This is for setting up an instance of the AppBuilder docker production stack on a server.

Installation

You need git and Docker. Then clone this repo.

 

Instructions

docker-compose.yml

You will want to edit this to expose ports from the Docker containers to be accessible from the outside via your chosen external port numbers.

Required

The main user facing component using regular unencrypted http. Typically, there will be an nginx or apache layer on the host server that does the SSL/TLS on top of this.

  api_sails:
    ports:
      - "[external port]:1337"

Optional

MariaDB. Expose it for debugging data or doing mysqldump backups.

  db:
    ports:
      - "[external port]:3306"

Config

There are two config files that the AppBuilder stack will rely on. Make sure to edit them with your own settings before starting up AppBuilder.

1. ./config/local.js

   This is roughly in the JSON format. You may recognize it as the main config file used by Sails. However, other components of the AppBuilder stack will also be referencing this one. The main settings you will typically want to pay attention to are:

   • connections

     There is no need to change any setting in this section. The database credentials will automatically be synced into here at runtime.

   • appbuilder.mcc

     The public facing secure relay server that this AppBuilder instance will connect with. You can safely leave this disabled.

2. ./mysql/password

   This is a plaintext file. Its value will be used to fill the connections section from ./config/local.js. This will be your root DB password. Choose something secure.

   Important note: When the MariaDB container starts up for the first time, it will set the database root password to the value you have specified in this password file. After that first time, changing this value will not affect the already established password.

   If your database is already set up, this password file must still be entered correctly as it will automatically be replicated into the ./config/local.js file on every start up.

 

Data

Directories used for persistent storage

• ./mysql/data

  This is where the MariaDB server will save its data. Do not manually edit files from here unless you really know what you are doing. If you want to start from scratch again and discard all existing data, you can delete the contents of this directory.

• ./mysql/init

  The SQL files contained here will be used to populate the database for the first time.

• ./redis/data

  This is where the redis server will save its data.

• ./data

  This is where AppBuilder will store any files uploaded by users.

 

Usage

Preparation

Please follow the Instructions section on configuring your DB credentials and other settings. Then, run $ docker swarm init to enable the Docker stack feature if needed.

In order to issue Docker commands, your user account must either have root access, or be part of the docker group.

Start AppBuilder

$ docker stack deploy -c docker-compose.yml [STACK_NAME]

Substitute your desired text for [STACK_NAME]. This is used to help differentiate it from any other stacks running on the same server.

Stop AppBuilder

$ docker stack rm [STACK_NAME]

View console

$ docker service logs -f [STACK_NAME]_api_sails