Complete Guide to PM2 - Manage Node.js Applications with Ease

What is PM2?

PM2 (Process Manager 2) is a powerful process management tool widely used for deploying and managing Node.js applications. With PM2, you can handle a large number of Node.js processes, perform automatic restarts, monitor performance and resource consumption, as well as scale your applications flexibly.

Installing PM2

To start using PM2, you need to install it on your system. Here are the steps to install PM2 on your development environment:

npm install pm2 -g

Starting Applications with PM2

PM2 allows you to easily start and manage your Node.js applications. Here is how to start an application with PM2:

pm2 start app.js

Process Management with PM2

PM2 provides powerful process management features. Here are some examples of managing processes with PM2:

- Restarting a process:

pm2 restart app

- Stopping a process:

pm2 stop app

- Deleting a process:

pm2 delete app

Auto-starting Applications with PM2

PM2 allows you to configure automatic application startup on system boot. Here is how to configure automatic startup with PM2:

pm2 startup

After running the above command, PM2 will generate an automatic startup script to ensure your application is started on system boot.

Monitoring and Managing Applications with PM2

PM2 provides powerful monitoring and management tools to monitor performance and status of your applications. Here are some examples of using PM2's monitoring and management tools:

- Viewing the list of running processes:

pm2 list

- Viewing the logs of a process:

pm2 logs app

- Monitoring the performance of processes:

pm2 monit

With PM2, you can easily manage and monitor your Node.js applications effectively. By following the provided instructions and examples, you will have the ability to deploy and manage Node.js applications professionally with PM2.

Conclusion: PM2 is an indispensable tool in the development and deployment of Node.js applications. With its robust process management capabilities and integrated features such as automatic restarts, monitoring, and scaling, PM2 significantly enhances the performance and reliability of your applications. By mastering the process management and deployment with PM2, you can focus on building high-quality Node.js applications and meeting the needs of your users effectively.