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https://github.com/strongloop/node-foreman

A Node.js Version of Foreman
https://github.com/strongloop/node-foreman

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A Node.js Version of Foreman

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# Node Foreman [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/strongloop/node-foreman.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/strongloop/node-foreman)



Node Foreman is a Node.js version of the popular

[Foreman](http://ddollar.github.com/foreman/) tool,

with a few Node specific changes.



> Foreman is a manager for Procfile-based applications.

> Its aim is to abstract away the details of the Procfile

> format, and allow you to either run your application

> directly or export it to some other process management format.



## Install



Install the command line tool



    npm install -g foreman



Get usage



    nf --help



## Deviations from the original Foreman



* Each worker has an additional automatic environment variable,

  `FOREMAN_WORKER_NAME`, that contains the process name and worker number.

  * example: `web.1`, `worker.1`



### How to Contribute



I encourage anyone and everyone to help.

If you have a specific change in mind, open an issue; we can talk about it there.



If you would like to make a code change, go ahead.

Fork the repository, open a pull request.

Do this early, and talk about the change you want to make.

Maybe we can work together on it.



Refactor Refactor Refactor!

You are free to add features, or just help clean things up.



## Usage



Node Foreman can be run with as little as `nf start`, as long as `npm start` has been defined.

For more complicated applications you will want to define a `Procfile` for your various server

processes and an `.env` file to pre-load environmental variables.



Your module directory should end up looking like the following:



![List Foreman Directory](https://raw.github.com/strongloop/node-foreman/master/assets/foreman-ls.png)



Once your `Procfile` is defined, run your application with `nf start`:



![Start Foreman](https://raw.github.com/strongloop/node-foreman/master/assets/foreman-start.png)



Node Foreman _always_ starts in the foreground and expects your applications

to do the same. If your processes exit, Node Foreman will assume an error

has occurred and shut your application down.



Instead of daemonizing, you should use `nf export` to ready your application

for production.



For more information try any of the following:



	$ nf --help

	$ nf start --help

	$ nf run --help

	$ nf export --help



### Procfile



The `Procfile` format is a simple `key : command` format:



    web: node web_server.js

    api: node api_server.js

    log: node log_server.js



Each line should contain a separate process.



### Environmental Variables



Create a `.env` file to pre-load environmental variables with the format:



    MYSQL_NAME=superman

    MYSQL_PASS=cryptonite



The equivalent `.env` file may alternatively be a valid JSON document:



    {

        "mysql":{

            "name": "superman",

            "pass": "cryptonite"

        }

    }



The above JSON document will be flattened into env variables by

concatenating the nested values with an underscore.

Environmental variables are passed in fully capitalized.



    {

        "mysql":{

            "name": "superman",     # => MYSQL_NAME=superman

            "pass": "cryptonite"    # => MYSQL_PASS=cryptonite

        }

    }



There is no need to specify which type of file you wish to use.



#### The PATH environment variable



The `PATH` variable is given special treatment and is always read

from the environment that the `nf` command has been executed from,

rather than your `.env` file.  To set a different `PATH` execute

`nf` with the `PATH` variable set appropriately.



```bash

PATH=/opt/foo:/opt/bar:$PATH nf export

```



#### Best Practices



Generally you should not check your `.env` file into version control.

The `.env` file contain _only_ parameters that depend on where the application

gets deployed. It should not contain anything related to _how_ the application

is deployed.



For example, good candidates for the `.env` file are MySQL connection information,

port bindings, and other passwords.



### The Run Command



Tasks or commands that require the environment variables from the `.env` file

can be initiated by using `nf run `.



### Advanced Usage



Node Foreman lets you start multiple jobs of the same type:



    $ nf start web=5



    18:51:12: web.1     |  Web Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5000

    18:51:12: web.2     |  Web Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5001

    18:51:12: web.3     |  Web Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5002

    18:51:12: web.4     |  Web Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5003

    18:51:12: web.5     |  Web Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5004



Each job will be started as its own process, receiving a different `PORT`

environmental variable.

The port number for processes of the same type will be offset by 1.

The port number for processes of different types will be offset by 100.



    $ nf start web=2,api=2



    18:51:12: web.1     |  Web Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5000

    18:51:12: web.2     |  Web Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5001

    18:51:12: api.1     |  Api Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5100

    18:51:12: api.2     |  Api Server started listening on 0.0.0.0:5101



## Export to Production



Node Foreman is designed to be in a development environment,

however it can export an Upstart job for use in production.

The Upstart file has _no_ dependency on Node Foreman.



    $ nf export

    Loaded ENV .env File as JSON Format

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-web-1.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-web.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-api-1.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-api.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-log-1.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-log.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman.conf



You can inspect your upstart files before placing them in the right

directory, or have foreman do it for you:



    $ sudo nf export -o /etc/init

    Loaded ENV .env File as JSON Format

    Wrote  :  /etc/init/foreman-api-1.conf

    Wrote  :  /etc/init/foreman-web.conf

    Wrote  :  /etc/init/foreman-api.conf

    Wrote  :  /etc/init/foreman-log.conf

    Wrote  :  /etc/init/foreman-log-1.conf

    Wrote  :  /etc/init/foreman-web-1.conf

    Wrote  :  /etc/init/foreman.conf



Start and stop your jobs with



    $ sudo start foreman

    Starting foreman... ok

    $ sudo stop foreman



The export will occur with whatever environmental variables are

listed in the .env file.



### systemd Support



_This section is beta_



Optionally specify a type `-t systemd` during export for [systemd](http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd) support.



### Supervisord Support



You can also use a type `-t supervisord` during export for [supervisord](http://www.supervisord.org) support.



This will generate a `APP.conf` file grouping the application processes and a `APP-PROCESS-N.conf` file for each process.



    $ nf export --type supervisord

    Loaded ENV .env File as JSON Format

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-web-1.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-api-1.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman-log-1.conf

    Wrote  :  ./foreman.conf



You can start / stop / restart individual processes.



    $ sudo supervisorctl start 'foreman:foreman-web-1'

    $ sudo supervisorctl stop 'foreman:foreman-web-1'

    $ sudo supervisorctl restart 'foreman:foreman-web-1'



Or the entire group of processes



    $ sudo supervisorctl start 'foreman:*'

    $ sudo supervisorctl stop 'foreman:*'

    $ sudo supervisorctl restart 'foreman:*'



### Advanced Exports



You can specify the type and number of processes exported using

the `type=num` syntax:



    $ nf export web=2,api=2



Use `-u ` to have the exported job run as `USER`.

Note that if you need to bind to privileged ports, you _must_

start as `root`. In such a case, we advise you to drop user

permissions after binding.



If you want to call your upstart job something other than foreman,

use `-a ` and manage your jobs with `sudo start `.



## Reverse Proxy



Node.js processes are supposed to be stateless.

Applications scale by starting multiple processes that either share a socket,

or sit behind a load balancer.

Node Foreman can help you test the parallel capabilities of your application

by spawning multiple processes behind a round-robin proxy.



    $ nf start -x 8888 web=5

    [OKAY] Starting Proxy Server 8888 -> 5000-5004



Access your application from port `8888` and the connections will be balanced

across the servers started from ports `5000` - `5004`.



If your application gets its port number from `process.env.PORT` the proxy

setup will happen automatically.



### Multiple Reverse Proxies



If you have multiple processes in your `Procfile` you can start multiple proxies.



    $ nf start -x 8888,8080,9090



This will start 3 separate proxies and bind each to a separate process group.

Proxies are bound based on their order specified, their order in the Procfile,

or by their order on the command line.



    $ nf start -x 8888,9999 web,api



### Privileged Ports



Node Foreman disallows applications from starting on privileged ports.

It does however allow proxies to be bound to lower ports, such as port 80.



If you require access to a privileged port, start Node Foreman with `sudo`:



    $ sudo nf start -x 80 web=5

    [OKAY] Starting Proxy Server 80 -> 5000-5004



Your application will then be accessible via port 80, but it will be running as root.



## Forward Proxy



Local development and testing has huge advantages,

but sometimes one needs to test web applications against their real-world domain name.

Editing `/etc/hosts` is a pain however, and error prone.



Node Foreman can start up an HTTP forward proxy which your browser can route requests through.

The forward proxy will intercept requests based on domain name, and route them to the local application.



    $ nf start -f 9999 -i nodefly.com

    [OKAY] Forward Proxy Started in Port 9999

    [OKAY] Intercepting requests to nodefly.com through forward proxy



A forward proxy is useful when testing OAuth, or other external services with application callbacks.



For users with Google Chrome, this can be paired with [FelisCatus SwitchyOmega](https://github.com/FelisCatus/SwitchyOmega) for great results.