run nodejs application with pm2 or in docker containers?

Question

Is it better to run N docker containers or pm2 with N instances? What approach is more efficient from resources utilization (cpu/memory) point of view?

Update: I don't ask how to run node.js app using pm2 in a docker container. I want to understand what is a better setup if we talk about single instance server, run app in a multiple docker containers or in multiple threads using pm2.

Answer 1

There are different approaches to accomplish this, I would use a load balancer like Nginx and whatever you decide Docker containers running locally or system services, take a look at these articles:

1. Nginx + Docker: https://auth0.com/blog/load-balancing-nodejs-applications-with-nginx-and-docker/

2. Nginx + systemd: https://nodesource.com/blog/running-your-node-js-app-with-systemd-part-1/ https://nodesource.com/blog/running-your-node-js-app-with-systemd-part-2/

first part explains how to configure your app as a systemd service and the second how to launch multiple processes