CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsazurevirtual-machineazure-web-app-service
basilisk
basilisk

Reputation: 1277

how to run a node server in an azure virtual machine permanently?

I build a web based mobile app (using react), which I'm hosting as an Azure Web app. This website is connected to a node server, which I'm hosting using a azure virtual machine (I don't know if this is the best approach, maybe I should host this as a webapp instead of VM ?).

I'm still new to this strategie of developing a web based mobile app and connecting it to a hosted backend in the cloud so I apologize if this is a trivial question. I'm using websockets to connect my frontend to the node server and then I consume messages. I don't have a database it is a simple application.

The steps I'm doing to run the app are:

Now, the problem is that I want the node server to run all the time. However, I noticed that the server stops running when I deconnect (ssh) my laptop from the virtual machine. So I find myself doing these steps (connecting to the VM with ssh and running the server manually) each time I want to use the app.

Is there a way to do this so that the node server runs all the time without stoping? Also since I'm new to this, is this the right way to deploy frontend and backend? I assume I can't deploy both frontend and backend in the same Azure webapp or am I wrong?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1161

Answers (1)

krishg
krishg

Reputation: 6508

(Since part of your question is around "Is there a better way?", I would answer that instead of fixing the issue in your current VM hosting :)).

To take full advantage of cloud for your applications, PaaS is always preferred over IaaS. In this case, unless you have any specific reason, you should deploy your backend Node app in another App Service (aka Web App). Or you can consider Azure Function also if your node app has a small set of APIs, but it will require code update. Both support multiple platforms including node.js. Since you mentioned you are leveraging Web App for your react mobile app, so I hope you are already bit familiar with it. Also since Azure Function would require code change, so Web App is preferred this case.

Note: I omitted other solutions like AKS, Service Fabric etc. for now, since currently we are talking about the problem of deploying only a single app, for which those will be overkill at this moment.

Also, to your point

I assume I can't deploy both frontend and backend in the same Azure webapp or am I wrong?

Yes technically you can, depending on your scenario by "bundling" into a single app if both are in same platform (like Node in this case). Though whether one should do that would be an opinionated answer. But even if you keep those separate, you can still leverage single App Service Plan for cost saving. So keeping separate like you have now is what I would suggest to maintain "separation of concern".

Upvotes: 1

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