VPS deployment application

Use this project to learn how to deploy to a Digital Ocean VPS using TypeScript/NodeJS.

Run the app locally first

Before you deploy see if you can run this application on your local machine from IntelliJ and from the terminal.

Clone the app locally:

git clone https://github.com/codex-academy/vps-deployment-workshop-typescript

In the terminal run these commands

To change into the right folder

cd vps-deployment-workshop-typescript

Then setup and run the app:

npm install
npm start

See if you can access the application from the browser at http://localhost:8081

VPS deployment steps

• Create a server on Digital Ocean:

  • I sent you an invitation
  • Create an Ubuntu $4 server (check Amsterdam & Regular SSD disk type) at a location of your choosing
  • Cloud servers are called droplets
  • Use password authentication
  • Rename your server to be called "YourFirstName-Server" in Digital Ocean
  • Please take a screen shot of this page - and keep it aside.
  • Login to the server using ssh
  • Login to the server using root : ssh root@your.ip.address

• Server setup:

  • Run this command on your server: apt update to ensure you got all the latest packages. It will take a while.
  • install NodeJS on the server
    • using nvm:
      • first install nvm - Node Version Manager,
      • Use this command curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.5/install.sh | bash,
      • after running the command the node will be available on your server,
      • log in and out of the server to make sure the node command work from the terminal,
      • then install NodeJS version 18 or higher - nvm install 18,
      • after this command the node & npm commands should be available from the terminal.
  • install git on the server using: apt install git
    • note git was installed on my server by default.

• Link the server to a domain name

  • Email the IP address of your server to your mentor
  • The mentors will link your server to a domain name for you (we will be using namecheap.com).
  • yourname.projectcodex.net

• Run a NodeJS/TypeScript app on the server:

  • create an apps folder using mkdir apps

  • change into the folder using cd apps

  • clone the java project to the server: git clone https://github.com/codex-academy/vps-deployment-workshop-typescript

  • change into this folder: cd vps-deployment-workshop-typescript/

  • run these maven commands:

    • npm install
    • npm start
    • At this point your app should be running at: http://your-server-ip-address:8081
    • See if others were able to access your application
    • Please take some screenshots of :
      • your deployed application running the browser
      • your terminal window where you are running the application from
    • stop the process running in the terminal using the ctrl-c command - you should not be able to access your application now.

  • To run your app in the background & to keep it running you will be using pm2.

  • Install pm2 using this command:

    npm install -g pm2

Be sure to be in the vps-deployment-workshop-typescriptfolder in the apps folder - cd apps/vps-deployment-workshop-typescript

• Run your app with pm2 using this command:

   pm2 start dist/index.js --name "ts-user-counter"

• Use the pm2 list command to see if the ts-user-counter process is running.
• You can stop it using the pm2 stop command - pm2 stop 0 or pm2 stop ts-user-counter should stop it.
• Using pm2 your app is now running in the background.
• You can logout of your server using the exit command.
• The app will run in the background if you disconnect from the server.
• You should still be able to access your application at http://your-server-ip-address:4567 and http://yourname.projectcodex.net.

Screen shots & list of commands used

Please ensure you have screenshots of:

• your Server/Droplet Configuration setup in Digital Ocean,
• showing your deployed app running on your domain,
• the terminal showing your app running.

Run the history command to keep a list of all the commands you used during this workshop.

Delete your server

Please delete your server/droplet in Digital Ocean.