Node Multi Server

Run multiple Node web servers on the same port using virtual hosts.

It will proxy requests from specific hostnames to a port specified in www/$hostname/.port.

Server setup

The following is the install guide for a brand new Ubuntu 16.04 server. These commands should be executed as root.

Create a user

useradd $name
passwd $name
# enter password in prompt

mkhomedir_helper $name

Install Node

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

Install pm2. This is used to manage and run the webservers themselves.

# install
npm i -g pm2

# run on startup for the user
env PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin /usr/lib/node_modules/pm2/bin/pm2 startup systemd -u $name --hp /home/$name

# allow Node and pm2 use port 80
apt-get install libcap2-bin
setcap cap_net_bind_service=+ep /usr/bin/nodejs
setcap cap_net_bind_service=+ep /usr/lib/node_modules/pm2/bin/pm2

Server setup is done - continue on as the user you created

su - $name

Setup Multi Server

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Toofifty/node-multi-server $directory
cd $directory
npm i

Create file for root domains (optional - without this, directoy names must be full domains)

echo -e "domain1.com\ndomain2.com\nsub.domain1.com" >> .domains

Initialize example server (optional)

cd www/example
npm i

OR create new server

cd www/
mkdir $hostname
cd $hostname
# create server (e.g. express, socket.io)
# and listen to any port (e.g 9001)
vim index.js
vim index.html
# place the port the server is listening on
# inside .port
echo $port >> .port

Whichever you choose, you can now start your local webserver. You can start them anywhere (and rename the processes), but it is simplest to start the servers from www/.

The commands will execute $hostname/index.js.

cd www/
# for the example host
pm2 start example
# for a new host
pm2 start $hostname

You can manage your pm2 processes using:

pm2 status

pm2 show $app
pm2 log $app
pm2 start $app
pm2 stop $app
pm2 restart $app

Assuming your domain is pointing at your server's IP, you should be able to access http://domain1.com:$port.

If not, check pm2 log $hostname.

That's not what we want though, so let's start the multi server. From the root of the multi-server repository:

pm2 start .

This will begin the multi server under the name .. If you'd like to use a different name, add --name $name to the command.

There we go! You should now be able to see your Node webserver at http://$hostname.domain1.com or at http://$hostname (assuming your DNS is set up correctly).

If you have any issues, please use the Github Issue Tracker.