Setting up parse-server on Ubuntu

(Digital Ocean: How To Run Parse Server on Ubuntu 14.04)
(Digital Ocean: How To Migrate a Parse App to Parse Server on Ubuntu 14.04)
(GitHub: NodeSource Node.js and io.js Binary Distributions)

Before You Begin

1. Check for updates
   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Install Node.js, Development Tools, other stuff, and parse-server

1. Go to user’s home directory
   cd ~
2. See NodeSource page for up-to-date installation instructions
   curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_7.x | sudo -E bash -
3. Install nodejs, build-essential and git
   sudo apt-get install -y nodejs build-essential git
4. Install htop
   sudo apt-get install htop
5. Install bcrypt
   sudo apt-get install bcrypt
6. Install tmux to allow processes to run without ssh connection
   sudo apt install tmux
7. Install parse-server and mongodb-runner (I haven’t figured out what the runner does)
   sudo npm install -g parse-server mongodb-runner

Setup Parse Cloud Code

1. Go to user’s home directory
   cd ~
2. Make a cloud directory
   mkdir -p ~/cloud
3. Make a main.js file
   nano ~/cloud/main.js
4. Paste

   Parse.Cloud.define('hello', function(req, res) {
     res.success('Hi');
   });

5. Save and exit

Setup a new parse-server app

1. Things you need
   • App name (long) ${newAppLong}
   • App name (short) ${newApp}
   • Password (no funny characters) ${password}
   • Parse port number ${port}
   • Parse appId ${appId}
   • Parse masterKey ${masterKey}
2. Open port in ufw
   sudo ufw allow ${port}
3. Add a new user to mongoDB
   mongo --port 27017
use ${newApp}
db.createUser({user: "${newApp}", pwd: "${password}", roles: [ { role: "dbOwner", db: "${newApp}"} ]})
exit
4. Restart MongoDB
   sudo service mongod restart
5. Configure nginx for ${newApp} (parseapp) as per Setting up nginx on Ubuntu for parse-server
6. Start parse-server on boot
   crontab -e
   If first run, select nano, 2
   At the bottom of the file add either:
   • for https://example.com/${newApp}/
     @reboot tmux new-session -s test -d parse-server --port ${port} --appId ${appId} --masterKey ${masterKey} --databaseURI mongodb://${newApp}:${password}@localhost:27017/${newApp} --cloud /home/parse/cloud/main.js --serverURL https://example.com/${newApp}/ --appName "${newAppLong}"
   • or for https://${newApp}.example.com/
     @reboot tmux new-session -s test -d parse-server --port ${port} --appId ${appId} --masterKey ${masterKey} --databaseURI mongodb://${newApp}:${password}@localhost:27017/${newApp} --cloud /home/${currentUser}/cloud/main.js --serverURL https://${newApp}.example.com/ --appName "${newAppLong}"

   Save & exit

7. Open a new terminal window
8. Check if npm and node are installed locally
   npm -v
node -v

If not, download and install fromhttps://nodejs.org/

9. Install parse-dashboard locally
   sudo npm install -g parse-dashboard
10. Run parse-dashboard locally
    parse-dashboard --appId ${appId} --masterKey ${masterKey} --serverURL https://example.com/${newApp}/ --appName "${newAppLong}"
    or
    parse-dashboard --appId ${appId} --masterKey ${masterKey} --serverURL https://${newApp}.example.com/ --appName "${newAppLong}"

Mini series

1. Setting up a server at Linode
2. Install Let’s Encrypt to Create SSL Certificates on Ubuntu
3. Setting up MongoDB on Ubuntu
4. Setting up nginx on Ubuntu for parse-server
5. Setting up parse-server on Ubuntu