Deploying a MERN App on a VPS with NGINX, PM2 & SSL

🚀 Introduction

Deploying a MERN app on a VPS can seem complex, but once you understand the flow, it's straightforward.

Here’s how I deployed my app using:

• VPS (Ubuntu)
• NGINX
• PM2
• SSL (Let’s Encrypt)

---

🖥️ Step 1: Setup VPS

• Connect via SSH

ssh root@your-server-ip

• Update system

apt update && apt upgrade

---

📦 Step 2: Install Node & PM2

apt install nodejs npm
npm install -g pm2

---

📁 Step 3: Upload Project

• Upload files to /home/myapp/backend
• Install dependencies

npm install

---

▶️ Step 4: Start App with PM2

pm2 start server.js
pm2 save
pm2 startup

---

🌐 Step 5: Configure NGINX

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name api.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
    }
}

Restart NGINX:

systemctl restart nginx

---

🔒 Step 6: Add SSL (HTTPS)

apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
certbot --nginx -d api.yourdomain.com

---

📊 Final Result

• ✅ App live with custom domain
• 🔐 HTTPS enabled
• 🔄 Auto-restart with PM2
• ⚡ Production-ready setup

---

🧠 Key Learnings

• NGINX acts as a reverse proxy
• PM2 ensures uptime
• SSL is critical for security

---

🎯 Conclusion

Deploying your own backend gives you full control and deeper understanding of how production systems work.

If you're deploying apps or need help scaling, feel free to reach out.