Node.js Centos 7 production configuration

Install nodejs

Download

wget --no-check-certificate https://nodejs.org/dist/v10.15.1/node-v10.15.1-linux-x64.tar.xz

Move the downloaded file /usr/local

Then unpack

tar xf node-v10.15.1-linux-x64.tar.xz

Add node executables to the path by adding symlinks to /usr/bin

ln -s /usr/local/node/bin/node /usr/bin/node

ln -s /usr/local/node/bin/npm /usr/bin/npm

ln -s /usr/local/node/bin/npx /usr/bin/npx

Install pm2

To run node as service we need to install a nodejs package

npm install pm2@latest –g

We need to run set the path to pm2

ln -s /usr/local/node/bin/pm2 /usr/bin/pm2

ln -s /usr/local/node/bin/pm2 /usr/bin/pm2-runtime

For security reasons we should run our app NOT as root. We create a new user nodejs to run our app

useradd nodejs

chown -R nodejs:nodejs /usr/local/node

chown –R nodejs:nodejs /usr/local/node-v10.15.1-linux-x64

# as root

pm2 startup system –u nodejs –-hp /home/nodjs

To start the application as the nodejs user, switch to the user nodejs

su nodejs

pm2 start /usr/local/node/apps/chat/server.js

pm2 list

# to automatically start the app on reboots

pm2 save

You should see that the app is running as user nodejs 

Likewise to stop

#other commands

pm2 stop /usr/local/node/apps/chat/server.js

pm2 delete /usr/local/node/apps/chat/server.js