installing n8n with pm2

OS Updates

Before doing anything else, update your operating system by running these two commands:


sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade


curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_17.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs


sudo apt install nginx


sudo systemctl status nginx


cd /etc/nginx/sites-available/
sudo nano n8n.conf

<domain name> with the domain you have set up (but without HTTP/HTTPS), e.g. n8n.mutedjam.com


server {
    server_name <domain name>;
    listen 80;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5678;
        proxy_set_header Connection '';
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        chunked_transfer_encoding off;
        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_cache off;
    }
}


sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/n8n.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t


sudo systemctl reload nginx


sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx


server {
    server_name subdomain.example.com;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5678;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Connection '';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        chunked_transfer_encoding off;
        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_cache off;
    }
}


sudo npm install pm2 -g


sudo npm install n8n -g


pm2 start n8n


pm2 startup


sudo  "env PATH=$PATH:/user/home/.nvm/versions/node/v17.x/bin pm2 startup <distribution> -u <user> --hp <home-path>


pm2 stop n8n


sudo npm install -g n8n@latest


pm2 restart n8n


module.exports = {
    apps : [{
        name   : "n8n",
        env: {
            N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE:true,
            N8N_BASIC_AUTH_USER:"USERNAME",
            N8N_BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD:"PASSWORD",
            N8N_PROTOCOL: "https",
            WEBHOOK_TUNNEL_URL: "https://subdomain.example.com/",
            N8N_HOST: "subdomain.example.com"
        }
    }]
}


export N8N_SMTP_PORT=587
export N8N_SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
export N8N_SMTP_USER=<youremail@gmail.com>
export N8N_SMTP_PASS=<yourpassword>
export N8N_SMTP_SENDER=<youremail@gmail.com>
export N8N_EMAIL_MODE=smtp
export N8N_EDITOR_BASE_URL=<subdomain.domain.com>


pm2 start ecosystem.config.js


sudo apt remove iptables-persistent


sudo reboot now


sudo ufw app list


sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'


sudo ufw enable

On your local machine, open a browser and navigate to http://<public IP> (replace the IP address with the one you copied earlier). You should see the default Nginx landing page "Welcome to NGINX! (...)"

Test the webserver

Lastly, enable UFW:

Now allow both Nginx Full and OpenSSH to be accessed from the internet:

We are now ready to configure UFW. First make sure it knows about all your applications by running the below command. It should return Nginx Full and OpenSSH among the available applications.

At this stage, reboot your instance to make sure all previous changes have taken effect.

In this example setup, we will be using UFW to configure iptables. Oracle's Ubuntu image does, however, come with iptables-persistent which would need to be removed. To do so, simply run:

Setting up Firewall (UFW)

You can learn more about the configuration files in PM2 on the official PM2 documentation.

Now, to start n8n, execute the command:

SMTP Setup to Invite Users

Open the generated file, and replace the existing code with the below code snippet:

Execute the command pm2 init simple to generate a simple configuration file.

Configure environment variables via a config file.

Restart the n8n service

Install the latest version of n8n

Stop the n8n service

To update n8n, follow these three steps:

PM2 will now automatically restart at boot.

The above command asks you to run another command. Copy and paste the suggested command. The comment would look like this:

Auto-start n8n on machine restart

Start n8n via PM2

Configure environment variable with official document

Install n8n globally with the following command:

Install PM2 globally with the following command:

Copy and paste below code:

Next, create a configuration file by executing the command sudo vi /etc/nginx/conf.d/n8n.conf. Add the following configuration and save the file.

First, start and enable Nginx by executing the following commands:

Configure NGINX 2nd way (on official n8n-pm2 blog)

You should see an output ending with nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful. We can now proceed with reload NGINX to apply the newly added configuration:

Now link the file we have just created to the sites-enabled folder and afterwards test your configuration to make sure everything is understood by NGINX:

Exit the editor by pressing Ctrl+X and then confirm with Y when asked whether you want to save the changes made.

Now insert a copy of the below example configuration and replace

The last step is making your n8n instance available to the outside world. To do so, we create what NGINX calls a server block (a configuration block that defines how a server responds to requests):

Preparing your instance