Podman: Run Node.js application (Hello World Express server)

This quick tutorial shows you how to run a Node.js Express Server on Podman.

Step 1: Create Node.js Express Server

Let’s create a simple Node.js Express Server to demonstrate the usage of each command. Skip this step if you already have a Node.js application for this exercise.

$ mkdir my-server && cd my-server/
$ npm init
...
...
$ npm install express

$ vi server.js

const express = require('express')
const app = express()
const port = 3000

app.get('/', (req, res) => res.send('Hello World!'))

app.listen(port, () => console.log(`My server listening at http://localhost:${port}`))

$ vi package.json

{
  "name": "my-server",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "Node.js Express Server",
  "main": "server.js",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node server.js"
  },
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^4.17.1"
  }
}

Step 2: Build Podman image

Create a Dockerfile.

$ vi Dockerfile

FROM node:10-alpine

RUN mkdir -p /src/app
WORKDIR /src/app

COPY package.json /src/app/package.json
RUN npm install
COPY . /src/app

EXPOSE 3000
CMD [ "npm", "start" ]

Based on your Dockerfile, start building the Podman image.

$ podman build -t app-image .
...
...

$ podman images
REPOSITORY                    TAG         IMAGE ID       CREATED          SIZE
docker.io/library/node        10-alpine   a07f309c9753   2 weeks ago      88.2MB
docker.io/library/app-image   latest      dd076d7c059b   13 seconds ago   92.3MB

Step 3: Run Podman container

Run the application with below command (-d: run container in detached mode, --name: specify a name for container, -p: specify exposed port mapping).

$ podman run -d --name app-container -p 3000:3000 app-image
e987635ba2a40cfc1054269c9e23be2591084b2f6831b88b15e21a821e3c40d0

$ podman ps -a
CONTAINER ID  IMAGE                       COMMAND    CREATED         STATUS             PORTS               NAMES
e987635ba2a4  localhost/app-image:latest  npm start  13 seconds ago  Up 13 seconds ago  0.0.0.0:3000->3000/tcp  app-container

$ curl localhost:3000
Hello World!

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👉 Any questions? Please comment below.

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