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Deploy Node.js on Google Cloud C4A (Arm-based Axion VMs)
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‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/node-js-gcp/_index.md‎

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---
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title: Deploy Node.js on Google Cloud C4A (Arm-based Axion VMs)
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minutes_to_complete: 30
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who_is_this_for: This is an introductory topic for software developers migrating Node.js workloads from x86_64 to Arm-based servers, specifically on Google Cloud C4A virtual machines built on Axion processors.
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learning_objectives:
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- Provision an Arm-based SUSE SLES virtual machine on Google Cloud (C4A with Axion processors)
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- Install and configure Node.js on a SUSE Arm64 (C4A) instance
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- Validate Node.js functionality with baseline HTTP server tests
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- Benchmark Node.js performance using Autocannon on Arm64 (AArch64) architecture
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prerequisites:
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- A [Google Cloud Platform (GCP)](https://cloud.google.com/free) account with billing enabled
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- Familiarity with networking concepts and [Node.js event-driven architecture](https://nodejs.org/en/docs/guides/event-loop-timers-and-nexttick)
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author: Pareena Verma
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##### Tags
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skilllevels: Introductory
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subjects: Web
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cloud_service_providers: Google Cloud
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armips:
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- Neoverse
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tools_software_languages:
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- Node.js
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- npm
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- Autocannon
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operatingsystems:
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- Linux
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# ================================================================================
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# FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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# ================================================================================
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further_reading:
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- resource:
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title: Google Cloud documentation
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link: https://cloud.google.com/docs
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type: documentation
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- resource:
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title: Node.js documentation
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link: https://nodejs.org/en
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type: documentation
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- resource:
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title: Autocannon documentation
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link: https://www.npmjs.com/package/autocannon/v/5.0.0
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type: documentation
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weight: 1
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layout: "learningpathall"
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learning_path_main_page: "yes"
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---

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/node-js-gcp/_next-steps.md‎

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# ================================================================================
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# FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE
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# ================================================================================
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weight: 21 # Set to always be larger than the content in this path to be at the end of the navigation.
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title: "Next Steps" # Always the same, html page title.
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layout: "learningpathall" # All files under learning paths have this same wrapper for Hugo processing.
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---

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/node-js-gcp/background.md‎

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---
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title: Getting started with Node.js on Google Axion C4A (Arm Neoverse-V2)
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weight: 2
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layout: "learningpathall"
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---
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## Google Axion C4A Arm instances in Google Cloud
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Google Axion C4A is a family of Arm-based virtual machines built on Google’s custom Axion CPU, which is based on Arm Neoverse-V2 cores. Designed for high-performance and energy-efficient computing, these virtual machines offer strong performance for modern cloud workloads such as CI/CD pipelines, microservices, media processing, and general-purpose applications.
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The C4A series provides a cost-effective alternative to x86 virtual machines while leveraging the scalability and performance benefits of the Arm architecture in Google Cloud.
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To learn more about Google Axion, refer to the [Introducing Google Axion Processors, our new Arm-based CPUs](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/introducing-googles-new-arm-based-cpu) blog.
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## Node.js
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Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript runtime environment built on Chrome's V8 engine.
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It allows developers to build scalable server-side applications, APIs, and backend services using JavaScript. Node.js features an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model, making it highly efficient for handling concurrent connections.
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Node.js is widely used for web servers, real-time applications, microservices, and cloud-native backend services. Learn more from the [Node.js official website](https://nodejs.org/en) and its [official documentation](https://nodejs.org/docs/latest/api/).

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/node-js-gcp/baseline.md‎

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---
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title: Node.js baseline testing on Google Axion C4A Arm Virtual machine
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weight: 5
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### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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layout: learningpathall
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---
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Since Node.js has been successfully installed on your GCP C4A Arm virtual machine, please follow these steps to make sure that it is running.
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## Validate Node.js installation with a baseline test
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### 1. Run a Simple REPL Test
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The Node.js REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) allows you to run JavaScript commands interactively.
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```console
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node
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```
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Inside the REPL, type:
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```console
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console.log("Hello from Node.js");
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```
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You should see an output similar to:
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```output
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Hello from Node.js
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undefined
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```
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This confirms that Node.js can execute JavaScript commands successfully.
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### 2. Test a Basic HTTP Server
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You can now create a small HTTP server to validate that Node.js can handle web requests.
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Create `app.js`:
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```javascript
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const http = require('http');
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const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
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res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
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res.end('Baseline test successful!\n');
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});
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server.listen(3000, '0.0.0.0', () => {
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console.log('Server running at http://0.0.0.0:3000/');
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});
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```
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- This server listens on port 3000.
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- Binding to 0.0.0.0 allows connections from any IP, not just localhost.
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Run the server:
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```console
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node app.js
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```
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You should see an output similar to:
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```output
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Server running at http://0.0.0.0:3000/
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```
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{{% notice Note %}}
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Make sure your GCP firewall allows TCP traffic on port 3000. On SUSE Arm64, internal firewalls are usually disabled, so only the GCP firewall needs to be configured.
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```console
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sudo zypper install -y firewalld
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sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=3000/tcp
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sudo firewall-cmd --reload
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```
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{{% /notice %}}
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#### Test Locally with Curl
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```console
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curl http://localhost:3000
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```
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You should see an output similar to:
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```output
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Baseline test successful!
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```
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#### Test from a Browser
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Also, you can access it from the browser with your VM's public IP. Run the following command to print your VM’s public URL, then open it in a browser:
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```console
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echo "http://$(curl -s ifconfig.me):3000/"
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```
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You should see the following message in your browser, confirming that your Node.js HTTP server is running successfully:
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![Node.js Browser alt-text#center](images/node-browser.png)
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This verifies the basic functionality of the Node.js installation before proceeding to the benchmarking.

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/node-js-gcp/benchmarking.md‎

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---
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title: Node.js Benchmarking
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weight: 6
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### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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layout: learningpathall
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---
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## Node.js Benchmarking by Autocannon
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After validating that Node.js is installed and your HTTP server is running, you can benchmark it using **Autocannon**.
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### Install Autocannon
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**Autocannon** is a fast HTTP/1.1 benchmarking tool for Node.js, used to measure server throughput, latency, and request handling under concurrent load.
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```console
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sudo npm install -g autocannon
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```
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### Start Your Node.js HTTP Server
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```console
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node app.js
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```
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Server should be listening on port 3000:
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```output
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Server running at http://0.0.0.0:3000/
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```
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### Run a Basic Benchmark (Local)
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```console
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autocannon -c 100 -d 10 http://localhost:3000
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```
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- `-c 100` → 100 concurrent connections
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- `-d 10` → duration 10 seconds
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- URL → endpoint to test
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You should see an output similar to:
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```output
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Running 10s test @ http://localhost:3000
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100 connections
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┌─────────┬──────┬──────┬───────┬──────┬────────┬─────────┬───────┐
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│ Stat │ 2.5% │ 50% │ 97.5% │ 99% │ Avg │ Stdev │ Max │
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├─────────┼──────┼──────┼───────┼──────┼────────┼─────────┼───────┤
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│ Latency │ 1 ms │ 1 ms │ 3 ms │ 3 ms │ 1.2 ms │ 0.62 ms │ 24 ms │
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└─────────┴──────┴──────┴───────┴──────┴────────┴─────────┴───────┘
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┌───────────┬─────────┬─────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬──────────┬─────────┐
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│ Stat │ 1% │ 2.5% │ 50% │ 97.5% │ Avg │ Stdev │ Min │
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├───────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────────┼─────────┤
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│ Req/Sec │ 45,279 │ 45,279 │ 54,719 │ 55,199 │ 53,798.4 │ 2,863.96 │ 45,257 │
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├───────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼──────────┼─────────┤
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│ Bytes/Sec │ 8.78 MB │ 8.78 MB │ 10.6 MB │ 10.7 MB │ 10.4 MB │ 557 kB │ 8.78 MB │
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└───────────┴─────────┴─────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴──────────┴─────────┘
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Req/Bytes counts sampled once per second.
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# of samples: 10
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538k requests in 10.03s, 104 MB read
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```
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### Understanding Node.js benchmark metrics and results with Autocannon
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- **Avg (Average Latency)** → The mean time it took for requests to get a response.
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- **Stdev (Standard Deviation)** → How much individual request times vary around the average. Smaller numbers mean more consistent response times.
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- **Min (Minimum Latency)** → The fastest request observed during the test.
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### Benchmark summary on x86_64
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To compare the benchmark results, the following results were collected by running the same benchmark on a `x86 - c4-standard-4` (4 vCPUs, 15 GB Memory) x86_64 VM in GCP, running SUSE:
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Latency (ms):
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| Metric | 2.5% | 50% (Median) | 97.5% | 99% | Avg | Stdev | Max |
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|----------|------|--------------|-------|-----|--------|--------|-------|
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| Latency | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0.73 | 0.87 | 104 |
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Throughput:
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| Metric | 1% | 2.5% | 50% | 97.5% | Avg | Stdev | Min |
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|------------|--------|--------|---------|---------|----------|-----------|---------|
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| Req/Sec | 70,143 | 70,143 | 84,479 | 93,887 | 84,128 | 7,547.18 | 70,095 |
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| Bytes/Sec | 13.6 MB| 13.6 MB| 16.4 MB | 18.2 MB | 16.3 MB | 1.47 MB | 13.6 MB|
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### Benchmark summary on Arm64
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Results from the earlier run on the `c4a-standard-4` (4 vCPU, 16 GB memory) Arm64 VM in GCP (SUSE):
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Latency (ms):
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| Metric | 2.5% | 50% (Median) | 97.5% | 99% | Avg | Stdev | Max |
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|----------|------|--------------|-------|-----|------|-------|------|
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| Latency | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1.2 | 0.62 | 24 |
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Throughput:
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| Metric | 1% | 2.5% | 50% | 97.5% | Avg | Stdev | Min |
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|------------|--------|--------|---------|---------|----------|----------|---------|
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| Req/Sec | 45,279 | 45,279 | 54,719 | 55,199 | 53,798.4 | 2,863.96 | 45,257 |
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| Bytes/Sec | 8.78 MB| 8.78 MB| 10.6 MB | 10.7 MB | 10.4 MB | 557 kB | 8.78 MB |
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### Node.js performance benchmarking comparison on Arm64 and x86_64
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When you compare the benchmarking results, you will notice that on the Google Axion C4A Arm-based instances:
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- Average latency is very low (~1.2 ms) with consistent response times.
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- Maximum latency spikes are rare, reaching up to 24 ms.
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- The server handles high throughput, averaging ~53,798 requests/sec.
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- Data transfer rate averages 10.4 MB/sec, demonstrating efficient performance under load.

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/node-js-gcp/images/gcp-vm.png‎

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‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/node-js-gcp/installation.md‎

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---
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title: Install Node.js
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weight: 4
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### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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layout: learningpathall
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---
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## Install Node.js
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This guide walks you through installing **Node.js v24.8.0** on a SUSE Arm64 virtual machine using the official tarball package.
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### 1. Download Node.js Binary
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First, download the Node.js package (precompiled binaries for Linux Arm64) from the official website.
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```console
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sudo wget https://nodejs.org/dist/latest/node-v24.8.0-linux-arm64.tar.gz
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```
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### 2. Extract the Tarball
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Unpack the downloaded file so we can access the Node.js binaries.
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```console
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sudo tar -xvf node-v24.8.0-linux-arm64.tar.gz
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```
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### 3. Rename Extracted Directory
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Rename the extracted folder to something shorter such as node-v24.8.01 for easier reference.
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```console
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sudo mv node-v24.8.0-linux-arm64 node-v24.8.0
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```
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### 4. Create a Symlink (Optional)
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This step creates a shortcut (`/usr/local/node`) pointing to your Node.js installation directory.
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It makes future upgrades easier — you only need to update the symlink instead of changing paths everywhere.
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```console
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sudo ln -s /usr/local/node-v24.8.0 /usr/local/node
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```
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### 5. Update PATH Environment Variable
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Add Node.js binaries to your PATH so you can run `node` and `npm` commands from anywhere in your terminal.
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```console
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echo 'export PATH=$HOME/node-v24.8.0/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
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source ~/.bashrc
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```
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### 6. Verify Installation
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Check that Node.js and npm (Node’s package manager) are installed correctly.
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```console
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node -v
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npm -v
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```
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You should see an output similar to:
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```output
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v24.8.0
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11.6.0
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```
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Node.js installation is complete. You can now proceed with the baseline testing.

‎content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/node-js-gcp/instance.md‎

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---
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title: Create a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine on GCP
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weight: 3
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### FIXED, DO NOT MODIFY
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layout: learningpathall
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---
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## Overview
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In this section, you will learn how to provision a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using the `c4a-standard-4` (4 vCPUs, 16 GB memory) machine type in the Google Cloud Console.
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{{% notice Note %}}
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For support on GCP setup, see the Learning Path [Getting started with Google Cloud Platform](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/csp/google/).
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{{% /notice %}}
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## Provision a Google Axion C4A Arm VM in Google Cloud Console
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To create a virtual machine based on the C4A instance type:
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- Navigate to the [Google Cloud Console](https://console.cloud.google.com/).
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- Go to **Compute Engine > VM Instances** and select **Create Instance**.
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- Under **Machine configuration**:
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- Populate fields such as **Instance name**, **Region**, and **Zone**.
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- Set **Series** to `C4A`.
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- Select `c4a-standard-4` for machine type.
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![Create a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine in the Google Cloud Console with c4a-standard-4 selected alt-text#center](images/gcp-vm.png "Creating a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine in Google Cloud Console")
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- Under **OS and Storage**, select **Change**, then choose an Arm64-based OS image. For this Learning Path, use **SUSE Linux Enterprise Server**. Pick the preferred version for your Operating System. Ensure you select the **Arm image** variant. Click **Select**.
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- Under **Networking**, enable **Allow HTTP traffic**.
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- Click **Create** to launch the instance.

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