Bitnami package for Node.js

I am used to work on local, and tried cloud hosting for the first time with EC2. I found this nodejs AMI for my backend. It was so simple to connect and setup, thanks to their very clear tutorial. I could then repeat the process with my git repo and managed to install jenkins and open a new port. Very intuitive but maybe not that easy for an inexperienced programmer/apache user. Still perfectly fitted my needs.

thank you bitnami
this was a good version of ubuntu with everything ready to run node.js applications.
The best of all, it is a free resource.

If you are new to Node.js - this is hands down the BEST way to get started! Make sure to at least skim the user guide. For example: logging on with the user name "bitnami" and not "root" (or "ec2-user" as some on-line help guides would suggest). It is just not worth trying to figure out if you have the latest of everything installed. Because in addition to node, all the basic tools you need to get started are installed. So, far.. very stable and fast!

I was building a node based web server, because this comes with Apache installed and listening on Port 80 that becomes a serious annoyance. Disabling pieces of the bitnami stack are much more complicated than they should be.

Since installing node on another AMI is so easy (Ubuntu or Amazon Linux), I would recommend looking elsewhere.

Love Bitnami! Save me the headache of installing configuring software packages for our production environment. If your running on a multi core system you can use the node.js cluster module to take advantage of your multi core system.