How to Install Redbird on Clear Linux Latest?

Redbird is a Node.js reverse proxy server that can be used to route incoming requests to the correct backend server. This tutorial will guide you through the steps for installing Redbird on Clear Linux Latest.

Prerequisites

Before starting this tutorial, ensure you have the following:

• A Clear Linux Latest distribution installed and running
• Basic knowledge of Node.js

Installation

1. Open a terminal window and enter the following command to install Node.js:

sudo swupd bundle-add nodejs

2. Once the installation is complete, verify the Node.js version by typing:

node --version

3. Next, we will install Redbird by using npm. To install npm, enter the following command:

sudo swupd bundle-add npm

4. After installing npm successfully, use the npm command to install Redbird:

sudo npm install -g redbird

• The "-g" flag installs the package globally so that it can be accessible from any directory on the system.

5. Verify that Redbird is installed correctly by checking the version:

redbird --version

If everything goes fine, the version of Redbird should be shown in the terminal.

Configuring Redbird proxy

After successfully installing Redbird, we have to configure it. In this tutorial, we will create a reverse proxy that will proxy requests from localhost:80 to localhost:3000.

1. Create a new file called "redbird.js". Use your preferred text editor.

nano redbird.js

2. Type the following code in the file:

const httpProxy = require('http-proxy');
const proxy = httpProxy.createProxyServer({});

require('redbird')({
 port: 80,
 ssl: {
   // set up TLS certificates
 },
 bunyan: true,
 letsencrypt: {
   // set up Let's Encrypt
 },
 ssl: {
   // set up SSL
 },
})
// proxy the requests from port 80 to port 3000
.proxy({
 hostname: 'localhost',
 port: 3000,
});

• The above code creates a new instance of Redbird, sets the port to 80, and proxy requests from localhost:80 to localhost:3000.

3. Save the file and exit.

4. Start the Redbird server by entering the following command:

sudo node redbird.js

• If successful, the console will output: "Redbird: server started on port 80"

5. Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost. You should see the web application running on the server running on port 3000.

Conclusion

That's it! You have successfully installed Redbird on Clear Linux Latest and configured a reverse proxy to redirect traffic to your web application. Now you can use Redbird for your other use cases.