Node.js is quite a powerful and popular tool for both server and application usages. Throughout this blog, we will go through Node.js’ installation process and set it up and have it ready to run on your system.

The tutorials will go through the installation process for different Linux distros like CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora.

What is Node.js?

Node.js is a JavaScript platform as the ‘js’ suggests which is used for general-purpose programming. It is designed for users to build scalable network applications quickly and efficiently. Node.js used JavaScript in both the front-end and back-end, making the development more consistent and providing designs within the same system.

To explain how Node.js works, let me walk you through a simple situation: Open a file on a server and return it to the client.

In PHP or ASP, the process is as follows:

  • Sends the task to the computer’s file system
  • Waits while the file system opens and reads the file
  • Returns the content to the client
  • Ready for the next request

However, in Node.js, it eliminates the waiting time and continues to the next request.

  • Sends the task to the computer’s file system
  • Ready to cater to the next request
  • When the file system has opened and read the file, the server sends the content to the client

HTTP is the best usage of Node.js, which is designed with low-latency and streaming in mind.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Node.js

Advantages

Disadvantages

A single programming language: JavaScript

No basic libraries or tools

Runs single-threaded processes

Multithreading is not supported.

Uses asynchronous non-blocking programming

Not suitable for heavy processing

Uses a microservices architecture

Inadequate for relational data access

Free Node package manager

 

 

Prerequisites

Throughout this article, we will go through the installation guide for CentOS, RHEL, Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux Mint. You will need to buy linux vps with root privileges or a non-root user account with Sudo privileges.

How to install Node.js in CentOS, RHEL, and Fedora

Step 1: Install epel-release on the server

To install Node.js on CentOS or RHEL, the easiest is to install it through the EPEL repositories. For that, let’s install the epel-release first:

# yum install epel-release

When prompted, enter ‘y’ to continue.

how to Install Node.js On CentOS, Ubuntu Linux VPS Server

Step 2: Install Node.js on the server

Now let’s install Mode.js package on your system. For this tutorial, I will be using CentOS 8 Linux server. When prompted, don’t forget to enter ‘y’.

# yum install nodejs

It will take a few seconds to complete the installation.

how to Install Node.js On CentOS

Step 3: Check the Node.js installed version

Now to check if the installed version is correct, enter the following command.

# node --version

How to install Node.js in Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux Mint

For this tutorial, we will be using Ubuntu 18.04. The process is similar when installing on Debian and Linux Mint.

There are two ways to install Node.js on Ubuntu.

  1. Installing from Ubuntu official repository
  2. Installing from NodeSource repository

Step 1: Ubuntu official repository

Node.js is available in Ubuntu’s repositories and it’s relatively easy to get it up and running with a few Linux commands.

  • Open the terminal
  • Use the following command to install node.js

sudo apt install nodejs

how to Install Node.js On Ubuntu

  • Once installed let’s verify it by checking the version installed.

node –v

  • It is highly recommended to install the Node Package Manager (NPM) together with Node.js. NPM is an open-source library that contains Node.js packages.

sudo apt install npm

npm –v

Congratulations! You have successfully installed and set-up Node.js on your Ubuntu server.

Step 2: NodeSource repository

  • Update and upgrade the package manager

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

how to Install Node.js On Linux VPS Server

  • Add the Node.js PPA to the system

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash –

  • To install Node.js and NPM, use the following command

sudo apt-get install nodejs

  • Once it’s installed, verify it by checking the installed versions

node –v

npm –v

Conclusion

It wasn’t as hard as you thought, right? Relatively simple steps to get Node.js installed successfully on your system. If you come across some errors or problems by any chance, let us know in the comments below, and we will get back to you.

We hope that this tutorial helped you and we welcome all questions, comments, and any additional information regarding this article. Your comments might take some time to appear, and if the comments are off-topic, we will disregard them.

Installing Node.js on CentOS is a breeze! Update your system and use the yum package manager to get started. For those who need a server environment, consider purchasing a VPS [buy VPS server] to deploy your Node.js applications.