Is anyone using Node.js as an actual web server?

Question

I am trying to convince myself to pick it up and start developing with it, but I want to know if anyone has expected stability issues or anything of the sort.

I understand it isn't "production" quality, like Apache or IIS. I figure for a small site, it should be fine (max of 200 concurrent connections). Should I assume this?

I think this should constantly be updated with new answers. Especially up to date answers on the biggest large scale use of Node.JS. — 700 Software, Mar 07 '11 at 23:33
I agree. I really would love to see how many people are truly using it. — Jeremy Boyd, Mar 08 '11 at 15:51

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 28 '10 at 20:43

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Plurk.com uses Node.js for their Comet engine, they have a fairly high traffic load too.

Blog post about Plurk using Node.js

answered Apr 28 '10 at 20:43

JasonWyatt

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score 7 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

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Since node.js has not been around long enough to have satisfied the greater community that it's stable and secure, many production deployments use Apache or nginx as a web server that proxies http requests to node running on a different port that is not accessible from the machine's public IP address.

Also forever may be able to help with the node stability issue.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:33

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answered May 22 '11 at 20:39

crcastle

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+1 For pointing to "Forever". I'm also looking into "Supervisor" and "Upstart", e.g. http://cuppster.com/2011/05/18/using-supervisor-with-upstart – Henk May 28 '11 at 20:30

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 12 '11 at 22:45

Not a direct answer to your question but very related in terms of hosting node.js apps: two Heroku-like providers using node.js/JavaScript instead of Ruby, both in the beta/invite stage (as of mid-March 2011):

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 19 '11 at 16:52

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Looks like they pulled off some success stories from big companies. A good sign.

NodeJS.org now promotes articles from major companies Microsoft, eBay, LinkedIn and Yahoo.

I wonder what Google will do... They may already have evented I/O worked out behind the scenes. Or maybe they are just biding their time before they put their good name behind a product.

answered Dec 19 '11 at 16:52

700 Software

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Google has produced [Go](http://golang.org/) which, while not event-driven, provides concurrency easily. – James O'Gorman Dec 19 '11 at 18:03

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 19 '11 at 17:08

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I use it as a reverse proxy in front of my sites - none are obscenely busy sites, but my image portfolio gets a lot of traffic.

I've not seen any random strangeness, crashes, or reliability issues to date.

answered Dec 19 '11 at 17:08

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Note that security is the big unknown. It [started out with buffer overflow vulnerabilities](http://stackoverflow.com/revisions/2940300/1). Whether it is all resolved is not yet known, but anyone implementing should keep their Node.JS up to date, in case there are some security items that got missed. (I'm no security expert) – 700 Software Dec 19 '11 at 19:15
Is it faster then nginx or another proxyes you tried? – adrian7 May 13 '12 at 08:31
I'm not sure if it is faster - but I know it isn't slow - but it is definitely 100% more flexible. – May 14 '12 at 15:37

Is anyone using Node.js as an actual web server?

5 Answers5