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/.

  Toggle line numbers

     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.
  Toggle line numbers

     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.