bluemix-hello-node

A "Hello World" server in node.js sample for Bluemix.

This repo contains a complete sample of a node.js program that you can deploy on IBM's BlueMix PaaS, which is based on the Cloud Foundry open source project.

Before jumping into the code, make sure you have an IBM ID, by registering at the IBM ID registration page. You will need the IBM ID to login to BlueMix from the command line.

You will also need to install the cf command-line tool, available here:

• https://github.com/cloudfoundry/cli/releases

At the time of this writing, the most recent version is cf v6.1.1.

install the code for the sample program

Click the magical button below to deploy the app.

or....

From a command/shell terminal

• cd into the parent directory you want to install the project in
• git clone the project into a child directory
• cd into that child directory
• run npm install to install dependencies

For example:

$ cd Projects
$ git clone https://github.com/IBM-Bluemix/bluemix-hello-node

    ... git output here ...

$ cd bluemix-hello-node

$ npm install

    ... npm output here ...

run locally

After installing, run the server using

npm start

This should print the following to the console.

bluemix-hello-node: server starting on http://localhost:8080

If instead, you get something like the following, someone is already using the default port of 8080:

Server running at http://127.0.0.1:8080/

events.js:72
    throw er; // Unhandled 'error' event
              ^
Error: listen EADDRINUSE
    at errnoException (net.js:901:11)
    at Server._listen2 (net.js:1039:14)
    at listen (net.js:1061:10)
    at Server.listen (net.js:1127:5)
    ...

Once the server is running, test it by visiting the following URL in your browser:

http://localhost:8080/

When you visit the above url the content will be Hello World

Hello World!!!

Next, test it by visiting the following URL in your browser:

http://localhost:8080/hello

When you visit the above url the content will be Hello World

Hello World

logging into BlueMix

Now that you have your IBM ID and the cf command-line tool (see above), you can log into BlueMix and the deploy your app.

First you should tell the cf command which environment you want to operate with, with the cf api command:

cf api https://api.ng.bluemix.net

You should see the following output:

Setting api endpoint to https://api.ng.bluemix.net...
OK

API endpoint: https://api.ng.bluemix.net (API version: 2.0.0)
Not logged in. Use 'cf login' to log in.
No org or space targeted, use 'cf target -o ORG -s SPACE'

Note that as long as you only ever interact with the BlueMix environment with the cf command (and not any other CloudFoundry environments), you won't have to run the cf api command again.

To login to BlueMix, use the following command:

cf login

You will be prompted for your IBM ID userid and password, as in the following example:

$ cf login
API endpoint: https://api.ng.bluemix.net

Username> [enter your IBM ID here]

Password> [enter your IBM ID password here]
Authenticating...
OK

You will then be prompted to select your 'org' and 'space', just select the defaults, which should be your IBM ID userid and dev, respectively.

When complete, you should see the following:

API endpoint: https://api.ng.bluemix.net (API version: 2.0.0)
User:         [your IBM ID]
Org:          [your IBM ID]
Space:        dev

deploying to BlueMix

You can deploy an application to BlueMix with the cf push command.

Use the following command to have the application deployed to BlueMix:

cf push

cf push will read the default manifest file manifest.yml for some default values of options related to your application.

Note that in the documentation below, the string ${random-word} is a place-holder for a random string that BlueMix will create, so that you will have a unique hostname running within BlueMix.

After running the cf push command above, you should see the following output:

Creating app hello-node in org <my-IBM-id> / space dev as <my-IBM-id>...
OK

Using route hello-node-${random-word}.ng.bluemix.net
Binding hello-node-${random-word}.ng.bluemix.net to hello-node...
OK

Uploading hello-node...
Uploading from: /Users/pmuellr/Projects/bluemix/bluemix-hello-node
24.9K, 5 files
OK

Starting app hello-node in org <my-IBM-id> / space dev as <my-IBM-id>...
OK
-----> Downloaded app package (12K)
-----> ibm-buildpack-nodejs 2013-01-16
-----> Resolving engine versions
       WARNING: No version of Node.js specified in package.json, see:
       https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/nodejs-versions
       Using Node.js version: 0.10.21
       Using npm version: 1.2.30
-----> Fetching IBM SDK for Node.js binaries
-----> Vendoring node into slug
-----> Installing dependencies with npm
       npm WARN package.json bluemix-hello-node@ No repository field.
       npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/express
... remaining npm messages elided ...
-----> Building runtime environment
+ '[' -e /tmp/staged/app/ACE_EMPTY_RUNTIME ']'
+ echo no
+ exit 1
-----> Uploading droplet (23M)

1 of 1 instances running

App started

Showing health and status for app hello-node in org <my-IBM-id> / space dev as <my-IBM-id>...
OK

requested state: started
instances: 1/1
usage: 128M x 1 instances
urls: hello-node-${random-word}.ng.bluemix.net

     state     since                    cpu    memory         disk
#0   running   2014-02-24 11:01:17 AM   0.0%   6.6M of 128M   34.1M of 1G

At this point, your application is running and you can visit it on the urls

http://hello-node-${random-word}.ng.bluemix.net
https://hello-node${random-word}.ng.bluemix.net

If you'd like to continue to play with the server by changing the code, use the following command when you are ready to push the new version to BlueMix:

cf push

You can stop the server at any time, by using the following command:

cf stop hello-node

and then start it later, by using the following command:

cf start hello-node

When you're ready to delete the server, use the following command:

cf delete hello-node

For more information on the basics of pushing apps, see the Cloud Foundry docs:

• Prepare to Deploy an Application
• Deploy Applications

privacy notice

This web application includes code to track deployments to IBM Bluemix and other Cloud Foundry platforms. The following information is sent to a Deployment Tracker service on each deployment:

• Application Name (application_name)
• Space ID (space_id)
• Application Version (application_version)
• Application URIs (application_uris)

This data is collected from the VCAP_APPLICATION environment variable in IBM Bluemix and other Cloud Foundry platforms. This data is used by IBM to track metrics around deployments of sample applications to IBM Bluemix to measure the usefulness of our examples, so that we can continuously improve the content we offer to you. Only deployments of sample applications that include code to ping the Deployment Tracker service will be tracked.

disabling deployment tracking

Deployment tracking can be disabled by removing the require("cf-deployment-tracker-client").track(); line from the end of the server.js file.

files in this repository

server.js

The server written with node.js. This server was adapted from the example provided in the node docs.

The difference is that the port, binding host, and url are determined via the cfenv package. This will return appropriate values both when running in Cloud Foundry and when running locally.

---

.cfignore

List of file patterns that should NOT be uploaded to BlueMix.

See the Cloud Foundry doc Prepare to Deploy an Application for more information.

In this case, the contents of the file are:

node_modules

This indicates the node modules you installed with npm install will NOT be uploaded to BlueMix. When your app is "staged" (ie, built on BlueMix during cf push), an npm install will be run there to install the required modules. By avoiding sending your node modules when you push your app, your app will be uploaded quicker than if you HAD sent the modules. But you can send the modules you have installed if you like; just delete the .cfignore file.

---

.gitignore

List of file patterns that should NOT be stored in git. If you aren't using git, you don't need this file. And the contents are personal preference.

See the npm google groups topic 'node_modules in git' from FAQ for discussion.

---

LICENSE

The open source license for this sample; in this case, it's licensed under Apache License, Version 2.0.

---

manifest.yml

This file contains information that's used when you cf push the application.

See the Cloud Foundry doc Deploying with Application Manifests for more information.

---

package.json

Standard package.json file for node packages. You will need this file for two reasons:

• identify your node package dependencies during npm install
• identify to BlueMix that this directory contains a node.js application

See the npm doc package.json for more information.

---

Procfile

Used to indicate the command to start the server.

See the Cloud Foundry doc Tips for Node.js Applications and the Heroku doc Process Types and the Procfile for more information.

In this case, the file has a single line:

web: node server

This indicates that the command node server should be run when the app is started.

---

README.md

This file!