{"id":552,"date":"2026-08-05T23:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/windows-vps.org\/blog\/?p=552"},"modified":"2026-08-05T23:00:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:00:24","slug":"running-node-js-on-iis-with-iisnode-windows-vps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/windows-vps.org\/blog\/running-node-js-on-iis-with-iisnode-windows-vps\/","title":{"rendered":"Running Node.js on IIS with iisnode: Windows VPS Setup and Process Management"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

iisnode is Microsoft’s open-source IIS extension that hosts Node.js applications inside IIS worker processes, giving Node apps the same process management, logging, and uptime behavior as ASP.NET sites. Instead of running node server.js<\/code> in a terminal that dies when you log out of RDP, IIS starts your app on boot, restarts it when it crashes, and routes HTTP traffic to it over a named pipe. For a Windows VPS that already runs IIS for other sites, adding Node through iisnode means one web server, one set of firewall rules, and one place to look at logs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The setup takes about fifteen minutes on a fresh server, and it works with Node’s built-in HTTP server or Express without code changes. Before you start, make sure the VPS has enough RAM for both IIS and your Node process \u2014 a small Express app idles around 80\u2013150 MB, but production workloads add up quickly. Our comparison table<\/a> lists Windows VPS plans side by side, so you can match RAM and CPU to your expected request volume before deploying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installing Node.js and iisnode on the Server<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Install Node.js from the official Windows MSI (the LTS version) and accept the default install path. Then download the iisnode release from the project’s GitHub repository and run its MSI installer, which registers the IIS module automatically. Verify both from an elevated prompt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

node --version\nC:\\Windows\\System32\\inetsrv\\appcmd.exe list modules | findstr iisnode<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
If the module list does not show iisnode<\/code>, restart IIS with iisreset<\/code> and check again. The extension needs the URL Rewrite module only if you plan complex routing; for a basic site, iisnode handles the default server.js<\/code> entry point on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creating an IIS Site That Runs Your Node App<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Create a folder for the app, for example C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\nodeapp<\/code>, and copy your application files into it. The key piece is a web.config<\/code> in the app root that tells IIS the entry point:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<configuration>\n  <system.webServer>\n    <handlers>\n      <add name=\"iisnode\" path=\"server.js\" verb=\"*\" modules=\"iisnode\" \/>\n    <\/handlers>\n  <\/system.webServer>\n<\/configuration><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Then create the site in IIS Manager (or with appcmd<\/code>) pointing at that folder, with the default port 80 binding or a dedicated port. Restart the site, and browsing to http:\/\/your-vps-ip\/<\/code> should hit your Node app. If you see a 500 error, check the iisnode<\/code> log files in the app folder \u2014 they record why the Node process failed to start, which is usually a missing dependency or a wrong entry point in web.config<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Process Settings, Environment Variables, and Logging<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
iisnode reads its own configuration from <iisnode><\/code> in web.config<\/code>. The settings that matter on a VPS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<iisnode nodeProcessCountPerApplication=\"1\" maxConcurrentRequestsPerProcess=\"1024\" maxProcessCount=\"1\" loggingEnabled=\"true\" logDirectory=\"iisnode\" \/><\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n