Production Server Setup

Automated setup script for a production Ubuntu server hosting a Next.js application. Installs and configures NGINX, Node.js, PM2, Certbot (SSL), a deploy user, and a placeholder page so you can verify the stack is live before deploying your app.

Prerequisites

Complete these steps before running the script.

1. DigitalOcean Droplet

• Create an Ubuntu 22.04 (or 24.04) Droplet
• Note its public IP address
• Ensure you can SSH in as root

2. DNS

Point your subdomain at the Droplet's IP address before running the script — Certbot needs the domain to resolve for SSL to work.

In Cloudflare (or your DNS provider):

Type	Name	Content	Proxy
A	your-subdomain	YOUR_DROPLET_IP	Off (DNS only)

DNS propagation can take up to 24 hours, but is usually a few minutes with Cloudflare.

3. SSH Access

Have your local machine's public key ready to paste when prompted (~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub or ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub). You can skip this during setup and add it manually later.

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Run the Script

SSH into your Droplet as root, then download and run both files:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/luixfr/Setup-Node-Server/main/setup.sh -o setup.sh && bash setup.sh

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What the Script Asks

Prompt	Example	Notes
Domain name	[YOUR_APP_NAME].example.com	Must already point to this server's IP
App name	[YOUR_APP_NAME]	Used for the app directory (/var/www/[YOUR_APP_NAME]) and PM2 process name
Deploy username	deploy	Press Enter to use the default
Public SSH key	ssh-ed25519 AAAA...	Leave blank to skip
App port	3000	Press Enter to use the default

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What Gets Installed

Component	Purpose
deploy user	Unprivileged user that runs and owns the app
NGINX	Reverse proxy, forwards port 80/443 → app port
Certbot	Obtains and auto-renews a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate
Node.js LTS	JavaScript runtime
yarn, prisma	Global packages for Next.js apps
PM2	Process manager — keeps the app running and restarts it on boot
Placeholder app	Simple Node.js server so you can verify the stack works immediately

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After Setup

1. Verify the placeholder is live

Open http://your-domain.com in a browser. You should see a "Server is ready" page. If Certbot succeeded, https:// will also work.

2. Deploy your app

From your local machine, push your build to the server and restart PM2:

# Example using rsync
rsync -avz --delete .next package.json public deploy@your-domain.com:/var/www/[YOUR_APP_NAME]/

Then on the server:

# Add your environment variables
nano /var/www/[YOUR_APP_NAME]/.env

# Update the PM2 config to run your app instead of the placeholder
nano ~/ecosystem.config.js
# Next.js:       script: "npx",      args: "next start"
# TypeScript:    script: "index.ts", interpreter: "./node_modules/.bin/tsx"

pm2 restart [YOUR_APP_NAME] && pm2 save

3. Confirm SSL auto-renewal

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

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Testing in Docker

You can test the script locally against a Docker container that mimics a fresh Ubuntu Droplet before running it on a real server.

Requirements

• Docker Desktop (Mac/Windows) or Docker Engine (Linux)

Start the container

docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d --build

This starts a privileged Ubuntu 22.04 container with systemd as init. Port 8080 on your machine maps to port 80 inside the container.

Run the script

docker exec -it droplet-test bash
bash /root/setup.sh

When prompted, use any value for the domain (e.g. test.example.com) — Certbot will fail gracefully since there's no real DNS, but everything else runs to completion.

Verify the placeholder

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser. You should see the "Server is ready" page served through NGINX → PM2 → Node.js.

Iterate without rebuilding

setup.sh and placeholder.js are volume-mounted into the container, so edits you make locally are reflected immediately — just re-run the script inside the container without rebuilding the image.

Tear down

docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down

Known differences from a real Droplet

Feature	Behavior in Docker
ufw firewall	Works but is a no-op (container networking bypasses it)
systemctl / systemd	Works via privileged mode + systemd init
Certbot SSL cert	Always fails — no real DNS. Expected.
PM2 startup on reboot	Configured but not testable in a container

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Troubleshooting

Certbot failed during setup DNS hadn't propagated yet. Once the domain resolves, run:

sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

App not responding Check PM2 logs:

pm2 logs [YOUR_APP_NAME]

NGINX errors Test and inspect the config:

sudo nginx -t
sudo journalctl -u nginx --no-pager -n 50

PM2 not starting on reboot Run as the deploy user:

pm2 startup
# Copy and run the command it prints, then:
pm2 save