This is how I (currently, as of July 2, 2021) deploy NodeJS servers. Eventually I will figure out Docker, but for right now this is good enough. This tutorial also includes information for using Redis on the same VPS for caching.
1. Prepare a VPS
Create a VPS (I use Vultr–that's my referral link). I use Ubuntu; if you use another distro you will have to use your distro's package manager for installing software.
You'll probably want a domain name anyways, so point a domain (I will use example.com for the tutorial) at the VPS.
SSH into the VPS:
ssh root@example.com
Update the machine:
sudo apt update; sudo apt upgrade
Install programs that will be useful:
sudo apt install nginx redis-server python3-certbot-nginx
Install a text editor (I prefer Neovim):
sudo apt install neovim
2. Edit your NGINX files
nvim /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com
In the proxy_pass
value, the port should be whichever port you plan to run your NodeJS server on.
server {
listen 80;
server_name example.com www.example.com;
location / {
proxy_pass http://localhost:3000/;
}
}
Run
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/example.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
3. Configure Redis
Edit your redis.conf
file:
nvim /etc/redis/redis.conf
Find the supervised
key; set the value to systemd
.
Restart Redis:
sudo systemctl restart redis.service
sudo systemctl restart redis
4. Install NodeJS (via `nvm)
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.11/install.sh | bash
Exit your SSH session and start a new one:
ssh root@example.com
Install NodeJS:
nvm install v15.11.0
5. Clone your repo
git clone https://probablygithub.com/yourusername/yourrepo.git
6. Start your server
Change directory into your server directory:
cd yourrepo.git
Install your packages:
npm install
Install pm2
globally:
npm install pm2 -g
Start your server (change server.js
to the path of your main file):
pm2 start server.js
pm2 startup
pm2 save
sudo reboot
7. Configure SSL
Use LetsEncrypt:
sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com
Enter the required information, and soon enough you will have SSL for your server.
Congrats! You have a deployed NodeJS server with Redis for caching and SSL through LetsEncrypt!
Other considerations
You may want to create a different user so you are not running the server as root
.
You may want to use ufw
for added security. I would reference Brad Traversy's deployment strategy.
If this tutorial is broken at any point in the process, let me know by leaving a comment below. Thank you!
Top comments (0)