Self-Hosting on Shared host not loading

Describe the issue/error/question

Using the npm install instructions I’ve followed the instructions for my host and the Documentation and got n8n installed on my server. When I set the port to 443 or 80(seems anything other than 5678), when I start n8n on the command line all I get is “Initializing n8n process” and the process doesn’t advance. When I leave the port at 5678, it shows all the way to it’s available at mysite:5678. Also, when I close the ssh terminal, n8n stops running. I’d like to leave it available at my site and have it running without having to just go in and run n8n via commandline. I’m using Dreamhost shared hosting to host it.

Hi @slookabill - Welcome to the community :tada:

You’d need to set up which port you’d like to use in your configuration file as mentioned in that guide, if you’d like to use any port other than 5678. Port 80 is the port for non-SSL connections, but if you want https, you’ll need to an SSL cert.

One thing to note that could also give you trouble with running n8n on ports 80 or 443 is that only applications with root credentials can use ports below 1024 since these are privileged ports. While this is easily doable, it does open up a security risk as any n8n workflow is now running as root. If someone were to get access to your n8n admin interface, they could take over your server.

That being said, if you run the n8n command from the root account or by using the sudo command, you are running with root privileges. I’m not sure if Dreamhost allows you to do this.

n8n closing when you close your terminal connection is expected, as you’re running on localhost. When you close the connection in the terminal, you’re killing the process - so n8n no longer is running.

I’m not sure what plan, etc. you’re on with Dreamhost, but some servers do not allow for persistent processes. You’ll need to check their documentation to see if your plan supports it.

Let me know if this helps!

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