NodeJS Deployment Guide

Deployment guide for NodeJS apps with Nginx, PM2, and Certbot.

Deployment Types

1. Initial Server Setup
2. New App Deployment

Resources

1. Coderocketfuel

Initial server deployment

1. Set up Ubuntu Server 20.04

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

2. Set up OpenSSH Server and copy SSH keys

Remote:

sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw app list
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw status

Local:

ssh-copy-id user@host
ssh user@host

3. Install Required Packages

1. NodeJS and NPM

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install nodejs
node --version

2. PM2 Process Manager

sudo npm install -g pm2

# Other pm2 commands
pm2 show app
pm2 status
pm2 restart app
pm2 stop app
pm2 logs (Show log stream)
pm2 flush (Clear logs)

3. Nginx

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

# Disable Default Site
cd /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
sudo unlink default

4. Certbot

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
sudo apt install certbot

4. Create app directory for all apps

mkdir apps

5. Install NoIP dynamic update client (if needed)

• Sign up for NoIP
• Create a hostname

Install build-essential

sudo apt install build-essential

Install NoIP client

cd /usr/local/src
wget http://www.no-ip.com/client/linux/noip-duc-linux.tar.gz
tar xzf noip-duc-linux.tar.gz
cd noip-2.1.9-1
make
make install

Configure NoIP

sudo /usr/local/bin/noip2 -C

Create a new service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/noip2.service

noip2.service file content

[Unit]
Description=No-ip.com dynamic IP address updater
After=network.target
After=syslog.target

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Alias=noip.service

[Service]
# Start main service
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/noip2
Restart=always
Type=forking

Enable on startup

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable noip2
sudo systemctl start noip2
sudo systemctl status noip2
sudo systemctl stop noip2
sudo reboot now
sudo systemctl status noip2

---

Adding New Apps to server

Quick Note:

• When adding new apps/projects, use port 5XXX

1. Clone Project in App directory

cd apps

git clone yourproject.git

2. Set upp NodeJS App

1. Set up application port. Make sure it is not in use
2. Set up environment variables (if used)
3. Install dependencies and test the app

cd yourproject
npm install
npm start

curl http://localhost:APP_PORT

ctrl + c

3. Setup PM2 process manager to keep your app running

sudo pm2 start <app.js> --name <appname>
sudo pm2 startup systemd
sudo pm2 save

4. Configure domain name and SSL Certificate

Configure subdomain records in cloudflare

• Add needed records in cloudflare

Issue SSL Certificate with cerbot

sudo certbot --manual -d domain.com -d www.domain.com --preferred-challenge dns certonly
# Add a txt record with the prompted config in cloudflare

5. Configure Nginx Reverse Proxy

Create a new firewall rule first

sudo ufw app list
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw status

Create a new server block

cd /etc/nginx/conf.d
sudo nano app_name.conf

Add the following to the file. Change and <APP_PORT>

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
  return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
	
  server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

  location / {
    proxy_pass http://localhost:APP_PORT;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
  }
  
  listen 443 ssl;
  ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
  ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;

}

Then check nginx config and restart nginx

sudo nginx -t
# If no error
sudo service nginx restart

Now visit https://yourdomain.com and you should see your Node app