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Leon Segal
14,754 PointsWhy do you need to only include the port number (3000) but not the hostname?
Andrew says that it will listen to what's out there 'naturally' if you leave out the hostname:
var http, hostname, port, server;
http = require('http');
hostname = 'localhost';
port = 8000;
server = http.createServer(function (request, response) {
response.statusCode = 200;
response.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
response.end('Hello there\n');
});
server.listen(port, hostname, function () {
console.log('Server running at http://' + hostname + ':' + port + '/');
});
How does that work then? I looked in the docs, but there was nothing I could see...very confused lol
2 Answers
Dino Paškvan
Courses Plus Student 44,108 PointsThe hostname is optional because by default, connections are being accepted on any address available. In most scenarios, you can safely omit it and it'll work just fine. Specifying the address is for situations where you have multiple network devices and you want to make the application available on only one network (and similar).
You can read more about that in the Node.js documentation.
Leon Segal
14,754 PointsSet it to the ip of the host provider you mean?
Leon Segal
14,754 Pointsok, so if I was making this site live, I could just leave off the hostname and it will work?
Dino Paškvan
Courses Plus Student 44,108 PointsIt is best to set it, just in case, but it should be fine if you leave it out.
Dino Paškvan
Courses Plus Student 44,108 PointsDino Paškvan
Courses Plus Student 44,108 PointsIt really depends on your hosting situation. In most real-world hosting scenarios, people won't really be accessing your node app directly. Instead, you'd bind it to localhost only, use an available port and then use a web server as a proxy (through Phusion Passenger or nginx).
If you are unable to do this for some reason, then you'd bind it to the IP address of the network interface that is connecting your server to the Internet.