PM2 Deployment

Introduction

PM2 is a production process manager for Node.js applications with a built-in load balancer. It allows you to:

Keep applications alive forever
Reload them without downtime
Facilitate common system admin tasks

Prerequisites

Node.js installed
PM2 installed globally (npm install -g pm2)
Domain name configured
SSL certificates ready

Installation

Install PM2 globally:

npm install -g pm2

Configuration

Create ecosystem.config.js:

module.exports = {
  apps: [
    {
      name: "saas-fast",
      script: ".output/server/index.mjs",
      instances: "max",
      exec_mode: "cluster",
      env: {
        NODE_ENV: "production",
        PORT: 3000,
      },
    },
  ],
};

Deployment Steps

Build the application:

npm run build

Start with PM2:

pm2 start ecosystem.config.js

Save PM2 process list:

pm2 save

Setup startup script:

pm2 startup

Common Commands

# List all processes
pm2 list

# Monitor all processes
pm2 monit

# View logs
pm2 logs

# Restart application
pm2 restart saas-fast

# Stop application
pm2 stop saas-fast

# Delete from PM2
pm2 delete saas-fast

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in your project root:

NODE_ENV=production
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb
NUXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL=https://your-domain.com

Monitoring

PM2 provides built-in monitoring:

pm2 monit

You can also use:

PM2 Plus (web dashboard)
PM2's API
Custom monitoring solutions

Logs

View logs in real-time:

pm2 logs saas-fast

Rotate logs:

pm2 install pm2-logrotate

Security

Run as non-root user
Set proper file permissions
Use environment variables for secrets
Keep PM2 and Node.js updated
Regular security audits

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