Meteor 1.2 app on Azure Web Apps (OS X)

3 minute read | By Prashanth Madi

Refer Below link for running Meteor 1.4 App on Azure App Services https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/azureossds/2016/08/24/meteor-1-4-on-azure-app-services/  

Meteor is a full-stack JavaScript platform for developing modern web and mobile applications. Meteor includes a key set of technologies for building connected-client reactive applications, a build tool, and a curated set of packages from the Nodejs and general JavaScript community. Support for Meteor on Azure WebApps has been a big ask. This Blog would help you create a sample meteor app in local environment and later we would help you move sample app to Azure Web Apps - https://feedback.azure.com/forums/169385-web-apps-formerly-websites/suggestions/6848937-add-support-for-meteor-on-azure-websites

Below steps are valid for MAC OS X. If you have windows OS, please refer https://github.com/christopheranderson/azure-demeteorizer Azure by default doesn’t support meteor but we can convert your meteor app into Nodejs level using demeteorizer https://github.com/onmodulus/demeteorizer .

Creating Sample Meteor App

  • Use Below command to install meteor on local environment

    curl https://install.meteor.com/ sh

  • Use Below command to create a sample meteor app

     meteor create simple-todos

1

  • Above command would create a new folder with few files for our sample app as in below screenshot

2

  • Now check if you have node v0.10.40 using below cmd. You can’t use latest version of nodejs for this process

    node -v

3  

Why i can’t use latest version of Nodejs?

  • Meteor has a dependency on fibers module which cant be installed with newer version of nodejs

issue tracker : https://github.com/laverdet/node-fibers/issues/248

fibers@1.0.5 install /Users/prashanth/workspace/meterosample/simple-todos/.demeteorized/bundle/programs/server/node_modules/fibers > node ./build.js `(node) child_process: options.customFds option is deprecated. Use options.stdio instead. CXX(target) Release/obj.target/fibers/src/fibers.o ../src/fibers.cc:132:44: error: too many arguments to function call, expected at most 2, have 4 return Signature::New(isolate, receiver, argc, argv); ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^~~~~~~~~~ /Users/prashanth/.node-gyp/4.1.2/include/node/v8.h:4675:3: note: 'New' declared here static Local New( ^ ../src/fibers.cc:140:3: error: no member named 'SetResourceConstraints' in namespace 'v8'; did you mean simply 'SetResourceConstraints'? v8::SetResourceConstraints(isolate, constraints);`  

How to change my existing Nodejs version?

  • Use Below command to install nvm(node version manager) on local environment. This would help us change nodejs version easily

    curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.30.2/install.sh bash

NVM - https://github.com/creationix/nvm

  • Use Below command to install node v0.10.40

    nvm install 0.10.40

  • Check your nodejs version again using below cmd

    node -v

  Using Demeteorizer to convert app into node.js format

  • Use below cmd to install Demeteorizer

    npm install -g demeteorizer

  • Navigate to your meteor app root folder and enter below cmd

     demeteorizer

5

  • Navigate to .demeteorized/bundle/programs/server using below cmd

     cd .demeteorized/bundle/programs/server

  • Enter below cmd to install all the required node.js modules

    npm install

  Running App on Local Env - Use below cmd to execute demeteorized/converted nodejs app in local environment

> PORT=8080 ROOT_URL=http://localhost:8080 npm start

6

Moving App to Azure

  • Create a sample web app on azure and Setup continuous deployment and get the git url. Below link has details on it

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-nodejs-develop-deploy-mac/

  • Add ROOT_URL with value as your web app url(ex: http://Your_APP_Name.azurewebsites.net/) and set WEBSITE_NODE_DEFAULT_VERSION to 0.10.40 as in below screenshot inside Azure portal App Settings

7

  • Create a web.config file @ .demeteorized/bundle/  folder and insert below link content

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/christopheranderson/azure-demeteorizer/master/resources/web.config

9

  • Navigate to .demeteorized/bundle/  folder and Commit your changes to web app git url

    > git init
> git add .
> git commit -m "initial commit"
> git remote add samplemeteorapp WEB_APP_GIT_URL
> git push samplemeteorapp master

  • Navigate to your azure web app

8   Troubleshoot : 1) Unaught exception: Error: `D:\home\site\wwwroot\programs\server\node_modules\fibers\bin\win32-ia32-v8-4.5\fibers.node` is missing. Try reinstalling `node-fibers`?

  • Check if you are using node v0.10.40 on azure web apps
  • Default node.exe on azure webapps are 32-bit. check if there is  bin\win32-ia32-v8-4.5\ in fibers module

2) Unaught exception: Error: Must pass options.rootUrl or set ROOT_URL in the server environment

  • You need to define ROOT_URL in App Settings at Azure Portal (ex: http://Your_APP_Name.azurewebsites.net/)

You may also enjoy