Deploying a Node.js App on AWS EC2 with PM2 and Nginx

Introduction

AWS EC2 provides a scalable environment to host applications. PM2 is a production process manager for Node.js, and Nginx acts as a reverse proxy to handle requests efficiently. In this tutorial, we'll deploy a Node.js application on EC2 using PM2 and Nginx.

Prerequisites

You'll need:

• An AWS EC2 instance (Ubuntu recommended)
• Node.js & npm installed
• PM2 installed globally (npm install pm2 -g)
• Nginx installed
• A domain name pointed to your EC2 instance

Step 1: Set Up Your EC2 Instance

Launch an EC2 Instance

1. Go to AWS Console → EC2 → Launch Instance
2. Choose Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS
3. Select your preferred instance type (t2.micro for testing)
4. Configure security groups to allow:

• SSH (port 22)
• HTTP (port 80)
• HTTPS (port 443)

Connect to Your Instance

ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-public-ip

Step 2: Install Required Software

Update System and Install Node.js

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_18.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Install PM2 and Nginx

sudo npm install pm2 -g
sudo apt install nginx -y

Verify Installations

node --version
npm --version
pm2 --version
nginx -v

Step 3: Upload Your Node.js App

Clone Your Repository

cd /var/www
sudo git clone https://github.com/username/project.git
sudo chown -R ubuntu:ubuntu project
cd project
npm install

Create PM2 Ecosystem File

Create ecosystem.config.js:

module.exports = {
  apps: [{
    name: 'your-app-name',
    script: 'server.js',
    instances: 'max',
    exec_mode: 'cluster',
    env: {
      NODE_ENV: 'production',
      PORT: 3000
    },
    error_file: './logs/err.log',
    out_file: './logs/out.log',
    log_file: './logs/combined.log',
    time: true
  }]
}

Step 4: Start with PM2

Start Your Application

pm2 start ecosystem.config.js
pm2 startup
pm2 save

PM2 Useful Commands

pm2 list                    # List all processes
pm2 restart your-app-name   # Restart specific app
pm2 stop your-app-name      # Stop specific app
pm2 logs your-app-name      # View logs
pm2 monit                   # Monitor dashboard

Step 5: Configure Nginx

Create Nginx Configuration

Edit the Nginx config:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-app

Add this configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com www.your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }

    # Gzip compression
    gzip on;
    gzip_vary on;
    gzip_min_length 1024;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css text/xml text/javascript application/javascript application/xml+rss application/json;
}

Enable the Site

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-app /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 6: Set Up SSL (Optional but Recommended)

Install Certbot

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com -d www.your-domain.com

Step 7: Monitoring and Maintenance

Set Up PM2 Monitoring

pm2 install pm2-server-monit
pm2 install pm2-logrotate

Create Log Rotation

pm2 set pm2-logrotate:max_size 10M
pm2 set pm2-logrotate:retain 30

Benefits

• Zero downtime with PM2 restarts and clustering
• Nginx as reverse proxy for better performance and caching
• Easy scalability by adding more EC2 instances
• Process management with automatic restarts
• Load balancing capabilities
• Professional monitoring and logging

Troubleshooting

PM2 Issues

pm2 logs --lines 100
pm2 restart all
pm2 delete all && pm2 start ecosystem.config.js

Nginx Issues

sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl status nginx
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Port Conflicts

Check if port 3000 is available:

sudo netstat -tlnp | grep :3000

Conclusion

This setup is production-ready and can be scaled horizontally by adding more EC2 instances and load balancing. PM2 ensures your application stays running, while Nginx handles incoming requests efficiently.

Happy deploying! 🚀