Node.js Deployment on VM¶

Steps to deploy a Node.js app to DigitalOcean using PM2, NGINX as a reverse proxy and an SSL from LetsEncrypt

1. Create Free AWS Account¶

Create free AWS Account at https://aws.amazon.com/

2. Create and Lauch an EC2 instance and SSH into machine¶

3. Install Node and NPM¶

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install nodejs

node --version

4. Clone your project from Github¶

git clone https://github.com/piyushgargdev-01/short-url-nodejs

5. Install dependencies and test app¶

sudo npm i pm2 -g
pm2 start index

# Other pm2 commands
pm2 show app
pm2 status
pm2 restart app
pm2 stop app
pm2 logs (Show log stream)
pm2 flush (Clear logs)

# To make sure app starts when reboot
pm2 startup ubuntu

6. Setup Firewall¶

sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status
sudo ufw allow ssh (Port 22)
sudo ufw allow http (Port 80)
sudo ufw allow https (Port 443)

7. Install NGINX and configure¶

sudo apt install nginx

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Add the following to the location part of the server block

    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8001; #whatever port your app runs on
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }

# Check NGINX config
sudo nginx -t

# Restart NGINX
sudo nginx -s reload

8. Add SSL with LetsEncrypt¶

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

# Only valid for 90 days, test the renewal process with
certbot renew --dry-run