Deploying the Project – Plone Deployment

Deploying the Project

Deploying the Project#

Project Stack#

This guide outlines the steps to deploy the project using a Docker stack comprising:

  • Traefik: A router and SSL termination tool, integrated with Let's Encrypt for complimentary SSL certificates.

  • Plone Frontend using Volto: A service based on React for the frontend.

  • Plone Backend: The API service.

  • Postgres 14 Database: Handles data persistence.

You can find this stack at devops/stacks/<url>.yml. It's modular, allowing easy integration of additional services like Varnish, Solr, or ElasticSearch.

Building Docker Images#

Ensure you build the Docker images for the Frontend and Backend servers before deployment. GitHub Actions, configured in .github/workflows/backend.yml and .github/workflows/frontend.yml, facilitate this process.

Important

Before deploying, push all code changes and ensure GitHub Actions successfully complete their runs. Execute these commands to format the code and run tests:

make format
make i18n
make test

Manual Deployment with devops/Makefile#

Utilize the Makefile at devops/Makefile for manual deployment.

Deploying the Stack#

Execute the following command to deploy the stack defined in devops/stacks/<url>.yml to the remote server:

make stack-deploy

Verifying Stack Status#

To check the status of all services in your stack, run:

make stack-status

Creating Plone Site#

On the initial deployment, the frontend containers might be unhealthy due to the unconfigured Plone site on the backend. Create a new site with:

make stack-create-site

Monitoring Logs#

Monitor the logs of each service with these commands:

  • Traefik: make logs-webserver

  • Frontend: make logs-frontend

  • Backend: make logs-backend

Automating Deployment with GitHub Actions#

cookiecutter-plone-starter includes a GitHub Actions Workflow, located at .github/workflows/manual_deploy.yml, enabling deployment directly from the GitHub UI.

Repository Configuration#

Creating a New Environment#

  1. Log in to GitHub.

  2. Navigate to the project repository.

  3. Click Settings.

  4. Select Environments, then New environment.

  5. Name it after your public URL and configure the environment.

Adding Environment Secrets#

Add secrets in the Secrets section of your environment. Refer to the table below:

Secret Name

Secret Value

Description

DEPLOY_HOST

Your hostname or IP

The Docker Swarm manager’s address.

DEPLOY_PORT

22

The SSHD port.

DEPLOY_USER

Your username

A user with Docker command permissions.

DEPLOY_SSH

Content of devops/etc/keys/plone_prod_deploy_rsa

The private SSH key for connection.

ENV_FILE

Content of devops/.env_file_gha

File containing environment variables for the stack file.

Adding Repository Variables#

Navigate to Settings > Secrets and Variables > Actions. Under Variables, add the repository variable:

Name

Value

LIVE_ENV

The name of the earlier created environment

This variable is referenced in .github/workflows/manual_deploy.yml.

Initiating Manual Deployment#

Ensure both Backend and Frontend tests are successful and images for both servers are available.

  1. Go to the project's repository on GitHub.

  2. Click the Actions tab.

  3. Find Manual Deployment... and click Run workflow.

  4. Select Branch: main under Use workflow from.

  5. Press Run workflow.

The workflow connects to DEPLOY_HOST using DEPLOY_USER and DEPLOY_SSH key, initiates a new deployment using the specified stack, and provides a detailed deployment report.

Accessing the Site#

Your site should now be accessible via the defined public URL.

Note: Ensure to replace placeholders like <url> with actual values as per your project's specifics. Also, ensure that the paths to files and directories are correct and exist in your project structure.

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