Deployment as Linux service

A LDF server can be set up this way at Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Some choices are opiniated.

First create a user account and home directory (I prefer to run services as distinct user, this is not required).

$ sudo adduser --disabled-password --home /srv/ldf ldf

Then login as the new user and install Server.js in its home directory /srv/ldf/

$ sudo -u ldf bash
$ cd /srv/ldf
$ git init
$ git remote add origin https://github.com/LinkedDataFragments/Server.js.git
$ git pull origin master

Then install dependencies:

$ HOME=/srv/ldf npm install

Then create a config file /srv/ldf/config.json. Configuration may also be placed at another location, e.g. /etc/ldf/config.json to separate executables and configuration.

The server can then be tested:

$ ./bin/ldf-server config.json

If the server works fine, kill it and log out to make it permament by creating file /lib/systemd/system/ldf.service as root:

$ exit
$ sudo vim /lib/systemd/system/ldf.service

The contents of this file:

[Unit]
Description=LDF - Linked Data Fragments Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=ldf
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /srv/ldf/bin/ldf-server /srv/ldf/config.json
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then reload systemd configuration and start the service for testing:

$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
$ sudo systemctl start ldf
$ sudo systemctl status ldf

If everything works fine, enable the service to be started after booting:

$ sudo systemctl enable ldf

I have not configured logging, this should go to /var/log/ldf/. For README.md the contents of /lib/systemd/system/ldf.service may be enough documentation.