Pm2 Manager

PM2 Manager

Manage remote PM2 processes via SSH connection. This skill provides commands for monitoring, controlling, and maintaining Node.js applications deployed with PM2 process manager on remote servers.

Prerequisites

• SSH access to target server
• PM2 installed on remote server
• SSH key-based authentication (recommended)
• Target server accessible from local machine

Usage

Basic Process Management

List all processes:

ssh user@server "pm2 list"
ssh user@server "pm2 status"

Start/Stop/Restart services:

# Start specific app
ssh user@server "pm2 start ecosystem.config.js"
ssh user@server "pm2 start app.js --name myapp"

# Restart specific process
ssh user@server "pm2 restart myapp"
ssh user@server "pm2 restart 0"  # by ID

# Stop process
ssh user@server "pm2 stop myapp"
ssh user@server "pm2 delete myapp"  # completely remove

# Restart all processes
ssh user@server "pm2 restart all"

Log Management

View real-time logs:

# All processes
ssh user@server "pm2 logs"

# Specific process
ssh user@server "pm2 logs myapp"
ssh user@server "pm2 logs 0"

# Last N lines
ssh user@server "pm2 logs myapp --lines 100"

# Error logs only
ssh user@server "pm2 logs myapp --err"

Log rotation and cleanup:

# Flush all logs
ssh user@server "pm2 flush"

# Install log rotation
ssh user@server "pm2 install pm2-logrotate"

Monitoring and Performance

Real-time monitoring:

# Monitor dashboard
ssh user@server "pm2 monit"

# Show detailed info
ssh user@server "pm2 show myapp"
ssh user@server "pm2 describe 0"

Memory and CPU usage:

# List with memory usage
ssh user@server "pm2 list --sort memory"

# JSON output for parsing
ssh user@server "pm2 jlist"
ssh user@server "pm2 prettylist"

Advanced Operations

Environment management:

# Start with different environment
ssh user@server "pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --env production"
ssh user@server "pm2 start app.js --env development"

# Update environment variables
ssh user@server "pm2 restart myapp --update-env"

Process scaling:

# Scale to 4 instances
ssh user@server "pm2 scale myapp 4"

# Start in cluster mode
ssh user@server "pm2 start app.js -i max"  # use all CPUs
ssh user@server "pm2 start app.js -i 4"    # 4 instances

Health checks and auto-restart:

# Set max memory before restart
ssh user@server "pm2 start app.js --max-memory-restart 100M"

# Set restart delay
ssh user@server "pm2 start app.js --restart-delay 3000"

# Disable auto-restart
ssh user@server "pm2 start app.js --no-autorestart"

Ecosystem Configuration

Create ecosystem.config.js for complex deployments:

module.exports = {
  apps: [
    {
      name: 'main-app',
      script: './app.js',
      instances: 2,
      env: {
        NODE_ENV: 'development',
        PORT: 3000
      },
      env_production: {
        NODE_ENV: 'production',
        PORT: 8080
      }
    },
    {
      name: 'worker',
      script: './worker.js',
      instances: 1,
      cron_restart: '0 0 * * *',  // restart daily
      max_memory_restart: '200M'
    }
  ]
};

Deploy with ecosystem:

# Upload and start
scp ecosystem.config.js user@server:/path/to/app/
ssh user@server "cd /path/to/app && pm2 start ecosystem.config.js"

# Production environment
ssh user@server "cd /path/to/app && pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --env production"

Startup and Persistence

Save current process list:

ssh user@server "pm2 save"

Setup startup script:

# Generate startup script
ssh user@server "pm2 startup"
# Follow the instructions to run the generated command

# Save and enable startup
ssh user@server "pm2 save && pm2 startup systemd"

Batch Operations Script Example

#!/bin/bash
# pm2-batch-restart.sh

SERVER="user@10.0.0.213"
APPS=("main-app" "linebot-server" "liff-server")

echo "Restarting PM2 services on $SERVER..."

for app in "${APPS[@]}"; do
    echo "Restarting $app..."
    ssh $SERVER "pm2 restart $app"
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "✅ $app restarted successfully"
    else
        echo "❌ Failed to restart $app"
    fi
done

echo "Checking status..."
ssh $SERVER "pm2 list"

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions:

1. Process not starting:

ssh user@server "pm2 logs myapp --err"
ssh user@server "pm2 show myapp"

2. High memory usage:

ssh user@server "pm2 restart myapp"  # Quick fix
ssh user@server "pm2 reload myapp"   # Zero-downtime restart

3. Port conflicts:

ssh user@server "pm2 show myapp | grep 'port'"
ssh user@server "netstat -tlnp | grep :3000"

4. Clear PM2 cache:

ssh user@server "pm2 kill && pm2 start ecosystem.config.js"

Production Example (Pro-Power System)

# Production server management
SERVER="administrator@10.0.0.213"

# Check all services
ssh $SERVER "pm2 list"

# Restart specific services
ssh $SERVER "pm2 restart main-app"
ssh $SERVER "pm2 restart linebot-server"
ssh $SERVER "pm2 restart ProPower-tunnel"

# View logs
ssh $SERVER "pm2 logs main-app --lines 50"

# Monitor performance
ssh $SERVER "pm2 monit"

This skill streamlines remote PM2 management, making it easy to maintain Node.js applications running on production servers.