NodeJS basic server and startup script to run application as service

nodejs-startup-service

// npm init
// install --save compression connect http serve-static
// vim server.js

var connect = require('connect');
var http = require('http');
var app = connect();

var compression = require('compression')
app.use(compression())

var static = require('serve-static');
app.use(static(__dirname + "/httpdocs"));

http.createServer(app).listen(process.env.PORT || 80);

/** create a file called node.server.conf in /etc/init/ **/

description "node.js server"
author      "Your name"

# used to be: start on startup
# until we found some mounts weren't ready yet while booting:
start on started mountall
stop on shutdown

# Automatically Respawn:
respawn
respawn limit 99 5

script
    # Not sure why $HOME is needed, but we found that it is:
    export HOME="/root"

    exec /usr/local/bin/node /var/www/server.js >> /var/log/node.log 2>&1
end script

post-start script

// start node-server