How to run node.js app forever when console is closed?

Question

I connect to my remote server via ssh. Then I start my node.js app with Forever. Everything works fine until I close my console window. How to run node.js app FOREVER on my remote server even when I close my connection via ssh? I just want to start an app and shut down my copmputer. My app should be working in the background on my remote server.

Answer 1

You may also want to consider using the upstart utility. It will allow you to start, stop and restart you node application like a service. Upstart can configured to automatically restart your application if it crashes.

Install upstart:

sudo apt-get install upstart 

Create a simple script for your application that will look something like:

#!upstart description "my app"  start on started mountall stop on shutdown  # Automatically Respawn: respawn respawn limit 99 5  env NODE_ENV=production  exec node /somepath/myapp/app.js >> /var/log/myapp.log 2>&1 

Then copy the script file (myapp.conf) to /etc/init and make sure its marked as executable. Your application can then be managed using the following commands:

sudo start myapp sudo stop myapp sudo restart myapp