Host NodeJs REST APIs on AWS EC2

Host NodeJS API's on AWS EC2 instance using these simple steps.

Commands

After connecting to your EC2 instance via a SSH client :

Run these four commands to install all the required packages in your machine : NodeJS , NPM , Nginx

  sudo apt update

  sudo apt install nodejs

  sudo apt install npm

  sudo apt install nginx

  sudo apt update

Clone your project's github repository into the EC2 machine in a folder (ex : api-folder)

  git clone "https://github.com/your-repo-link"

Move to the api-folder directory

  cd api-folder

Navigate to the .env file to paste your environment variables

  nano .env

Install NVM (Node Version Manager)

  curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash

  export NVM_DIR="$([ -z "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME-}" ] && printf %s "${HOME}/.nvm" || printf %s "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/nvm")"

  [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"

  nvm install v18

Install NPM packages of your project

  npm i

Run any of these as per your project's package.json

  npm run dev    /   npm start

Create the server code file for your domain (ex : testapi.com)

  sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/testapi.com

Once you run the command above, you will enter an environment where you have to paste this code, MAKE SURE to change server_name and root folder directory

  server {
        listen 80;
        listen 443;
        server_name testapi.com;
        root /home/ubuntu/api-folder;
        index index.html index.htm;

        location / {
                proxy_pass             http://127.0.0.1:3000;
                proxy_read_timeout     60;
                proxy_connect_timeout  60;
                proxy_redirect         off;

                # Allow the use of websockets
                proxy_http_version 1.1;
                proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
                proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
                proxy_set_header Host $host;
                proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        }
         location /as {
        access_log off;
        add_header 'Content-Type' 'text/plain';
    }

}

After pasting this code save and exit it using :

  Ctrl + S  --> Ctrl + C  --> Ctrl + X

Paste these commands as it is (change your domain name)

  sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/testapi.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/testapi.com

  sudo rm -rf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

Restart your nginx service after changing server code :

  sudo service nginx restart

  systemctl status nginx.service

  sudo service nginx restart

Check if your nginx is completely healthy :

  sudo service nginx status

Install pm2 (Process Manager) globally in this machine

  sudo npm i -g pm2

Start your server : (must have in package.json --> "start": "nodemon index)

  pm2 start npm -- start

Get the logs of your running server to know what's happening

  pm2 logs 0

Stop the server

  pm2 stop 0

License