Node.js is a free, open-source, and popular JavaScript runtime environment built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. It’s used for traditional websites and back-end API services.

Apache is an open-source and one of the most popular web servers in the world. You can also use Apache as a frontend proxy server for backend applications including, Node.js.

In this post, we will show you how to configure Apache as a reverse proxy for the Node.js application on Ubuntu. This procedure is compatible with Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04.

Step 1 – Install Node.js

First, install the necessary dependencies using the following command.

apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg

Next, download the Node.js GPG key.

mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg

Next, add the NodeSource repo to the APT source list.

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_22.x nodistro main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list

Then, update the repository index and install Node.js with the following command.

apt update
apt-get install -y nodejs

Next, verify the Node.js version using the following command.

node -v

Output.

v22.15.1

Step 2 – Create a Nodejs Application>

Next, you will need to create a Node.js application to your server.

First, create a directory for your application with the following command:

mkdir project

Next, change the directory to project and create a nodeapp.js file:

cd project
nano nodeapp.js

Add the following lines:

const http = require('http');
const hostname = 'localhost';
const port = 8000;

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
    res.statusCode = 200;
    res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
    res.end('Welcome to Node.js!\n');
});

server.listen(port, hostname, () => {
    console.log(`Server running at http://${hostname}:${port}/`);
});

Save and close the file, then run the application with the following command:

node nodeapp.js

If everything is fine, you should get the following output:

Server running at http://localhost:8000/

Press CTRL+C to stop the application.

Step 3 – Create a Systemd Service File for Nodejs

Next, you will need to create a systemd service file to manage the Node.js service. You can create it with the following command:

nano /lib/systemd/system/nodeapp.service

Add the following lines:

[Unit]
Description=Node.js Application
After=syslog.target network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/root/project
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node nodeapp.js

Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save the file when you are finished, then reload the systemd daemon to apply the configuration changes:

systemctl daemon-reload

Next, start the nodeapp service and enable it so that it can start automatically at system reboot:

systemctl start nodeapp
systemctl enable nodeapp

Next, verify the status of the nodeapp service by running the following command:

systemctl status nodeapp

You should see the following output:

● nodeapp.service - Node.js Application
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nodeapp.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-05-16 07:10:05 UTC; 4s ago
   Main PID: 79449 (node)
      Tasks: 11 (limit: 629145)
     Memory: 8.3M (peak: 9.1M)
        CPU: 44ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/nodeapp.service
             └─79449 /usr/bin/node nodeapp.js

May 16 07:10:05 cyber.example.com systemd[1]: Started nodeapp.service - Node.js Application.
May 16 07:10:05 cyber.example.com node[79449]: Server running at http://localhost:8000/

Step 4 – Configure Apache as a Reverse Proxy

First, install the Apache package with the following command:

apt-get install apache2 -y

Next, create an Apache virtual host configuration file for Node.js:

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/nodeapp.conf

Add the following lines:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName your-server-ip

    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyVia Full

    <Proxy *>
        Require all granted
    </Proxy>

    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8000/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8000/
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file, then enable the virtual host configuration file:

a2ensite nodeapp.conf

Next, disable the default virtual host configuration file and enable the required proxy modules with the following command:

a2dissite 000-default 
a2enmod proxy proxy_http rewrite headers expires

Finally, restart the Apache service to apply the changes:

systemctl restart apache2

Step 5 – Access Nodejs Application

Now, open your web browser and access your Node.js application using the URL http://your-server-ip. You should see your application in the following page:

Conclusion

In the above guide, you learned how to configure Apache as a reverse proxy for the Node.js application. This will help you to host your Node.js application from the local system to the production environment – try it on your dedicated hosting account from Atlantic.Net.

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