Introduction: Node.js App As a RPI Service (boot at Startup)

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I wanted to make a Node.js app/script I wrote, persistent among reboots, on my Raspberry Pi 2. Although Forever gives us the possibility of running a script continuously (on background), that doesn't include system reboots whether manual or by power failures...

After digging on the web with lots of info, i found a way that works for me, and I'm sharing it so that, hopefuly, it will help someone. On the PI, there's a directory ( /etc/init.d ) where some services are specified, as well as the commands and parameters to use them. That allows us to create a service to be called on every boot of the RPI.

Step 1: Service Specification

My Node.js app is called myNodeApp.js and lies on /usr/local/bin/server/ directory.

The first step, on terminal window, is change to the etc/init.d folder (as root) 

$ cd /etc/init.d

Create a new file, using a text editor like 'nano'. In this case let's call the service we want to create "myService": 

$ nano myService

The contents of the new file are these: (Note the 4th line where my particular Node.js instalation is specified)

#!/bin/sh
#/etc/init.d/myService
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
export NODE_PATH=$NODE_PATH:/usr/local/lib/node_modules

case "$1" in
start)
exec forever --sourceDir=/usr/local/bin/server -p /usr/local/bin/server myNodeApp.js  #scriptarguments
;;
stop)
exec forever stop --sourceDir=/usr/local/bin/server myNodeApp.js
;;
*)
echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/myService {start|stop}"
exit 1
;;
esac
exit 0

Step 2: How to Use the Newly Created Service

After creating the service on step1 we need to make it ready to run on boot:

The file we created is a text file, so we need to make it executable with the following command:

chmod 755 /etc/init.d/myService

Now we can test it:

sh /etc/init.d/myService start/stop

If all goes well we can, finally, make it bootable:

update-rc.d myService defaults

To remove it from boot:

update-rc.d -f myService remove

I have it running for a few months without any fault...Hope you enjoy...