Guides - Deploying a MEAN Stack through the Linode Marketplace

A MEAN (MongoDB, Express, Angular, Node.js) stack is a free and open-source web software bundle used to build modern web applications:

• MongoDB is a document database used to persist your application’s data.

• Express serves as the web application framework.

• Angular is used to build your application’s user interfaces using JavaScript. Angular offers Web Workers and server-side rendering that helps your applications achieve the maximum speed possible on the Web Platform.

• Node.js serves as the run-time environment for your application.

MEAN is a full-stack JavaScript-based framework consisting of MongoDB database, ExpressJS, AngularJS, and NodeJS. You can build entire web applications on JavaScript, from client to server to database with this stack. Single-language programming makes it easier to develop working applications more quickly without sacrificing functionality and features.

Deploying a Marketplace App

The Linode Marketplace allows you to easily deploy software on a Compute Instance using the Cloud Manager. See Get Started with Marketplace Apps for complete steps.

1. Log in to the Cloud Manager and select the Marketplace link from the left navigation menu. This displays the Linode Create page with the Marketplace tab pre-selected.

2. Under the Select App section, select the app you would like to deploy.

3. Complete the form by following the steps and advice within the Creating a Compute Instance guide. Depending on the Marketplace App you selected, there may be additional configuration options available. See the Configuration Options section below for compatible distributions, recommended plans, and any additional configuration options available for this Marketplace App.

4. Click the Create Linode button. Once the Compute Instance has been provisioned and has fully powered on, wait for the software installation to complete. If the instance is powered off or restarted before this time, the software installation will likely fail.

To verify that the app has been fully installed, see Get Started with Marketplace Apps > Verify Installation. Once installed, follow the instructions within the Getting Started After Deployment section to access the application and start using it.

Note

Estimated deployment time: The MEAN stack should be fully installed within 2-5 minutes after the Compute Instance has finished provisioning.

Configuration Options

• Supported distributions: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• Recommended minimum plan: 1GB Shared Compute Instance or higher, depending on the number of sites and size of the sites you plan on hosting.

MEAN Options

• Email address (required): Enter the email address to use for generating the SSL certificates.

Limited User (Optional)

You can optionally fill out the following fields to automatically create a limited user for your new Compute Instance. This is recommended for most deployments as an additional security measure. This account will be assigned to the sudo group, which provides elevated permission when running commands with the sudo prefix.

• Limited sudo user: Enter your preferred username for the limited user.
• Password for the limited user: Enter a strong password for the new user.
• SSH public key for the limited user: If you wish to login as the limited user through public key authentication (without entering a password), enter your public key here. See Creating an SSH Key Pair and Configuring Public Key Authentication on a Server for instructions on generating a key pair.
• Disable root access over SSH: To block the root user from logging in over SSH, select Yes (recommended). You can still switch to the root user once logged in and you can also log in as root through Lish.

Custom Domain (Optional)

If you wish to access your application using a custom domain, fill out the following fields.

• Linode API Token: If you wish to use the Linode’s DNS Manager to manage DNS records for your custom domain, create a Linode API Personal Access Token on your account with Read/Write access to Domains. If this is provided along with the subdomain and domain fields (outlined below), the installation attempts to create DNS records via the Linode API. See Get an API Access Token. If you do not provide this field, you need to manually configure your DNS records through your DNS provider and point them to the IP address of the new instance.
• Subdomain: The subdomain you wish to use, such as www for www.example.com.
• Domain: The domain name you wish to use, such as example.com.

Getting Started After Deployment

Once deployed, a “Hello World” sample application should be running on http://localhost:3000. An Nginx reverse proxy then serves the application through your custom domain or rDNS domain over ports 80 and 443. Follow the instructions below to view or access it.

Accessing the MEAN App through the Command Line

The MEAN sample application is stored in the /opt/mean/ directory. To access it within the command line, follow the instructions below.

1. Log in to your Compute Instance via SSH or Lish.

2. Navigate to the directory in which the application is stored:

   cd /opt/mean/
   

3. Open the sample application with your preferred command line text editor, such as nano or vim.

   nano server.js
   

Viewing the MEAN App through a Web Browser

Open your web browser and navigate to https://[domain], where [domain] can be replaced with the custom domain you entered during deployment or your Compute Instance’s rDNS domain (such as 192-0-2-1.ip.linodeusercontent.com). See the Managing IP Addresses guide for information on viewing rDNS.

Software Included

Note

Currently, Linode does not manage software and systems updates for Marketplace Apps. It is up to the user to perform routine maintenance on software deployed in this fashion.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• MongoDB Getting Started
• Express Hello World Example
• Angular Getting Started
• Node.js Getting Started