Secure and Scalable NestJS Hosting for Production Environments

Production-Ready NestJS Setup on Ubuntu 22.04 + Nginx

Learn how to install NestJS and deploy NestJS applications on an Ubuntu 22.04 VPS using Nginx and PM2 for production-ready setups.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu 22.04+ VPS or physical server
• Non-root user: administrator (can switch to root using sudo -i)
• SSH access
• Node.js LTS and npm or yarn
• Domain pointing to VPS IP (optional, recommended for HTTPS)

1. SSH Login to Your VPS

ssh administrator@<VPS_IP>

• <VPS_IP>: your server’s public IP.
• Switch to root if needed:

sudo -i

2. Update System and Install Basic Tools

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install curl git ufw build-essential -y

• Enable firewall and allow Nginx traffic:

sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw status

3. Install Node.js (Required for NestJS)

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
node -v
npm -v

• Node.js LTS is required to host NestJS applications reliably.

4. Install NestJS CLI

sudo npm install -g @nestjs/cli
nest --version

• You now have the CLI to install NestJS projects and manage them easily.

5. Create a NestJS Project

Option 1 – Using CLI:

nest new my-app
cd my-app

• Choose npm, yarn, or pnpm when prompted.

Option 2 – Using template:

git clone https://github.com/nestjs/typescript-starter.git my-app
cd my-app
npm install

• Ready for local testing or NestJS setup.

6. Test NestJS Locally

npm run start
curl http://localhost:3000

• Output should be "Hello World!".
• Confirms your NestJS setup is running correctly.

7. Install PM2 to Host NestJS

PM2 keeps your NestJS app alive and ensures auto-restart on crashes or server reboot.

sudo npm install -g pm2
pm2 start npm --name "my-app" -- start
pm2 save
pm2 startup systemd

• pm2 start -i max can be used to scale across all CPU cores for production.

8. Install Nginx and Configure Reverse Proxy

sudo apt install nginx -y

Create a config file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/my-app

Example configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com www.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Enable site and restart Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/my-app /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo unlink /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

• Now your VPS is ready to host NestJS applications publicly.

9. Add SSL with Let’s Encrypt (Optional)

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d example.com -d www.example.com

• Encrypts traffic for security.
• Forces HTTPS redirection.

Production Optimizations for Deploy NestJS

• Multi-process hosting: pm2 start dist/main.js -i max
• Background jobs: Use Bull/BullMQ for queues, separate from main app processes
• Caching: Redis or Memcached to accelerate requests
• Database: Prefer external DB to avoid resource contention
• Monitoring: PM2 dashboard or Keymetrics for uptime and logs