Node.php

Writer's Notes: Ever wanted to deploy a node.js web app but didn't have money for a dedicated node.js hosting or didn't have time to set up a cloud PaaS? Have an existing PHP shared hosting based on the LAMP stack? Now you can run node.js on top of it!

Next Steps: Build a wrapper and GUI for this application

Node.php originates from my ealier answer on Stack Overflow.

The node.php script installs an official node.js package, starts a hidden server on localhost:49999 with provided JS file and proxies all requests to it.

A PHP web hosting based on Linux with safe mode off and the following functions enabled: curl_exec, exec, passthru.

1. Put the node.php file in your public_html (or similar) folder, then install node.js by browsing to: http://example.org/node.php?install.
2. When succeeded, install your node.js app by uploading its folder or using npm: http://example.org/node.php?npm=install jt-js-sample.
3. When everything goes fine, start your node.js instance by going to: http://example.org/node.php?start=node_modules/jt-js-sample/index.js.
4. Now you can request your app by browsing to: http://example.org/node.php?path=optional/request/path. This will return a response from the running node.js app at http://127.0.0.1:49999/optional/request/path.
5. Finally, stop your node.js server by loading: http://example.org/node.php?stop.

node.php[?path=some/path] - serves an already running node.js app with an optional request path (no leading slash)

The following commands require the ADMIN_MODE set to true (line 13 of node.php):

node.php?install - downloads and extracts node.js into the node folder.

node.php?uninstall - removes the node folder

node.php?start=node_modules/jt-js-sample/index.js - starts a node.js server running the provided index.js file

node.php?stop - stops a running node.js server

node.php?npm=install jt-js-sample - runs npm install jt-js-sample (may be dangerous!)

Here is a live demo on a dirt cheap PHP shared hosting.

In order to troubleshoot any problems with running node.php, connect to your host using SSH and run exact node.php commands manually:

1. Go to your document root directory (often ~/public_html/) and check if node directory exists there.

2. If yes, go to step 3, otherwise download node for your architecture:

   wget http://nodejs.org/dist/node-v5.7.0-linux-x86.tar.gz
   tar -xzf node-v5.7.0-linux-x86.tar.gz
   mv node-v5.7.0-linux-x86/ node/
   rm -f node-v5.7.0-linux-x86.tar.gz
   

3. Run node on port 49999 (or other): PORT=49999 node/bin/node [path/to/index.js] &

4. Connect to node instance: curl http://127.0.0.1:49999/[some/path]

5. If you get the HTML response, the problem most probably lies in PHP and its permissions.

6. Kill node process: killall node

Node.js is developed by Joyent et al. under the MIT License.

Node.php is developed by Jerzy Głowacki under the MIT License.