Traditional Linux Node.js service deployment

Traditional Linux/Unix server application deployment uses an init script to manage background processes. They are to start every time the system boots and cleanly shut down when the system is halted. While it's a simple model, the specifics of this vary widely from one operating system (OS) to another.

A common method is for the init process to manage background processes using shell scripts in the /etc/init.d directory. Other OSes use other process managers, such as upstart or launchd. 

The Node.js project itself does not include any scripts to manage server processes on any OS. Node.js is more like a construction kit, with the pieces and parts to build servers, and is not a complete polished server framework itself. Implementing a complete web service based on Node.js means creating the scripting to integrate with process management on your OS. It's up to us to develop those scripts.

Web services have to be:

• Reliable: For example, to auto-restart...