summary: Before Node.js applications can be hosted in Plesk, Node.js support must be enabled.

In this topic, you will learn how to enable the support for Node.js hosting in Plesk. You will also learn how to control which Node.js versions are available, whether Node.js is available to customers, and also how to make Node.js applications’ logs visible or invisible to customers.

If you want to learn how to host and manage Node.js applications in Plesk, read the Hosting Node.js Applications topic instead.

Enabling Node.js support

Before your customers and resellers can host Node.js applications, the free Node.js Toolkit extension must be installed on the Plesk server from the Extensions Catalog <installing-extensions>`.

Managing Node.js versions

Plesk supports the latest stable and LTS releases of Node.js, with the following limitations:

  • (Plesk for Linux) Multiple Node.js versions can be installed simultaneously, and Node.js applications on different domains can use any available Node.js version.
  • (Plesk for Windows) Only one Node.js version can be installed at any time, and is used to power all Node.js applications on the server.

To see what Node.js versions are installed on the server, go to Extensions, open the “My Extensions” tab, and then click Open next to the “Node.js Toolkit” extension.

image nodejs versions

Here you can see the Node.js versions installed on the server. Versions marked with the image enabled icon icon are enabled, and those marked with the image disabled icon are disabled. You can also see the paths to their corresponding binaries, and also the number of domains using a particular Node.js version. In Plesk for Linux, you may also see one or more Node.js versions available for installation.

Disabling or enabling a Node.js version:

  1. Log in to Plesk.
  2. Go to to Extensions, open the “My Extensions” tab, and then click Open next to the “Node.js Toolkit” extension.
  3. Click the image enabled icon icon for an enabled Node.js version to disable it.
  4. Click the image disabled icon icon for a disabled Node.js version to enable it.

Disabling a Node.js version has the following effects:

  • The disabled Node.js version can no longer be selected when managing Node.js applications for domains.
  • Existing Node.js applications are switched to a different, enabled Node.js version (if possible).
  • If all Node.js versions on the server are disabled, all existing Node.js applications stop working, and the ability to manage Node.js applications for domains is removed until at least one Node.js version is enabled again.

(Plesk for Linux) Installing or uninstalling a Node.js version:

  1. Log in to Plesk.
  2. Go to to Extensions, open the “My Extensions” tab, and then click Open next to the “Node.js Toolkit” extension.
  3. If the Node.js version you want to uninstall is enabled, click the image enabled icon icon to disable it first.
  4. Click Uninstall for a disabled Node.js version to uninstall it.
  5. Click Install for a Node.js version that is not installed to install it.

(Plesk for Windows) Changing the installed Node.js version:

  1. Log in to Plesk.
  2. Go to Tools & Settings, click Updates (under “Plesk”), and then click Add/Remove Components.
  3. Expand the “Node.js hosting features” section, select the desired Node.js version under the “Node.js Engine” component, and then click Continue.

Controlling Node.js availability to customers

Enabling Node.js support adds the following permissions to service plans and subscriptions, which you can use to regulate customers’ access to the Node.js functionality:

  • “Node.js support management” allows customers to enable Node.js support for their domains.
  • “Node.js state management” allows customers to change the application mode for their applications.
  • “Node.js version management” allows customers to change the Node.js version for their applications.

Managing the visibility of Node.js applications’ logs

Node.js applications write their logs (including the applications’ console output) to the following locations:

  • (Plesk for Linux) /var/log/passenger/passenger.log
  • (Plesk for Windows) %plesk_vhosts%<webspace_name>\logs\iisnode

It can be useful to view these logs if you need to troubleshoot a Node.js application.

By default, you as well as your customers and resellers can view logs of Node.js applications in domain log browser. You can manage the visibility of these logs in domain log browser via panel.ini file.

To manage the visibility of Node.js applications’ logs in domain log browser:

  1. Open the panel.ini file for editing, which is located here:

    • (Plesk for Linux) /usr/local/psa/admin/conf/panel.ini
    • (Plesk for Windows) %plesk_dir%admin\conf\panel.ini

    You can also edit the file in the Plesk interface using the Panel.ini Editor extension.

  2. Under [ext-nodejs], add the following line and save the file:

    • (To show the logs) showApplicationLogs = true
    • (To hide the logs) showApplicationLogs = false