How to run a node Puppeteer app on Ubuntu Server as root

Question

I'm trying to run node apps that use the npm package Puppeteer to scrape websites, using VPSes that use root as the default user I login as.

It never works. I always have to spend half an hour googling to find the solution... well no more.

Answer 1

Do this:

0. Run sudo apt update

1. Install libx stuff

sudo apt-get install libpangocairo-1.0-0 libx11-xcb1 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxdamage1 libxi6 libxtst6 libnss3 libcups2 libxss1 libxrandr2 libgconf-2-4 libasound2 libatk1.0-0 libgtk-3-0

2. Set --no-sandbox argument in the launch() part of your Puppeteer app (only required if you are running as root/root's cron)

const browser = await puppeteer.launch({headless: true, args: ['--no-sandbox']})

E: as Niko pointed out, --no-sandbox opens your server to a malicious attack from a website the scraper visits. It looks like there are some StackOverflow questions elsewhere that post alternatives that aren't awful to implement. I like David's answer here which seems to suggest that even in 2021 --no-sandbox is still a necessary evil in some cases.

E2: See answer below. It looks like in 2021 we also have to install libgbm-dev

Answer 2

Connecting to the server by SSH:

1. Open your terminal
2. Type: ssh root@[server ip]
3. If it is the first time you connect to the server you will get a security prompt. Type 'yes'
4. Fill in your password:  [password]
5. You should now be connected to your server

Installing the app:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y libgbm-dev

sudo apt install -y gconf-service libasound2 libatk1.0-0 libc6 libcairo2 libcups2 libdbus-1-3 libexpat1 libfontconfig1 libgcc1 libgconf-2-4 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libglib2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libnspr4 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libstdc++6 libx11-6 libx11-xcb1 libxcb1 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxdamage1 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxi6 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxss1 libxtst6 ca-certificates fonts-liberation libappindicator1 libnss3 lsb-release xdg-utils wget

sudo apt install curl

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -

sudo apt install nodejs

sudo apt install git

git config --global user.name "your name"

git config --global user.email "your email"

git clone "your project git url"

cd "your project folder"

npm i

npm start

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If you need to run multiple apps on one VPS server - google tool "Screen"

Answer 3

After I installed libgbm, everything works fine for me! hope that help you out

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install -y libgbm-dev