Overview
Use this interface to run your applications on the Phusion Passenger® application server. Passenger manages processes, acts as a reverse proxy and supplies operational tools for its users.
It works on servers running either Apache or NGINX®.
Requirements
Before you can use it, your hosting provider must turn on the Application Manager feature in WHM's Feature Manager interface and install one of these Apache modules. The right one depends on the operating system:
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
ea-apache24-mod-passenger |
Use this package on Ubuntu®, AlmaLinux OS 9 or later or Rocky Linux™ 9. |
ea-ruby27-mod_passenger |
Systems with AlmaLinux 8 or Rocky Linux 8 are the only ones this package supports. |
Depending on your needs, the provider may have to install these packages too:
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
ea-apache24-mod_env |
Lets the configuration of your application define environment variables for it. |
ea-nodejs16ea-nodejs18ea-nodejs20ea-nodejs22 |
Add support for Node.js™ applications. Installing one of these Node.js packages uninstalls the other ones. You must switch existing applications to the new Node.js version, while new applications automatically get the newest installed version. |
| Python™ | Install the python version your applications need. By default the Application Manager takes /usr/bin/python3 when it is present, and falls back to /usr/bin/python if it is not. To make a different version the default, write its path to a file with this command:
|
More setup and troubleshooting details are in the Using Passenger Applications documentation.
If this feature is missing from your account, ask your hosting provider.
Applications
The applications table has these columns:
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The name of the application. |
| Domain | The domain the application belongs to. |
| Path | Where the source code of the application is stored, relative to your home directory. |
| Status | Shows whether the application is turned on or off. |
| Actions | The actions you can use to change the application. |
Actions
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Edit | Change the settings of the application. |
| Unregister | Remove the application's registration. |
| Enable Dependencies | Checks the Node.js package manager (npm) dependencies of the application and installs any that are missing. |
Create an application
The application has to exist before you register it in the Application Manager interface. You have, for instance, these options:
- Clone an application that already lives on GitHub, using the Git Version Control interface (cPanel » Home » Files » Git™ Version Control).
- Build a new application on your server. These guides show how:
Applications created through the Ruby Gem installer section of WHM's Module Installers interface (WHM » Home » Software » Module Installers) are not compatible with the Application Manager feature.
Register an application
New applications are set up with the most recent Ruby version on your system. The Ruby version follows the installed Passenger version, and only one Passenger version can be installed at a time.
Applications that are already registered keep their Ruby version, and they stop working if that Ruby version is uninstalled.
Follow these steps to register an application:
- Click Register Application, which opens a new interface.
- Type a name for the application into the Application Name box.
- In the Deployment Domain menu, choose the main domain, addon domain or subdomain that will host the application.
- Type the base URL into the Base Application URL box. Once the application is registered, you open it in a browser at this URL.
- In the Application Path box, enter the path of the source code directory, relative to the home directory.
- Choose a deployment environment, which defines the server environment the application runs in.
- Choose Development while the application is still being built.
- Choose Production once it is ready for real use.
- To define environment variables, click Add Variable in the Environment Variables section.
- Click Deploy.
Environment Variables
Adding environment variables only works if your hosting provider has installed the ea-apache24-mod_env Apache module, which is required.
With environment variables you can adjust how the application's processes behave across different systems. The Environment Variables table lists:
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Variable Name | The name of the variable. Names must follow these rules:
|
| Value | The value of the variable. A value must be made of at most 1024 printable ASCII characters. |
| Actions | This column offers two operations:
|
To learn more, see the Environment Variables page in the Phusion Passenger documentation.
Add environment variables
Follow these steps to put a variable into the configuration file of the application:
- Click Add Variable in the Environmental Variables section.
- In the Variable Name column, type the name into the Environment Variable Name box.
- In the Value column, type the value into the Environment Variable Value box.
- In the Actions column, click Save.
Edit an application
Follow these steps to change the configuration file of an application:
- Find the application in the table of applications.
- Click Edit in the Actions column. A new interface opens.
- Apply your changes.
- Click Deploy.
Unregister an application
Unregistering takes the application off the list and deletes its configuration file, but the application itself is not deleted.
Follow these steps to unregister an application:
- Find the application you want to unregister in the table.
- Click Unregister, and a confirmation message shows up.
- Click Unregister again to finish. A success message confirms it.
Log files
The log files of an application are stored in the locations below. Replace the example directory in the paths with the name of the directory that holds your application. Open them in cPanel's File Manager interface (Home » Files » File Manager):
| Application | Log location |
|---|---|
| Node.js | example/logs/ |
| Python | example/stderr.log |
