Run Nodejs as upstart service on Ubuntu or Centos

nodejs-upstart-example.conf

#Upstart Service For Nodejs in /etc/init
description 'nodejs example upstart'
author 'Yonatan Ellman (blog.nodeside.com) adpated from ivarprudnikov.com'

env NAME=TEST
env LOG_FILE=/var/log/nodejs-test.log
env USER=nodejs
env NODE_BIN=/usr/local/bin/node
env NODE_ENV="development"
env PORT=3001
env DIRECTORY=/var/www/yourapp
env APP=app.js

start on runlevel [23]
stop on shutdown
# Respawn in case of a crash, with default parameters
respawn

script
  cd $DIRECTORY
  su $USER
  # Make sure logfile exists and can be written by the user we drop privileges to
  touch $LOG_FILE
  chown $USER:$USER $LOG_FILE
  # recommended approach in case of su/sudo usage so that service does not fork
  exec sudo -u $USER PORT=$PORT NODE_ENV=$NODE_ENV $NODE_BIN $DIRECTORY/$APP >> $LOG_FILE 2>&1
end script

post-start script
  echo "app $NAME $NODE_ENV post-start event" >> $LOG_FILE
end script