Setting Up the Rendezvous Server

You do not need to have a domain name for your VPS; however, you must have a stable IP address (e.g., 'a.b.c.d').

1. Get a tarball of this repository onto your local system, extract it, and then:

    % cd node-rendezvous-master
    % npm -l install
   

   Note that until we reach Step 7, all the commands will be run on your local system.

2. Create a file called:

    vps.js
   

   that looks like this:

    var fs          = require('fs')
      ;
   
    exports.options =
      { rendezvousHost : 'a.b.c.d'
      , rendezvousPort : 8899
    
      , keyData        : fs.readFileSync('./registrar.key')
      , crtData        : fs.readFileSync('./registrar.crt')
    
      , redisHost      : '127.0.0.1'
      , redisPort      : 6379
      , redisAuth      : ''
      };
   

3. Create a key pair for use by the rendezvous server:

    % node make-cert.js
   
    % chmod  a-w registrar.key registrar.crt
   
    % chmod go-r registrar.key
   

   to create a self-signed certificate:

    registrar.crt
   

   and the corresponding private key:

    registrar.key
   

4. We're nearly ready. The next step is to create entries in the database for the hidden servers. Running:

    % node users.js
   

   will bring up a server on:

    http://127.0.0.1:8893
   

   Browse this URL, and you will see all UUIDs defined in the database (initially, none). To create an entry, use the form on the page. Whenever an entry is created, a JS file is created which you can use with your hidden server. You will want to copy the JS file to the provisioning area for your hidden server.

5. When you are done creating entries for the remote servers, kill the node process running

    users.js
   

6. Copy the server files to the VPS:

    % rm -rf node_modules
    % cd .. ; scp -r node-rendezvous-master [email protected]:.
   

7. Login to the VPS and install node.js, and then

    vps% cd node-rendezvous-master/
    vps% npm install -l
    vps% cp vps.js local.js
   

8. Finally, start the server:

    vps% bin/run.sh
   

   Log entries are written to the file:

    server.log