www.jefflowy.com

Environment Settings

PORT=XXXX
NODE_ENV=PRODUCTION

Updating the site

# From local terminal
ssh username@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

# Once logged into server
# Pull latest changes from Github
git fetch && git pull origin master

# Restart the Node server
pm2 restart index.js

SSL Cert

Auto certificate renewal

# Let’s Encrypt has an one-step command to renew certificates. This command checks if the certificate is near its expiration date and, when necessary, it generates an updated certificate that’s good for another 90 days.
./certbot-auto renew

# View the crontab (CRON TABle) file to view the scheduled cron entries.
sudo crontab -e

# You should see the next 2 lines in the crontab file. You will need to add them if installing a new a cert on a new server.

# Run the renewal command, with the output logged so we can check on it when necessary, every Monday at 1 in the morning.
00 1 * * 1 ../letsencrypt/certbot-auto renew >> /var/log/letsencrypt-renewal.log

# Restart NGINX — at 1:30 to make sure the new cert is being used
30 1 * * 1 ../systemctl reload nginx

# Test if the server is running locally, where XXXX is the port the Node server is running on.
curl http://localhost:XXXX

# Use dig (domain information groper) to query DNS information.
dig +short jefflowy.com

Manual certificate renewal

# From the app directory, stop the Node server
pm2 stop index.js

# Temporarily stop and restart nginx
sudo service nginx stop

# First, CD into the letsencrypt directory
# Then run the following command:
./certbot-auto renew

# Navigate back to the app folder. Restart nginx and the Node app
service nginx start
pm2 [restart|start] index.js

# View the status of pm2
pm2 show index

Note: As of certbot v0.21, you can change the authentication method to something other than --standalone (for example --nginx).