Nicolas-Embleton - Deploying node.js with forever and nginx

Deploying Node.js
With Forever and Nginx
“a no-downtime tale”

Node.js

•  Runs as a standalone server, listen its own
• 
• 

port
Just need to proxy the request to Node.js
and relay the result back
Installing is easy (let's try in MacOS/Ubuntu)
o 

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-software-properties python g++ make
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chris-lea/node.js
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nodejs

Sample server with Compound.js

•  sudo npm install compound -g
•  compound init todo-list-app
•  cd todo-list-app && npm install
How to start the project:
node .

•

Making Node.js run "forever"

•  Using Forever.js
•  Forever.js is a "daemonized version" of your
• 

Node app.
Will check if the app is killed and re-spawn it

Forever.js setup and commands

•  It's an npm package.
o 

sudo npm install forever -g

o 
o 
o 
o 

start
- Start SCRIPT as a daemon
stop
- Stop the daemon SCRIPT
stopall - Stop all running forever scripts
restart - Restart the daemon SCRIPT

•  Main commands

o  restartall - Restart all running forever scripts
o  list
- List all running forever script

Let's try it!

•  Identify the script to run
o 
o 

Inspecting package.json is often a good idea
Example with compound.js
§  , "main": "server.js"

o 

Command: "node ." loads package.json, finds "main"
script and executes it.

•  Run on Forever:
o 

forever start /full-path-to-script/server.js

Ok, a bit more of Forever.js
(featuring up and inspecting)

•  How to keep the log
o 
o 

-l LOGFILE - Logs the forever output to LOGFILE
-o OUTFILE - Logs stdout from child script to OUTFILE

o 

-e ERRFILE - Logs stderr from child script to ERRFILE

o 

-p PATH

•  Some other useful commands
§ 
o 

- Base path for all forever related files (pid files, etc.)

To make your line shorter

-c COMMAND - COMMAND to execute (defaults to node)
§ 

For when you have "more" than just "node" to run (server init params for example)

•  List running processes
o 

forever list (easy, right?)

Now, the cherry, "no downtime"

•  forever restart /full-path-to-script/script
•  If you're not sure about the script path, just
do "forever list" and take it up from there

Now we're all set, let's get serious

•  Nginx
o 

Awesome
Event-driven
Asynchronous
10k-friendly

o 

sudo apt-get install nginx

o 
o 
o 

•  Not quite hard to setup (ubuntu)

Configure Nginx

•  Sites management
o 
o 
o 
o 
o 

Config files are best kept per-site
1 file per site in
§  /etc/nginx/sites-available/ (standard)
To activate a site, make a symbolic link to
§  /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
Restart gracefully
§  sudo service nginx reload
Done.

Let's configure our proxy

•  cd /etc/nginx/sites-available/
•  sudo view compoundapp.com
o 

(name it based on your FQDN as a best practice)

•  Create a proxy block

upstream node_boxes {
server 127.0.0.1:3000;
}
Proxy Will be used as the relay
o 

•

Architecture
• 
• 
• 

Traffic

Traffic goes through
the load balancer
nginx redirects to
the "upstream"
node_box
Want to scale? Just
add more boxes
and update nginx
config.

nginx load balancer

Node.js box

Node.js box

Node.js box

Node.js box

Configs: Load balancer
server {
# server_name yourdomain.com yourdomain; # set the domain name to bind to
access_log /var/log/nginx/compountapp.com_access.log; error_log /var/log/nginx/
compountapp.com_error.log;
# reroute all and pass the correct headers
location / {
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
proxy_set_header X-NginX-Proxy true;
# then proxy the request
proxy_pass http://node_boxes/;
proxy_redirect off;
}
}

Load balancing?
o 

o 

upstream node_boxes {
server 50.20.14.8:3000;
server 50.20.14.9:3001;
server 50.20.14.10:3002;
server 50.20.14.11:3000;
}
sudo service nginx reload

What's next?

•  WebSockets
•  Load balancing
•  What about the Databases/services?
•  Centralize your logs
•  Performance analysis
•  Cloud

Resources
• 

http://stackoverflow.com/a/5015178/519649
o 

• 
• 

Config node.js as a proxy

https://github.com/nodejitsu/forever
https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Installing-Node.js-via-package-manager
o 

Install Node.js via package manager

About us
Author: Nicolas Embleton
Find me at: nicolas.embleton@gmail.com
Presentation made for “Javascript Ho Chi Minh City” meetup group
You can find us at:
•  http://meetup.com/JavaScript-Ho-Chi-Minh-City/
•  https://www.facebook.com/JavaScriptHCMC
•  https://plus.google.com/communities/116105314977285194967

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