Run Node.js as a Service on Ubuntu

• use upstart

sudo apt-get install upstart

• write script /etc/init/your_program.conf

example

#!upstart
description "node.js chatapp server"
author "subicura"

start on startup
stop on shutdown

script
 export HOME="/home/hosting"

 echo $$ > /var/run/chatapp.pid
 exec sudo -u hosting /usr/local/bin/node /hosting/nemoz/current/lib/nodejs/chatapp.js >> /var/log/chatapp.log 2>&1
end script

pre-start script
 # Date format same as (new Date()).toISOString() for consistency
 echo "[`date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%T.%3NZ`] (sys) Starting" >> /var/log/chatapp.log
end script

pre-stop script
 rm /var/run/chatapp.pid
 echo "[`date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%T.%3NZ`] (sys) Stopping" >> /var/log/chatapp.log
end script

• start/stop

/sbin/start your_program
/sbin/stop your_program