Server Configuration - POSTrack Documentation

Production Environment Setup

This guide covers deploying POSTrack in a production environment with proper security, performance, and monitoring configurations.

Server Requirements

CPU: 2+ cores (4+ recommended)
RAM: 8GB minimum (16GB+ recommended)
Storage: 50GB+ SSD storage
OS: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or CentOS 8+
Network: Static IP address, domain name

Environment Configuration

Production .env Configuration

# CORS Configuration
CLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173

# Database Configuration
DB_USERNAME= "root"
DB_PASSWORD="root"
DB_HOST="localhost"
DB_PORT="3306"
DB_NAME="invetrack"

# JWT Configuration
JWT_SECRET=your-super-secure-jwt-secret-key-change-this-in-production
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=24h

# Server Configuration
PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=development

# Rate Limiting
RATE_LIMIT_MAX=1000
AUTH_RATE_LIMIT_MAX=1000
API_RATE_LIMIT_MAX=1000
OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini

# Logging
LOG_LEVEL=info

Security Warning

Never commit the .env file to version control. Use environment-specific configuration files and secure secret management.

Initial Access

After deploying POSTrack, you can access the application through your configured domain or IP address.

Default Login Credentials

Use these credentials to log in for the first time:

Email: admin@example.com
Password: admin123

Security Critical

Change the default password immediately after your first login. In production environments, ensure all default credentials are changed and consider implementing additional security measures such as two-factor authentication.

Process Management

PM2 Configuration

Create

ecosystem.config.js

for production deployment:

module.exports = {
apps: [{
name: 'POSTrack-server',
script: './bin/www',
instances: 'max', // Use all CPU cores
exec_mode: 'cluster',
autorestart: true,
watch: false,
max_memory_restart: '1G',
env: {
NODE_ENV: 'production',
PORT: 3000
},
error_file: './logs/err.log',
out_file: './logs/out.log',
log_file: './logs/combined.log',
time: true,
log_date_format: 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss Z'
}]
};

Systemd Service

Create

/etc/systemd/system/POSTrack.service

:

[Unit]
Description=POSTrack Point of Sale System
After=network.target mysql.service
Requires=mysql.service

[Service]
Type=forking
User=www-data
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/POSTrack/server
ExecStart=/usr/bin/pm2 start ecosystem.config.js
ExecReload=/usr/bin/pm2 reload all
ExecStop=/usr/bin/pm2 stop all
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Web Server Configuration

Nginx Configuration

Create

/etc/nginx/sites-available/POSTrack

:

server {
listen 80;
server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
listen 443 ssl http2;
server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;

# SSL Configuration
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;
ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA512:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA512;
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;

# Security Headers
add_header X-Frame-Options DENY;
add_header X-Content-Type-Options nosniff;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block";
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;

# Rate Limiting
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=api:10m rate=10r/s;
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=login:10m rate=1r/s;

# API Routes
location /api/ {
limit_req zone=api burst=20 nodelay;
proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
proxy_set_header Host $host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
}

# Frontend
location / {
root /var/www/POSTrack/client/dist;
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;

# Cache static assets
location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg)$ {
expires 1y;
add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
}
}

# File uploads
location /uploads/ {
alias /var/www/POSTrack/server/public/uploads/;
expires 1y;
add_header Cache-Control "public";
}
}

Apache Configuration

Create

/etc/apache2/sites-available/POSTrack.conf

:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName yourdomain.com
ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com
Redirect permanent / https://yourdomain.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName yourdomain.com
ServerAlias www.yourdomain.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/POSTrack/client/dist

# SSL Configuration
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/cert.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem
SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/chain.pem

# Security Headers
Header always set X-Frame-Options DENY
Header always set X-Content-Type-Options nosniff
Header always set X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block"
Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains"

# API Proxy
ProxyPreserveHost On
ProxyPass /api/ http://localhost:3000/api/
ProxyPassReverse /api/ http://localhost:3000/api/

# File uploads
Alias /uploads /var/www/POSTrack/server/public/uploads
<Directory /var/www/POSTrack/server/public/uploads>
Options -Indexes
AllowOverride None
Require all granted
</Directory>

# Frontend
<Directory /var/www/POSTrack/client/dist>
Options -Indexes
AllowOverride All
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

SSL Certificate Setup

Let's Encrypt with Certbot

1

Install Certbot

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

2

Obtain Certificate

sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

3

Auto-renewal

# Test renewal
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

# Add to crontab for auto-renewal
sudo crontab -e
# Add: 0 12 * * * /usr/bin/certbot renew --quiet

Monitoring and Logging

Log Management

Configure log rotation in

/etc/logrotate.d/POSTrack

:

/var/www/POSTrack/server/logs/*.log {
daily
missingok
rotate 30
compress
delaycompress
notifempty
create 644 www-data www-data
postrotate
/usr/bin/pm2 reloadLogs
endscript
}

Health Monitoring

Set up monitoring with tools like:

PM2 Monitoring: Built-in process monitoring
Uptime Robot: External uptime monitoring
New Relic: Application performance monitoring
DataDog: Infrastructure monitoring

Backup Strategy

#!/bin/bash
# Database backup script
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups/POSTrack"
DB_NAME="POSTrack_production"

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Backup database
mysqldump -u root -p$DB_PASSWORD $DB_NAME > $BACKUP_DIR/db_backup_$DATE.sql

# Backup uploads
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/uploads_backup_$DATE.tar.gz /var/www/POSTrack/server/public/uploads/

# Keep only last 7 days of backups
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.sql" -mtime +7 -delete
find $BACKUP_DIR -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete

Security Hardening

Server Security

Keep the system and packages updated
Configure firewall (UFW or iptables)
Disable root login and use SSH keys
Install fail2ban for brute force protection
Use non-standard ports for SSH

Application Security

Use environment variables for sensitive data
Implement proper input validation
Use HTTPS everywhere
Set secure HTTP headers
Regular security audits and updates

Database Security

Use strong passwords
Limit database user privileges
Enable SSL for database connections
Regular security updates
Monitor database access logs

Performance Optimization

Node.js Optimization

Setting	Value	Description
NODE_ENV	production	Enables production optimizations
UV_THREADPOOL_SIZE	128	Increases thread pool size
NODE_OPTIONS	--max-old-space-size=4096	Increases memory limit

Database Optimization

Add appropriate indexes
Optimize queries
Use connection pooling
Regular database maintenance

Caching Strategy

Implement Redis for session storage
Use CDN for static assets
Enable browser caching
Database query caching

Deployment Checklist

Pre-deployment

✅ Test all functionality in staging environment
✅ Configure production environment variables
✅ Set up SSL certificates
✅ Configure web server (Nginx/Apache)
✅ Set up database with proper security
✅ Configure monitoring and logging

Deployment

✅ Deploy application code
✅ Run database migrations
✅ Start application services
✅ Configure load balancer (if applicable)
✅ Test all endpoints
✅ Verify SSL certificate

Post-deployment

✅ Monitor application performance
✅ Check error logs
✅ Verify backup procedures
✅ Test failover procedures
✅ Document any custom configurations

Server Configuration & Deployment

Production Environment Setup

Server Requirements

Environment Configuration

Production .env Configuration

Security Warning

Initial Access

Default Login Credentials

Security Critical

Process Management

PM2 Configuration

Systemd Service

Web Server Configuration

Nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

SSL Certificate Setup

Let's Encrypt with Certbot

Install Certbot

Obtain Certificate

Auto-renewal

Monitoring and Logging

Log Management

Health Monitoring

Backup Strategy

Security Hardening

Server Security

Application Security

Database Security

Performance Optimization

Node.js Optimization

Database Optimization

Caching Strategy

Deployment Checklist

Pre-deployment

Deployment

Post-deployment