it depends on your system.  On Ubuntu I use upstart and create a small
script in /etc/init/SOMENAME.conf.  And then you can use start, stop, and
restart like  `sudo start SOMENAME`

Here is the upstart config for howtonode.org:

    description "Run node server"

    env
PATH=/home/tim/nvm/v0.6.11/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/us r/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

    respawn
    start on runlevel [23]

    script
      cd /home/tim
      exec node server.js > access.log 2>> error.log
    end script

Because of the "start on runlevel [23]" line it's started whenever the
server reboots.  The "respawn" line restarts the node process if it dies.

On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 10:02 AM, Flavio Del Bianco <