How to deploy a Node.js application

Kualo hosting supports Node.js applications through cPanel's Node.js Selector, which uses Phusion Passenger as the web server. This guide walks you through the setup process using Ghost CMS as a practical example.

How it works

The Node.js Selector handles the environment setup for you. Specifically, it:

• Adds the Phusion Passenger configuration lines to your .htaccess file
• Installs and configures Node.js inside a virtual environment

Set up the environment

1. Open the Node.js Selector in cPanel and create a new application. Choose the Node.js version that matches your application's requirements. For Ghost CMS, check the Ghost Node.js version requirements before selecting a version.

   

2. After clicking Create, the selector creates the application and displays the command you need to activate the virtual environment.

   

3. Set the application mode to Production, then click Save.

4. Set the startup file name. For Ghost CMS, this is index.js.

Install Ghost CMS

1. Log in to your account via SSH and activate the virtual environment using the command shown in the Node.js Selector. For example:

   source /home/nodejstest/nodevenv/my_apps/ghost/10/bin/activate && cd /home/nodejstest/my_apps/ghost
   

   Your prompt will change to confirm the environment is active:

   [my_apps/ghost (10)] nodejs@ ~/my_apps/ghost $
   

2. Download and unzip Ghost CMS into the application folder:

   wget https://ghost.org/zip/ghost-latest.zip
   unzip ghost-latest.zip
   

3. Remove the default Passenger placeholder files:

   rm -rf public
   rm -f app.js
   

4. Install the production dependencies. This reads package.json and installs all required modules - similar to composer.json for PHP or a Gemfile for Ruby:

   npm install --production
   

5. Create a MySQL database and database user in cPanel, then edit ./core/server/config/env/config.production.json with your database credentials:

   {
       "database": {
           "client": "mysql",
           "connection": {
               "host"     : "127.0.0.1",
               "user"     : "nodejstest_ghostusr",
               "password" : "my_password",
               "database" : "nodejstest_ghostdb"
           }
       },
       "paths": {
           "contentPath": "content/"
       },
       "logging": {
           "level": "info",
           "rotation": {
               "enabled": true
           },
           "transports": ["file", "stdout"]
       }
   }
   

6. Edit ./core/server/config/defaults.json and update the URL and server host to match your domain:

   {
       "url": "http://nodejs.mydomain.com",
       "server": {
           "host": "nodejs.mydomain.com",
           "port": 80
       }
   }
   

7. Return to the Node.js Selector in cPanel and click Restart.