Install Node.js

Friday, August 4, 2017 4:52 PM

Overview

Now that we have the host machine configured for Docker, we're going to begin building our web server. Keep in mind that this virtual machine is serving two purposes: 1) our Docker host; and, 2) our temporary web server until our image is built.

Install Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript execution engine that allows us to write server-side JavaScript and utilize it like any other executable file. With Node.js, we will host a very simple web server.

Add EPEL Repository

One installation method for installing Node.js uses the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository that is available for CentOS and related distributions.

To gain access to the EPEL repo, you must modify the repo-list of your installation. Fortunately, we can reconfigure access to this repository by installing a package available in our current repos called epel-release.

sudo yum install -y epel-release

Download and Install Node.js Runtime

The Node.js runtime is what is responsible for hosting and executing our JavaScript.

From the terminal prompt, type:

sudo yum install -y nodejs

Download and Install NPM

NPM is an abbreviation for Node Package Manager. NPM allows us to install Node.js dependencies for our applications.

At the prompt, type:

sudo yum install -y npm

Verify Installation

Let's make sure our installation was successful.

At the prompt, type:

node -v
npm -v

You should receive version numbers for both commands.

We've now successfully completed the installation of Node.js and the Node Package Manager.