How to make a node.js application run permanently?
node.jsServernode.js Problem Overview
On a Debian server, I installed Node.js. I understand how to launch an app from putty with this command line:
node /srv/www/MyUserAccount/server/server.js
and get to it on the address 50.51.52.53:8080 (IP and port).
But as soon as I close putty, then I cannot reach the address 50.51.52.53:8080 anymore.
How to make a Node.js application run permanently?
As you can guess, I am a beginner with Linux and Node.js.
node.js Solutions
Solution 1 - node.js
You could install forever using npm like this:
sudo npm install -g forever
And then start your application with:
forever server.js
Or as a service:
forever start server.js
Forever restarts your app when it crashes or stops for some reason. To restrict restarts to 5 you could use:
forever -m5 server.js
To list all running processes:
forever list
Note the integer in the brackets and use it as following to stop a process:
forever stop 0
Restarting a running process goes:
forever restart 0
If you're working on your application file, you can use the -w parameter to restart automatically whenever your server.js file changes:
forever -w server.js
Solution 2 - node.js
Although the other answers solve the OP's problem, they are all overkill and do not explain why he or she is experiencing this issue.
The key is this line, "I close putty, then I cannot reach the address"
When you are logged into your remote host on Putty you have started an SSH linux process and all commands typed from that SSH session will be executed as children of said process.
Your problem is that when you close Putty you are exiting the SSH session which kills that process and any active child processes. When you close putty you inadvertently kill your server because you ran it in the foreground. To avoid this behavior run the server in the background by appending & to your command:
node /srv/www/MyUserAccount/server/server.js &
The problem here is a lack of linux knowledge and not a question about node. For some more info check out: http://linuxconfig.org/understanding-foreground-and-background-linux-processes
UPDATE:
As others have mentioned, the node server may still die when exiting the terminal. A common gotcha I have come across is that even though the node process is running in bg, it's stdout and stderr is still pointed at the terminal. This means that if the node server writes to console.log or console.error it will receive a broken pipe error and crash. This can be avoided by piping the output of your process:
node /srv/www/MyUserAccount/server/server.js > stdout.txt 2> stderr.txt &
If the problem persists then you should look into things like tmux or nohup, which are still more robust than node specific solutions, because they can be used to run all types of processes (databases, logging services, other languages).
A common mistake that could cause the server to exit is that after running the nohup node your_path/server.js & you simply close the Putty terminal by a simple click. You should use exit command instead, then your node server will be up and running.
Solution 3 - node.js
You can use PM2, it's a production process manager for Node.js applications with a built-in load balancer.
Install PM2
$ npm install pm2 -g
Start an application
$ pm2 start app.js
If you using express then you can start your app like
pm2 start ./bin/www --name="app"
Listing all running processes:
$ pm2 list
It will list all process. You can then stop / restart your service by using ID or Name of the app with following command.
$ pm2 stop all
$ pm2 stop 0
$ pm2 restart all
To display logs
$ pm2 logs ['all'|app_name|app_id]
Solution 4 - node.js
I'd recommend looking for something such as Forever to restart Node in the event of a crash, and handle daemonizing this for you.
Solution 5 - node.js
If you just want to run your node app in the terminal always, just use screen.
Install on ubuntu/ debian:
sudo apt-get install screen
Usage:
$ screen
$ node /path/to/app.js
ctrl + a and then ctrl + d to dismiss
To get is back:
One screen: screen -r
If there's more than one you can list all the screens with: screen -ls
And then: screen -r pid_number
Solution 6 - node.js
You could simply use this
nohup node /srv/www/MyUserAccount/server/server.js &
This will keep the application running and to shut it down you will have to kill it.
For that you could install htop and then search for node and then kill it
Solution 7 - node.js
Forever is a very good NodeJs module to do exactly that.
Install forever by typing in the command line
$ npm install forever -g
Then use the following command to run a node.js script
$ forever start /path/to/script.js
You are good to go. Additionally you can run
$ forever list
to see all the running scripts. You can terminate any specific script by typing
$ forever stop [pid]
where [pid] is the process ID of the script you will obtain from the list command. To stop all scripts, you may type
$ forever stopall
Solution 8 - node.js
Installation
$ [sudo] npm install forever -g
You can use forever to run scripts continuously
forever start server.js
forever list
for stop service
forever stop server.js
Solution 9 - node.js
During development, I recommend using nodemon. It will restart your server whenever a file changes. As others have pointed out, Forever is an option but in production, it all depends on the platform you are using. You will typically want to use the operating system's recommended way of keeping services up (e.g. http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/).
Solution 10 - node.js
> nohup working i checked in AWS Ubunto vm follow the correct syntax
ubuntu@ip-172-00-00-00:~/ms$ nohup node server.js &
> then press enter you will see this line
ubuntu@ip-172-00-00-00:~/ms$ nohup: ignoring input and appending output to ‘nohup.out’
> then type this
rm nohup.out
Solution 11 - node.js
Here's an upstart solution I've been using for my personal projects:
Place it in /etc/init/node_app_daemon.conf:
description "Node.js Daemon"
author "Adam Eberlin"
stop on shutdown
respawn
respawn limit 3 15
script
export APP_HOME="/srv/www/MyUserAccount/server"
cd $APP_HOME
exec sudo -u user /usr/bin/node server.js
end script
This will also handle respawning your application in the event that it crashes. It will give up attempts to respawn your application if it crashes 3 or more times in less than 15 seconds.
Solution 12 - node.js
I’ve found forever to do the job perfectly fine.
Assuming you already have npm installed, if not, just do
sudo apt-get install npm
Then install forever
npm install forever --global
Now you can run it like this
forever start app.js
Solution 13 - node.js
First install pm2 globally
npm install -g pm2
then start
pm2 start bin/www
Solution 14 - node.js
Another way is creating a system unit for your app. create a "XXX.service" file in "/etc/systemd/system" folder, similar to this:
[Unit]
Description=swagger
After=network.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/http-server /home/swagger/swagger-editor &
WorkingDirectory=/home/swagger
Restart=always
RestartSec=30
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
A benefit is the app will run as a service, it automatically restarts if it crashed.
You can also use sytemctl to manage it:
systemctl start XXX to start the service, systemctl stop XXX to stop it and systemctl enable XXX to automatically start the app when system boots.
Solution 15 - node.js
No need to install any other package.
Run this command
node server.js > stdout.txt 2> stderr.txt &
server.js is your server file or it can be api.js
After that hit "exit" to close terminal
exit
Solution 16 - node.js
Try pm2 to make your application run forever.
npm install -g pm2
and then use
pm2 start server.js
to list and stop apps, use commnds
pm2 list
pm2 stop 0
Solution 17 - node.js
I hope this will help you.
At the command line, install forever:
npm install forever -g
Create an example file:
sudo nano server.js
You can edit the file and get results directly in your browser.
You can use filezilla or any editor to edit the file.
Run this command to run the file:
forever start --minUptime 1 --spinSleepTime 1000 -w server.js
Solution 18 - node.js
I recommend use PM2, which is a process manager for Node.js applications. PM2 provides an easy way to manage and daemonize applications (run them as a service).
refer this link - https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-a-node-js-application-for-production-on-centos-7
Solution 19 - node.js
forever package worked for me, just one thing, it depends on deep-equal, so if you had issue with installing it like:
npm -g install forever
Try:
npm -g install forever deep-equal@1.1.1
instead.
Solution 20 - node.js
As we know that there are many options to do this. Here is a pure Shell solution, with no need for extra programs / packages.
This solution will restart server.js if it crashes for some reason / errors.
Let's say this is a run.sh:
#!/usr/bin/env sh
while :; do
node server.js
echo "Restarting..."
sleep 1
done
Make sure to make the run.sh file executable:
chmod +x run.sh
And to run it:
./run.sh
If you want to run it in the background:
./run.sh &
Run in the background super-silently (detached, without any output):
( ./run.sh > /dev/null 2>&1 & )