systemd for Node.js Developers — Auto-Restart, Logging, and 24/7 Uptime

#devops #linux #node #tutorial

Why systemd?

PM2, forever, and nodemon are great for development. But for production on a Linux VM, systemd is already there and does everything you need.

The Service File

# /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service
[Unit]
Description=My Node.js App
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=ubuntu
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/my-app
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node app.js
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Key Features

Auto-Restart

Restart=always + RestartSec=5 means if your app crashes, it restarts in 5 seconds.

Logging

journalctl -u myapp -f        # Live logs
journalctl -u myapp --since today  # Today's logs
journalctl -u myapp -n 100    # Last 100 lines

No log rotation config needed — journald handles it.

Commands

sudo systemctl start myapp    # Start
sudo systemctl stop myapp     # Stop
sudo systemctl restart myapp  # Restart
sudo systemctl status myapp   # Check status
sudo systemctl enable myapp   # Start on boot

vs PM2

Feature	systemd	PM2
Auto-restart	Yes	Yes
Logging	journald	pm2 logs
Start on boot	Yes (enable)	Yes (startup)
Process list	systemctl list-units	pm2 list
Memory	0 overhead	~30MB
Install required	No (built in)	Yes (npm)