Using global variables in my node.js program configuration

I know using global variables in JavaScript is bad practice. Here I am using config, host and port as global variables as I have added a watch function to watch for the changes in the config.json file. Is the use of global variables in this example a bad practice or is it ok to use them?

config.json file

{
    "host":"127.0.0.1",
    "port":8000
}

server.js file

(function(){

    var fs = require("fs");
    config = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("config.json")); //global variable
    host = config.host;  //global variable
    port = config.port;  //global variable
})();

var http = require("http");
var server = http.createServer(function(request,response){
    response.writeHead(200,{"Content-Type":"text/plain"});
    response.end("Hello World");
});

server.listen(port,host,function(){
    console.log("Server listening at:"+host+" on port:"+port);
});

fs.watchFile("config.json",function(){
    config = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync("config.json"));  //global variable(overwritten)
    host = config.host;  //global variable(overwritten)
    port = config.port;  //global variable(overwritten)

    server.close();
    server.listen(port,host,function(){
          console.log("Server listening at:"+host+" on port:"+port);
       };
    }
});

You say you're using globals because "I have added a watch function to watch for the changes in the config.json file". You don't need globals for this. If you declare the variables at the top level, like you've done with http and server, they'll be accessible everywhere in your script, including inside the anonymous function where you're using them.* You could get rid of the (function() { ... })(); wrapper round the first bit (not sure why you've wrapped that bit) and then declare them there.

"I know using global variables in JavaScript is bad practice." Using global variables in any language is bad practice if you can avoid it.

*A function like this, which uses variables declared outside the function, is called a "closure".

StackExchange Code Review Q#51700, answer score: 2