For future reference, this is an example unit file for running a NodeJS server with systemd. The NodeJS code we use reads from a local MariaDB, so I’ve added a service dependency for the database server.

Create /etc/systemd/system/nodeserver.service

[Unit]
Description=SiteName Node.js Server
Requires=After=mariadb.service

[Service]
ExecStart=/path/to/binary/for/node /path/to/nodeJS/html/server.js
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/nodeJS/html
Restart=always
RestartSec=30
StandardOutput=syslog
StandardError=syslog
SyslogIdentifier=nodejs-sitename
User=web-user
Group=www-group

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Use systemctl daemon-reload to register the new unit file, then “systemctl start nodeserver.service” to start the service. Assuming everything works properly, use “systemctl enable nodeserver.service” to have the service start on boot.