second (inbound/outbound)
• Data rate: 50-100 Mbps (inbound/outbound)
• MTU: No specific limit
• Burst rates: Higher than documented

Exceeding limits results in packet drops.

Common Mistakes

Setting TTL > 48 hours

// ❌ BAD: API will reject
const creds = await generate({ ttl: 604800 }) // 7 days

// ✅ GOOD:
const creds = await generate({ ttl: 86400 }) // 24 hours

Hardcoding IPs without monitoring

// ❌ BAD: IPs can change with 14-day notice
const iceServers = [{ urls: 'turn:141.101.90.1:3478' }]

// ✅ GOOD: Use DNS
const iceServers = [{ urls: 'turn:turn.cloudflare.com:3478' }]

Using port 53 in browsers

// ❌ BAD: Blocked by Chrome/Firefox
urls: ['turn:turn.cloudflare.com:53']

// ✅ GOOD: Filter port 53
urls: urls.filter((url) => !url.includes(':53'))

Not handling credential expiry

// ❌ BAD: Credentials expire but call continues → connection drops
const creds = await fetchCreds()
const pc = new RTCPeerConnection({ iceServers: creds })

// ✅ GOOD: Refresh before expiry
setInterval(() => refreshCredentials(pc), 3000000) // 50 min

Missing ICE restart support

// ❌ BAD: No recovery from TURN maintenance
pc.addEventListener('iceconnectionstatechange', () => {
  console.log('State changed:', pc.iceConnectionState)
})

// ✅ GOOD: Implement ICE restart
pc.addEventListener('iceconnectionstatechange', async () => {
  if (pc.iceConnectionState === 'failed') {
    await refreshCredentials(pc)
    pc.restartIce()
  }
})

Exposing TURN key secret client-side

// ❌ BAD: Secret exposed to client
const secret = 'your-turn-key-secret'
const response = await fetch(`https://rtc.live.cloudflare.com/v1/turn/...`, {
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${secret}` },
})

// ✅ GOOD: Generate credentials server-side
const response = await fetch('/api/turn-credentials')

ICE Restart Required Scenarios

These events require ICE restart (see patterns.md):

1. TURN server maintenance (occasional on Cloudflare's network)
2. Network topology changes (anycast routing changes)
3. Credential refresh during long sessions (>1 hour)
4. Connection failure (iceConnectionState === 'failed')

Implement in all production apps:

pc.addEventListener('iceconnectionstatechange', async () => {
  if (pc.iceConnectionState === 'failed' || pc.iceConnectionState === 'disconnected') {
    await refreshTURNCredentials(pc)
    pc.restartIce()
    const offer = await pc.createOffer({ iceRestart: true })
    await pc.setLocalDescription(offer)
    // Send offer to peer via signaling...
  }
})

Reference: RFC 8445 Section 2.4

Security Checklist

• Credentials generated server-side only (never client-side)
• TURN_KEY_SECRET in wrangler secrets, not vars
• TTL ≤ expected session duration (and ≤ 48 hours)
• Rate limiting on credential generation endpoint
• Client authentication before issuing credentials
• Credential revocation API for compromised sessions
• No hardcoded IPs (or DNS monitoring in place)
• Port 53 filtered for browser clients

Troubleshooting

Issue: TURN credentials not working

Check:

• Key ID and secret are correct
• Credentials haven't expired (check TTL)
• TTL doesn't exceed 172800 seconds (48 hours)
• Server can reach rtc.live.cloudflare.com
• Network allows outbound HTTPS

Solution:

// Validate before using
if (ttl > 172800) {
  throw new Error('TTL cannot exceed 48 hours')
}

Issue: Slow connection establishment

Solutions:

• Ensure proper ICE candidate gathering
• Check network latency to Cloudflare edge
• Verify firewall allows WebRTC ports (3478, 5349, 443)
• Consider using TURN over TLS (port 443) for corporate networks

Issue: High packet loss

Check:

• Not exceeding rate limits (5-10k pps)
• Not exceeding bandwidth limits (50-100 Mbps)
• Not connecting to too many unique IPs (>5/sec)
• Client network quality

Issue: Connection drops after ~48 hours

Cause: Credentials expired (48hr max)

Solution:

• Set TTL to expected session duration
• Implement credential refresh with setConfiguration()
• Use ICE restart if connection fails

// Refresh credentials before expiry
const refreshInterval = ttl * 1000 - 60000 // 1 min early
setInterval(async () => {
  await refreshTURNCredentials(pc)
}, refreshInterval)

Issue: Port 53 URLs in browser fail silently

Cause: Chrome/Firefox block port 53

Solution: Filter port 53 URLs server-side:

const filtered = urls.filter((url) => !url.includes(':53'))

Issue: Hardcoded IPs stop working

Cause: Cloudflare changed IP addresses (14-day notice)

Solution:

• Use DNS hostnames (turn.cloudflare.com)
• Monitor DNS changes with automated alerts
• Update allowlists within 14 days if using IP allowlisting

Cost Optimization

1. Use appropriate TTLs (don't over-provision)
2. Implement credential caching
3. Set iceTransportPolicy: 'all' to try direct first (use 'relay' only when necessary)
4. Monitor bandwidth usage
5. Free when used with Cloudflare Calls SFU

See Also

• api.md - Credential generation API, revocation
• configuration.md - IP allowlisting, monitoring
• patterns.md - ICE restart, credential refresh patterns