I am coming from Microsoft world so please bear with me on this. I was told I could install node.js and use that as a web server instead of IIS. This is a very small business application. In IIS I can create virtual directory and point to the location of the web page and everything works just fine. Based on very little I read, I have few questions;
Is it possible to run node js as a windows service or any other form so that it runs for ever? I did find the forever package that I think I can use.
In IIS, I can create virtual directory set the port and thats it, I have myself a website.
I do not see any examples where I can use a directory where I have a web page, written in java script and point it to run as a web site. All the examples have some thing like server.js and that runs and routes the call. what is the other way to host web sites and use node.js to simple run as a fast web server.
I was told I could install node.js and use that as a web server instead of IIS.
This is true, but as you already found out then you are in charge of providing for things that IIS was already doing for you (e.g. automatically restart on reboot, or on crashes, hosting multiple sites by creating virtual folders, et cetera.)
You can indeed get all of these things worked out in Node.js and there are several libraries that help on each of these areas. It's not too hard but you'll need to do a bit of researching.
You can also run Node.js behind IIS. Take a look at iisnode http://tomasz.janczuk.org/2011/08/hosting-nodejs-applications-in-iis-on.html
Is it possible to run node js as a windows service or any other form so
that it runs for ever?
The library Forever takes care of restarting the site when it crashes...but I don't know if you can run it as a Windows Service. I haven't tried that.
In IIS, I can create virtual directory set the port and thats it,
I have myself a website.
I assume you are talking about a site that serves static HTML files, right? If that's the case that's very easy to support in Node.js either writing your own web server or using Express.js to serve static files.
I do not see any examples where I can use a directory where I have a web page,
written in java script and point it to run as a web site. All the examples
have some thing like server.js and that runs and routes the call.
Here is an extremely simple example to serve plain HTML files in Node.js https://gist.github.com/2573391 Don't use this in production, though. It's just an example and it does not have any kind of error handling or security.
what is the other way to host web sites and use node.js to simple run
as a fast web server.
As others have said, you should look into Express.js http://expressjs.com/ It provides some of the infrastructure that you are very likely going to need when building traditional web sites.
You say you're running a "very small business application" behind IIS. Unless it's written for Node.js (in JavaScript), it won't work.
There are no examples pointing to a directory and running that as a website, because that's not how things are done in Node.js. You write a Node.js-application and pull in a webserver-library.
Put simply, In Node.js, you don't embed the appliation in the webserver; you embed the webserver in the application.
When I used node.js, I redirected HTTP requests by a proxy server, nginx. I don’t know if you can directly bind node.js as an HTTP server, but for what’s it worth, nginx is pretty nice!
First things first, allow me to share an introduction. IMHO you should take this decision ( of moving from IIS to nodeJS) by adding various parameters. I belong to the Java & PHP community yet I use NodeJS to achieve extremely specific implementation where NodeJS perform the fastest ( fast IO, AJAX-JSON responses & more ). As you are coming with a Microsoft background you should bare with less comfortable solutions.
Yes, its possible to run NodeJs as a windows service and Forever will do fine.
and yes you can create "Virtual Directories" but by creating symbolic links to each of your customer's web site.
I recommend to take a good look at bouncy & express, If you're willing to take this step then these packages is just what you need.
Cheers!
Related
I'm very new to NodeJs/expressJs, i read tons of articles on internet and still don't understand it
is NodeJs a web server like IIS ? if so can i host an asp.net app in NodeJS ?
Is expressJs a framework like ASP.NET ?
I currently work on both IIS ASP.NET applications as well as NodeJS/ExpressJS systems and the below is what I have noted to be different:
IIS:
Windows server based
Can have strict setups such as MVC etc
Built in deployment that compiles the entire website
Setup can take quite some time to create all modals and get all
plugins working etc
Services can take some time setup and modal mapping can be tedious
NodeJS/ExpressJS:
Not Windows based. I run this typically on an Ubuntu server with
Nginx to push the domain to the public
Easy to setup and fast to get something basic online
Does not natively compile and runs files as they are
Uses npm package manager with easy to install packages
Does not have strict setups but you can technically create your own
MVC style system
Code can quickly become messy however with the correct approach you
can manage the amount of code easily.
NodeJS is not a web server. It is a backend server (Such as a REST API etc)
ExpressJS sits ontop of NodeJS to add functionality and is essentially a framework. Coupled with jade/pug you can write js inside the html.
I want to build a web app with React for frontend and Node.js for backend. The problem comes when choosing the type of hosting I need. I know that for static files(eg. html with css and js) it's enough to have a standard web hosting, but if I want to have a server running Node.js app, do I need a dedicated server or VPS? Why?
I believe you can have either. Are you trying to do this professionally for a client or for a side project?
Personally, I use services like Heroku or Netlify (others here: https://blog.bitsrc.io/8-react-application-deployment-and-hosting-options-for-2019-ab4d668309fd). They run builds of node for your app and are free initially.
You can host your app and publish it for no cost at the beginning. However, on something like Heroku, if you don't pay, it takes 5 seconds for your website to wake up. But, this is great for prototyping. It gives you a URL so others can see it. They are basically version control systems that publish what you currently have. So you can just live push your project at any time and it updates your site.
If your prototype is working and you want it to be a fully dedicated app, then you can either pay or find services that host it. I would recommend prototyping first regardless and wouldn't pay until you need to.
I am kind of new to Node.js but I built an application and am pretty happy with it. I was wondering how would I go about uploading my Node.js application to an FTP server? Is it even possible to do this?
A Node.JS application is just a collection of files. You can upload them to another computer using FTP just like any other files.
That probably isn't what you are trying to ask though.
If you want to host a website built as a Node.JS application then you need to be using hosting that either:
Explicitly supports Node.JS (Google finds this list) or
Gives you full admin access (such as a virtual or dedicated server)
Such hosting will generally give you (at a minimum) shell access (via SSH) which you can use to run the Node.JS application.
I am new to node, so please excuse me if I am asking stupid questions.
Ghost has been released as NPM module recently. I am trying to integrate it with my application, so I could have custom home page and serve blog on a separate page. Once I do following in my app.js, it takes over all the traffic to my site. How do I configure ghost to serve only the blog?
var ghost = require('ghost');
ghost();
We're missing a few details here so I'll make some assumptions.
If you are hosting node using the default server than (as of this posting) you are out of luck since ghost is setup to run in it's own standalone server. One possible solution is to run both the standard node.js server for your page then another for ghost. That's obviously not ideal but until they fix their integration issues you don't have much choice.
I'm trying to solve the same problem, and currently imagine finding a hosting that allows me to run two node instances (I think that is quite possible with e.g. digital ocean). One - port 80 - will point to Ghost, while the other (on some other port) will host the REST API for the app.
I will then create a blank page linked to a custom template that loads the rest of my angular application - the files will be stored in the assets folder of my custom template, while ajax calls will simply be to the non-standard port.
I have successfully tested the vline-node example locally, but would like to push it out to a server. I have tried to install the example as an application on an IIS8 website, placing the example code under wwwroot. I have done tried this both within the root and inside a virtual directory, pointing to the views folder. I am able to login to the application from a browser on the server, although, since javascript is turned off on the server browsers for security, so functionality is missing.
However, when I try to access the site from a remote browser I am not able to login. Actually, I can see that there is something wrong with my paths, as the include files are not found.
The more I've thought about this the more confused I've become. I'd like to run this under IIS, but wonder if that makes sense. Can someone offer a clean solution for hosting the vline-node example on a Windows Server, ideally under IIS?
Since you are using the node example, you'll need to make sure that node is actually running on your IIS server. Here's a SO response that may be helpful: How to run Node.JS server for a web application?
Note that in our node example the "main" file is vline-node.js, so use that in place of the app.js that is mentioned.