Node.js on Hostmonster

I have working on something on top of node.js and wanted to install on my hosting account. There are many tutorials available on this topic but they have some or the other thing incomplete. Hence I decided to combine all of them together and post here a working solution.

1. Create the directory to store the Node binaries

mkdir -m 755 node creates the folder used to store the Node.js binaries

2. Download & Compile Node.js

wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.8.0/node-v0.8.0.tar.gz
tar -xvf node-v0.8.0.tar.gz

Because Hostmonster are shared server we need to specify where to have the Node.js binaries stored

cd node Bring us to the Node.js source files
/configure —prefix=/home/{username}/node
make && make install

Replace {username} with your login name for Hostmonster. You can find your username in the cPanel on the left where it says username.

3. Now we need to make the node command usable so do the following commands

cd ../.. puts us back at the root of our home folder

cd ../..
nano .bashrc

4. Now add the following line to the bottom of the file.

export PATH=/home/{username}/node/bin:$PATH

Replace {username} with your login name for Hostmonster. You can find your username in the cPanel on the left where it says username.

5. Save

ctrl+x confirm save by typing ‘Y’ then enter, then enter again to confirm the file.

6. Lets verify that everything is working. You will need to reload bash

source .bashrc

7. Now verify that node is installed and running

node —version

Update:

To Start Node.js can be found here http://www.nodejs.org/ but for an internet user to access it you will need a dedicated ip address and the port open.

In most cases it would be something to similar:

node server.js

If you do not have a static ip address on hostmonster then it would be difficult to reach the nodejs server on the hosting account as the ports are blocked. The workaround would be to use a php proxy script to relay the information from nodejs server.