# How to Monitor Node.js Applications Using PM2 Web Dashboard

> URL: https://www.atlantic.net/dedicated-server-hosting/how-to-monitor-node-js-applications-using-pm2-web-dashboard/ | Published: 2023-03-17 | Updated: 2024-06-05 | Author: Hitesh Jethva

Node.js is an open-source JavaScript runtime environment built on Chrome’s V8. It is mainly used to execute JavaScript code outside a web browser. It uses an asynchronous, event-driven model, perfect for data-intensive applications.

After deploying a Node.js application, you may need a tool to monitor your application. This is where PM2 can help. PM2 is a popular process manager used for managing and monitoring Node.js applications. It allows you to monitor Node.js applications via CLI and a web-based dashboard.

In this post, we will show you how to install and use PM2 to monitor Node.js applications.

## Step 1 – Install Nodejs

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_18.x nodistro main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list
```

Then, update the repository index and install the Ndoe.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.

```
v18.19.0
```

## Step 2 – Create a Simple Nodejs Application

Next, you will need a Node.js application that you want to monitor using PM2. First, create a directory for your application.

```
mkdir app
```

Next, create an application file.

```
cd app
nano app.js
```

Add the following code:

```
const http = require('http');

const hostname = 'localhost';
const port = 3000;

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  res.statusCode = 200;
  res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
  res.end('Your Nodejs App is Working!\n');
});

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

Save and close the file when you are done.

## Step 3 – Install and Use PM2 to Manage Nodejs Application

First, install PM2 using the following command.

```
npm install pm2 -g
```

Next, start the Node.js application using PM2.

```
pm2 start app.js
```

Output.

```
[PM2] Spawning PM2 daemon with pm2_home=/root/.pm2
[PM2] PM2 Successfully daemonized
[PM2] Starting /root/app/app.js in fork_mode (1 instance)
[PM2] Done.
┌────┬────────┬─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ id │ name   │ namespace   │ version │ mode    │ pid      │ uptime │ ↺    │ status    │ cpu      │ mem      │ user     │ watching │
├────┼────────┼─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ 0  │ app    │ default     │ N/A     │ fork    │ 55173    │ 0s     │ 0    │ online    │ 0%       │ 33.0mb   │ root     │ disabled │
└────┴────────┴─────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
```

You can now list your application using the following command.

```
pm2 list
```

Output

```
┌────┬────────┬─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ id │ name   │ namespace   │ version │ mode    │ pid      │ uptime │ ↺    │ status    │ cpu      │ mem      │ user     │ watching │
├────┼────────┼─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ 0  │ app    │ default     │ N/A     │ fork    │ 55173    │ 16s    │ 0    │ online    │ 0%       │ 51.2mb   │ root     │ disabled │
└────┴────────┴─────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
```

To stop and delete the application, run the following command.

```
pm2 stop app.js
pm2 delete app.js
```

To reload the application after making changes, run the following command.

```
pm2 reload app.js
```

To add the application at system startup, run the following command.

```
pm2 startup
```

To check the application log, run the following command.

```
pm2 logs
```

Output.

```
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: BUS socket file      : /root/.pm2/pub.sock
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: Application log path : /root/.pm2/logs
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: Worker Interval      : 30000
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: Process dump file    : /root/.pm2/dump.pm2
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: Concurrent actions   : 2
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: SIGTERM timeout      : 1600
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: ===============================================================================
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: App [app:0] starting in -fork mode-
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:06: PM2 log: App [app:0] online
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:36: PM2 log: Process 0 in a stopped status, starting it
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:36: PM2 log: Stopping app:app id:0
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:36: PM2 log: App [app:0] exited with code [0] via signal [SIGINT]
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:37: PM2 log: pid=55173 msg=process killed
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:37: PM2 log: App [app:0] starting in -fork mode-
PM2        | 2023-07-30T10:23:37: PM2 log: App [app:0] online

/root/.pm2/logs/app-error.log last 15 lines:
/root/.pm2/logs/app-out.log last 15 lines:
0|app      | Server running at http://localhost:3000/
0|app      | Server running at http://localhost:3000/
```

## Step 4 – Monitor Nodejs Application Using PM2 Dashboard

PM2 also provides a web-based dashboard that allows you to monitor and diagnose Node.js applications in real-time.

To use the PM2 dashboard, go to **https://app.pm2.io,** then sign up as shown in the following screenshot.

![](https://www.atlantic.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/p1-7.png)

After the successful login, copy the pm2 link command from the above screenshot and run it on your server.

```
pm2 link 30ew4cpwzxopx3v tzc9tp9s2oc0wkf
```

You will see the following output:

```
[PM2 I/O] Using: Public key: tzc9tp9s2oc0wkf | Private key: 30ew4cpwzxopx3v | Machine name: fedora-e930
[+] PM2+ activated!
```

Now, refresh the PM2 dashboard page. You should see that your server is connected and showing a list of all your Nodejs applications in expanded mode.

![](https://www.atlantic.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/p2-7.png)

## Step 5 – Monitor Nodejs Using pm2-server-monit

You can also use the pm2-server-monit module to monitor your application’s CPU, disk, and memory usage, network speed, and other key aspects of your server.

You can install the pm2-server-monit module with the following command.

```
pm2 install pm2-server-monit
```

Output:

```
⇆ PM2+ activated | Instance Name: fedora-e930 | Dash: https://app.pm2.io/#/r/tzc9tp9s2oc0wkf
┌────┬─────────────────────┬─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ id │ name                │ namespace   │ version │ mode    │ pid      │ uptime │ ↺    │ status    │ cpu      │ mem      │ user     │ watching │
├────┼─────────────────────┼─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ 0  │ app                 │ default     │ N/A     │ fork    │ 55202    │ 5m     │ 1    │ online    │ 0%       │ 52.4mb   │ root     │ disabled │
└────┴─────────────────────┴─────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
Module
┌────┬──────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ id │ module                       │ version       │ pid      │ status   │ ↺    │ cpu      │ mem      │ user     │
├────┼──────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ 1  │ pm2-server-monit             │ 3.0.0         │ 55367    │ online   │ 0    │ 0%       │ 26.9mb   │ root     │
└────┴──────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘
```

Once installed, go back to your PM2 dashboard. You should see your server’s key metrics on the following screen.

![](https://www.atlantic.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/p3-6.png)

If you want to remove your server from the PM2 dashboard, run the following command:

```
pm2 unlink
```

Output:

```
[PM2 I/O] Permanently disable agent...
[PM2 I/O] Agent interaction ended
```

## Conclusion

In this post, we showed you how to install Node.js, create a Node.js application and then manage it via the command line. Then, we explained how to install the PM2 dashboard and monitor your application via a web-based dashboard. You can now deploy the Node.js application on [virtual private server hosting](https://www.atlantic.net/vps-hosting/) from Atlantic.Net! and start monitoring it using the PM2 dashboard.