Apache and Node.js on the Same Server

This question belongs more on Server Fault but FWIW I'd say running Apache in front of Node.js is not a good approach in most cases.

Apache's ProxyPass is awesome for lots of things (like exposing Tomcat based services as part of a site) and if your Node.js app is just doing a specific, small role or is an internal tool that's only likely to have a limited number of users then it might be easier just to use it so you can get it working and move on, but that doesn't sound like the case here.

If you want to take advantage of the performance and scale you'll get from using Node.js - and especially if you want to use something that involves maintaining a persistent connection like web sockets - you are better off running both Apache and your Node.js on other ports (e.g. Apache on localhost:8080, Node.js on localhost:3000) and then running something like nginx, Varnish or HA proxy in front - and routing traffic that way.

With something like varnish or nginx you can route traffic based on path and/or host. They both use much less system resources and is much more scalable that using Apache to do the same thing.

Instructions to run node server along apache2(v2.4.xx) server:

In order to pipe all requests on a particular URL to your Node.JS application create CUSTOM.conf file inside /etc/apache2/conf-available directory, and add following line to the created file:

ProxyPass /node http://localhost:8000/ 

Change 8000 to the prefered port number for node server.
Enable custom configurations with following command:

$> sudo a2enconf CUSTOM 

CUSTOM is your newly created filename without extension, then enable proxy_http with the command:

$> sudo a2enmod proxy_http 

it should enable both proxy and proxy_http modules. You can check whether module is enabled or not with:

$> sudo a2query -m MODULE_NAME 

After configuration and modules enabled, you will need to restart apache server:

$> sudo service apache2 restart 

Now you can execute node server. All requests to the URL/node will be handled by node server.

Running Node and Apache on one server is trivial as they don't conflict. NodeJS is just a way to execute JavaScript server side. The real dilemma comes from accessing both Node and Apache from outside. As I see it you have two choices:

1. Set up Apache to proxy all matching requests to NodeJS, which will do the file uploading and whatever else in node.

2. Have Apache and Node on different IP:port combinations (if your server has two IPs, then one can be bound to your node listener, the other to Apache).

I'm also beginning to suspect that this might not be what you are actually looking for. If your end goal is for you to write your application logic in Nodejs and some "file handling" part that you off-load to a contractor, then its really a choice of language, not a web server.

You can use a different approach such as writing a reverse proxy server with nodejs to proxy both apache and all other nodejs apps.

First you need to make apache run on a different port other than port 80. ex: port 8080

Then you can write a reverse proxy script with nodejs as:

var proxy = require('redbird')({port: 80, xfwd: false); proxy.register("mydomain.me/blog", "http://mydomain.me:8080/blog"); proxy.register("mydomain.me", "http://mydomain.me:3000"); 

Following article describes the whole process of making this.

RUN APACHE WITH NODE JS REVERSE PROXY – USING REDBIRD

I combined the answer above with certbot SSL cert and CORS access-control-allow-headers and got it working so I thought I would share the results.

Apache httpd.conf added to the bottom of the file:

LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so 

Apache VirtualHost settings (doc root for PHP is under Apache and SSL with Certbot, while node.js/socket.io site runs on port 3000 - and uses SSL cert from Apache) Also notice the node.js site uses the proxy for the folder /nodejs, socket.io, and ws (websockets):

<IfModule mod_ssl.c> <VirtualHost *:443> ServerName www.example.com ServerAlias www.example.com DocumentRoot /var/html/www.example.com ErrorLog /var/html/log/error.log CustomLog /var/html/log/requests.log combined SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/fullchain.pem SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/www.example.com/privkey.pem Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^socket.io [NC] RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} transport=websocket [NC] RewriteRule /{.*} ws://localhost:3000/$1 [P,L] RewriteCond %{HTTP:Connection} Upgrade [NC] RewriteRule /(.*) ws://localhost:3000/$1 [P,L] ProxyPass /nodejs http://localhost:3000/ ProxyPassReverse /nodejs http://localhost:3000/ ProxyPass /socket.io http://localhost:3000/socket.io ProxyPassReverse /socket.io http://localhost:3000/socket.io ProxyPass /socket.io ws://localhost:3000/socket.io ProxyPassReverse /socket.io ws://localhost:3000/socket.io </VirtualHost> </IfModule> 

Then my node.js app (app.js):

var express = require('express'); var app = express(); app.use(function(req, res, next) { res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*"); res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers", "X-Requested-With"); res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers", "Content-Type"); res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods", "PUT, GET, POST, DELETE, OPTIONS"); next(); }); var http = require('http').Server(app); var io = require('socket.io')(http); http.listen({host:'0.0.0.0',port:3000}); 

I force a ip4 listener, but that is optional - you can substitute:

http.listen(3000); 

node.js app (app.js) code continues with:

io.of('/nodejs').on('connection', function(socket) { //optional settings: io.set('heartbeat timeout', 3000); io.set('heartbeat interval', 1000); //listener for when a user is added socket.on('add user', function(data) { socket.join('AnyRoomName'); socket.broadcast.emit('user joined', data); }); //listener for when a user leaves socket.on('remove user', function(data) { socket.leave('AnyRoomName'); socket.broadcast.emit('user left', data); }); //sample listener for any other function socket.on('named-event', function(data) { //code.... socket.broadcast.emit('named-event-broadcast', data); }); // add more listeners as needed... use different named-events... }); 

finally, on the client side (created as nodejs.js):

//notice the /nodejs path var socket = io.connect('https://www.example.com/nodejs'); //listener for user joined socket.on('user joined', function(data) { // code... data shows who joined... }); //listener for user left socket.on('user left', function(data) { // code... data shows who left... }); // sample listener for any function: socket.on('named-event-broadcast', function(data) { // this receives the broadcast data (I use json then parse and execute code) console.log('data1=' + data.data1); console.log('data2=' + data.data2); }); // sample send broadcast json data for user joined: socket.emit('user joined', { 'userid': 'userid-value', 'username':'username-value' }); // sample send broadcast json data for user left //(I added the following with an event listener for 'beforeunload'): // socket.emit('user joined', { // 'userid': 'userid-value', // 'username':'username-value' // }); // sample send broadcast json data for any named-event: socket.emit('named-event', { 'data1': 'value1', 'data2':'value2' }); 

In this example when the JS loads, it will emit to the socket a "named-event" sending the data in JSON to the node.js/socket.io server.

Using the io and socket on the server under path /nodejs (connected by client), receives the data an then resends it as a broadcast. Any other users in the socket would receive the data with their listener "named-event-broadcast". Note that the sender does not receive their own broadcast.

ProxyPass /node http://localhost:8000/ 

• this worked for me when I made above entry in httpd-vhosts.conf instead of httpd.conf
• I have XAMPP installed over my environment & was looking to hit all the traffic at apache on port 80 with NodeJS applicatin running on 8080 port i.e. http://localhost/[name_of_the_node_application]

I recently ran into this kinda issue, where I need to communicate between client and server using websocket in a PHP based codeigniter project.

I resolved this issue by adding my port(node app running on) into Allow incoming TCP ports & Allow outgoing TCP ports lists.

You can find these configurations in Firewall Configurations in your server's WHM panel.

I was looking for the same information. Finally found the answer from the link on the answer above by @Straseus

http://arguments.callee.info/2010/04/20/running-apache-and-node-js-together/

Here is the final solution to run apache website on port 80, node js service on port 8080 and use .htaccess RewriteRule

In the DocumentRoot of the apache website, add the following:

Options +FollowSymLinks -MultiViews <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine on # Simple URL redirect: RewriteRule ^test.html$ http://arguments.callee.info:8000/test/ [P] # More complicated (the user sees only "benchmark.html" in their address bar) RewriteRule ^benchmark.html$ http://arguments.callee.info:8000/node?action=benchmark [P] # Redirect a whole subdirectory: RewriteRule ^node/(.*) http://arguments.callee.info:8000/$1 [P] 

For the directory level redirect, the link above suggested (.+) rule, which requires one or more character after the 'node/'. I had to convert it to (.*) which is zero or more for my stuff to work.

Thanks a lot for the link @Straseus