This article describes how to install the Node.js platform on managed hosting accounts .You can use Node.js to host third-party applications or you can run your own applications.
Node.js is used for hosting diffrent apps, like Ghost blogging platform, etc. Bellow is instruction how to quickly and easily setup Node.js on your account
Installing Node.js and npm
Here several easy steps to quickly install Node.js and npm (the Node.js package manager). To do this, follow these steps:
1.Log in to your account using SSH (if is not enabled for your account contact our support).
2.At the command prompt, type next commands:
cd ~ wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v8.11.2/node-v8.11.2-linux-x64.tar.xz
Command above will download v8.11.2 version, in case you need different version you can find latest here: https://nodejs.org/en/download/
3. To extract the Node.js files, type the following command:
tar xvf node-v8.11.2-linux-x64.tar.xz
4. Now we will rename folder to nodejs name, to do this type the following command:
mv node-v8.11.2-linux-x64 nodejs
5.Now install node and npm binaries, type the next commands:
mkdir ~/bin cp nodejs/bin/node ~/bin cd ~/bin ln -s ../nodejs/lib/node_modules/npm/bin/npm-cli.js npm
That is all, Node.js and npm are installed on your account. To verify, type the following commands:
node --version npm --version
The ~/bin directory is in your path by default, which means you can run node and npm from any directory in your account.
How to start Node.js application
Now after installing Node.js, you are ready to run Node.js app. However, the exact steps to do this vary depending on the app configuration.
Method #1: Use npm
Many third-party and “production-ready” applications (such as Ghost) use the npm program to start the application, as shown by the following command:
nohup npm start --production &
For this method to work, there must be a valid package.json file for the application. The package.json file contains project metadata that the npm program reads to determine how to start the application, manage its dependencies, and more.
Method #2: Run node directly
For simple apps, or for any application that does not have a package.json file, you can run the node executable directly and specify the application filename. For example:
nohup node my_app.js &
However, you lose the benefits of using npm to manage the application.
Stopping a Node.js application
To stop Node.js app, just type the following command:
pkill node
Above command will immediately stops all running Node.js apps.
Integrating a Node.js application with the web server
Depending on the type of Node.js application you are running, you may want to be able to access it using a web browser. To do this, you need to select an unused port for the Node.js application to listen on, and then define server rewrite rules that redirect visitors to the application. The following steps demonstrate how to do this:
1.In a text editor, add the following lines to the .htaccess file in the/home/username/public_html directory, where username represents your account username:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^$ http://127.0.0.1:XXXXX/ [P,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://127.0.0.1:XXXXX/$1 [P,L]
2.In both RewriteRule lines, replace XXXXX with the port on which your Node.js application listens.To run a Node.js application on a managed server, you must select an unused port, and the port number must be between 49152 and 65535(inclusive).
