Node.js App Server Layer Reference - AWS OpsWorks

Node.js App Server Layer Reference

Important

The AWS OpsWorks Stacks service reached end of life on May 26, 2024 and has been disabled for both new and existing customers. We strongly recommend customers migrate their workloads to other solutions as soon as possible. If you have questions about migration, reach out to the AWS Support Team on AWS re:Post or through AWS Premium Support.

Note

This layer is available only for Linux-based stacks.

A Node.js App Server layer supports a Node.js application server, which is a platform for implementing highly scalable network application servers. Programs are written in JavaScript, using event-driven asynchronous I/O to minimize overhead and maximize scalability.

Short name: nodejs-app

Compatibility: A Node.js App Server layer is compatible with the following layers: custom, db-master, memcached, and monitoring-master.

Open ports: A Node.js App Server layer allows public access to ports 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), and all ports from load balancers.

Autoassign Elastic IP addresses: Off by default

Default EBS volume: No

Default security group: AWS-OpsWorks-nodejs-App-Server

Setup recipes:

  • opsworks_initial_setup

  • ssh_host_keys

  • ssh_users

  • mysql::client

  • dependencies

  • ebs

  • opsworks_ganglia::client

  • opsworks_nodejs

  • opsworks_nodejs::npm

Configure recipes:

  • opsworks_ganglia::configure-client

  • ssh_users

  • agent_version

  • opsworks_nodejs::configure

Deploy recipes:

  • deploy::default

  • opsworks_nodejs

  • opsworks_nodejs::npm

  • deploy::nodejs

Undeploy recipes:

  • deploy::nodejs-undeploy

Shutdown recipes:

  • opsworks_shutdown::default

  • deploy::nodejs-stop

Installation:

  • Node.js installs to /usr/local/bin/node.

  • For more information about how to produce log files, see How to log in node.js on the Nodejitsu website.

Node.js application configuration:

  • The main file run by Node.js must be named server.js and reside in the root directory of the deployed application.

  • The Node.js application must be set to listen on port 80 (or port 443, if applicable).

Note

Node.js apps that run Express commonly use the following code to set the listening port, where process.env.PORT represents the default port and resolves to 80:

app.set('port', process.env.PORT || 3000);

With AWS OpsWorks Stacks, you must explicitly specify port 80, as follows:

app.set('port', 80);