How do I host multiple Node.js sites on the same IP/server with different domains?

Question

I have a linux server with a single IP bound to it. I want to host multiple Node.js sites on this server on this IP, each (obviously) with a unique domain or subdomain. I want them all on port 80.

What are my options to do this?

An obvious solution seems to be to have all domains serviced by a node.js web app that acts as a proxy and does a pass through to the other node.js apps running on unique ports.

Answer 1

Choose one of:

• Use some other server (like nginx) as a reverse proxy.
• Use node-http-proxy as a reverse proxy.
• Use the vhost middleware if each domain can be served from the same Connect/Express codebase and node.js instance.

Answer 2

Diet.js has very nice and simple way to host multiple domains with the same server instance. You can simply call a new server() for each of your domains.

A Simple Example

// Require diet
var server = require('diet');

// Main domain
var app = server()
app.listen('http://example.com/')
app.get('/', function($){
    $.end('hello world ')
})

// Sub domain
var sub = server()
sub.listen('http://subdomain.example.com/')
sub.get('/', function($){
    $.end('hello world at sub domain!')
})

// Other domain
var other = server()
other.listen('http://other.com/')
other.get('/', function($){
    $.end('hello world at other domain')
})

Separating Your Apps

If you would like to have different folders for your apps then you could have a folder structure like this:

/server
   /yourApp
       /node_modules
       index.js
   /yourOtherApp
       /node_modules
       index.js
   /node_modules
   index.js

In /server/index.js you would require each app by it's folder:

require('./yourApp')
require('./yourOtherApp')

In /server/yourApp/index.js you would setup your first domain such as:

// Require diet
var server = require('diet')

// Create app
var app = server()
app.listen('http://example.com/')
app.get('/', function($){
    $.end('hello world ')
})

And in /server/yourOtherApp/index.js you would setup your second domain such as:

// Require diet
var server = require('diet')

// Create app
var app = server()
app.listen('http://other.com/')
app.get('/', function($){
    $.end('hello world at other.com ')
});

Read More:

• Read more about Diet.js
• Read more about Virtual Hosts in Diet.js Read more about Server in Diet.js