Node.js on any hosting package, even shared. Node.js is used for hosting different apps, like Ghost blogging platform, etc. Bellow is instruction how to quickly and easily setup Node.js on your account, but if you still need help contact us and we will do this for you 🙂

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:

• • Log in to your account using SSH (it is not enabled for your account contact our support).

• • At the command prompt, type next commands:

wget https://nodejs.org/dist/latest/node-v10.0.0-linux-arm64.tar.xz

• • The command above will download v10.0.0 version, in case you need different version you can find latest here: https://nodejs.org/en/download/
    To extract the Node.js files, type the following command:

tar xvf node-v10.0.0-linux-arm64.tar.xz

• • Now we will rename the folder to nodejs name, to do this type the following command:

mv node-v10.0.0-linux nodejs

• • 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 &

The & places the command in the background, and the nohup command ensures that the application continues running even if you log out of the current terminal session.

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.

To view the official npm documentation for the package.json file, please visit https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json.
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.

As above, the & places the command in the background, and the nohup command ensures that the application continues running even if you log out of the current terminal session.

Stopping a Node.js application

To stop Node.js app, just type the following command:
pkill node

Above command will immediately stop 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:

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]

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).
Save the changes to the .htaccess file, and then exit the text editor. Visitors to your website are redirected to the Node.js application listening on the specified port.

If your application fails to start, the port you chose may already be in use. Check the application log for error codes like EADDRINUSE that indicate the port is in use. If it is, select a different port number, update your application’s configuration and the .htaccess file, and then try again.

Wish to know more …
You can find all about Node.js, on http://nodejs.org.

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