What is Node.js

• Node.js is an application server based off of Google's V8 Javascript Engine. Quite a few popular frameworks have popped up around Node.js such as AngularJS and Backbone.js.

How

Request a port

• Request a ProxiedServer port on bog as described in FirewallRules

Get Node.js

• Make a directory for your website

  mcarberry@bog:~$ mkdir ~/public_web/sitename
  mcarberry@bog:~$ mkdir ~/public_web/sitename/nodejs
  mcarberry@bog:~$ cd ~/public_web/sitename

  Download Node.js

  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename$ wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.26/node-v0.10.26.tar.gz
  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename$ tar -xf node-v0.10.26.tar.gz 
  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename$ cd node-v0.10.26/

Build Node.js

• mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename/node-v0.10.26$ ./configure 
  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename/node-v0.10.26$ make
  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename/node-v0.10.26$ make install DESTDIR=~/public_web/sitename/nodejs

  Cleanup Install Directory

  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename/node-v0.10.26$ cd ../nodejs/
  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename/nodejs$ cp -r usr/local/* .
  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename/nodejs$ rm -r usr
  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename/nodejs$ cd ..
  mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename$ rm -r node-v0.10.26/

Test Install

• Change the port in this script (gleaned from here) to the one requested in the firewall rules and place it in ~/public_web/sitename/.

     1 var http = require('http');
     2 http.createServer(function (req, res) {
     3   res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
     4   res.end('Hello Node.js\n');
     5 }).listen(8124, "127.0.0.1");
     6 console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8124/');
  

  Configure your domain, modelling this example. This will foward requests to your domain to the port that you requested on bog. Give it a test run

   mcarberry@bog:~/public_web/sitename$ ./nodejs/bin/node hello_world.js

  If it works, when you visit your domain name you should see the Hello Node.js message.

Write a Script to Start the Server

• Here's a script I use to start my Node.js server running Ghost. You'll need to use k5start (as I do) in order to make sure your server is able to maintain access to AFS. You should be able to modify this script to your needs with not too much effort.

     1 #!/bin/bash
     2 HOME=/afs/hcoop.net/user/m/mc/mcarberry
     3 GHOSTROOT=$HOME/public_web/ghost/ghost-app
     4 NODEROOT=$HOME/public_web/ghost/nodejs
     5 
     6 NODE=$NODEROOT/bin/node
     7 
     8 PIDFILE=$GHOSTROOT/ghost.pid
     9 
    10 K5START="k5start -qtUf /etc/keytabs/user.daemon/mcarberry"
    11 
    12 cd $GHOSTROOT
    13 
    14 NODE_CONFIG_DIR=$GHOSTROOT
    15 
    16 if (test -f $PIDFILE); then
    17   echo "PID File exists..."
    18   PID=`cat $PIDFILE 2> /dev/null`
    19   echo "Is previous server still running"
    20   kill -0 $PID 2> /dev/null
    21   if (test $? -ne 0); then
    22     echo "Nope, starting server"
    23     $K5START -b -c $PIDFILE -- $NODE $GHOSTROOT/index.js
    24   else
    25     echo "Yes, no need to start server"
    26     exit 0
    27   fi  
    28 else
    29   echo "Starting server"
    30   $K5START -b -c $PIDFILE -- $NODE $GHOSTROOT/index.js
    31 fi
  

Add a Reboot Rule to Crontab

• Request crontab access throught the portal, and set a rule such that your script will be run in the event of bog being rebooted.