devilbox/docs/autostart/autostarting-nodejs-apps.rst

.. include:: /_includes/all.rst

.. _autostarting_nodejs_apps:

************************
Autostarting NodeJS Apps
************************


You can have all of your NodeJS applications spin up automtically as soon as you ``docker-compose up``.
This can be achieved by makeing use of |ext_lnk_tool_pm2| (Node.js Process Manager) and the
autostart feature.

.. seealso::
   **Read more about how to add scripts for autostart commands:**

   * :ref:`custom_scripts_per_php_version` (individually for different PHP versions)
   * :ref:`custom_scripts_globally` (equal for all PHP versions)


**Table of Contents**

.. contents:: :local:


Self-built
==========

Simply add a script ending by ``.sh`` to the ``autostart/`` directory that will accomplish this.
The following example will make use of |ext_lnk_tool_pm2| to spin up your NodeJS application.

Assumption
----------

* Path to your NodeJS project (within the Docker container): ``/shared/httpd/my-node/src``
* Name of the JS file to startup: ``index.js``

The script
----------

Add the following script to ``autostart/``

.. code-block:: bash
   :caption: autostart/myscript.sh

   su -c "cd /shared/httpd/my-node/src; pm2 start index.js" -l devilbox

* The whole command is wrapped into ``su`` to ensure the application will be started as the user ``devilbox``.
* ``cd`` tells it to you enter the directory where ``index.js`` can be found
* And finally |ext_lnk_tool_pm2| will take care about starting up your javascript file.

Once the Devilbox is running, you can enter the PHP container and verify with ``pm2 list`` that
everything is running as expected.


Pre-built
=========

Instead of writing multiple scripts for multiple applications, you can also make use of the
pre-shipped script that allows you to start unlimitted NodeJS applications via |ext_lnk_tool_pm2|.

The following script is provided in ``autostart/run-node-js-projects.sh-example`` and needs to be
copied to a file ending by ``.sh``

.. code-block:: bash

   host> cd /path/to/devilbox
   host> cd autostart
   host> cp run-node-js-projects.sh-example run-node-js-projects.sh


In that newly created file, you can simply add the full paths (path inside the Docker containre)
of your Javascript files that need to be started. There is already one example which is not
commented. Change this to your path and add as many lines as you have projects to startup.

.. literalinclude:: ../../autostart/run-node-js-projects.sh
   :caption: autostart/run-node-js-projects.sh
   :language: bash
   :emphasize-lines: 16


Reverse proxy NodeJS
====================

If you also want to know how to reverse proxy your NodeJS service and have it available via the web
server including HTTPS support have a look at the following links:

.. seealso::

   * :ref:`reverse_proxy_with_https`
   * :ref:`example_setup_reverse_proxy_nodejs`


Imagine you have started an application within the PHP container that creates a listening port
(e.g.: NodeJS). This will now only listen on the PHP container and you would have to adjust
the docker-compose.yml definition in order to have that port available outside to your host OS.

Alternatively, there is a simple way to reverse proxy it to the already running web server and even
make use of the already available HTTPS feature.