nsm - node service manager

A service manager for node which makes it easy to install node.js modules as native services (daemons) on Windows, Linux and OS X.

If an installed service fails or the system has been rebooted, the service will be automatically restarted.

Usage

npm install -g nsm

A package.json with at least name, description and main is required in the service directory.

Inside the service directory use nsm to get a short usage description.

To install and start a service use:

nsm --install
nsm --start

nsm requires root privileges on all platforms.

Change name/description/script/environment variables

nsm --install --name=anothername --script=src/server.js --env.NODE_ENV=production
nsm --start --name=anothername

Example

This example will show you how to install a simple hello world service which crashes after a configurable amount of time.

Following parameters can be configured in config.json:

• port [8000]: port on which the service will listen
• failAfter [45]: amount of time after which the service will throw an unhanded exception (optional)

Create a new directory named services (e.g.: in your home directory).

mkdir services
cd services

Install sample service which can be found here: nsm-sample-service

npm install nsm-sample-service

Move into installed sample service directory.

cd node_modules/nsm-sample-service

Install and start the service.

sudo nsm --install
sudo nsm --start

Go to http://localhost:8000 to check whether the service runs. It should report the current uptime and fail after 45 seconds in the default configuration.

After a short amount of time it should be automatically restarted.

If you make changes to your config.json you need to restart the service.

sudo nsm --restart

Troubleshooting

###Windows

Error: Cannot find module 'npm'

Add NODE_PATH (e.g.: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules) to your environment variables.

Credits

All credit goes to coreybutler who has created the underlying packages (node-windows, node-linux and node-mac).