ZC Buildout recipe for deploying your buildout to a server
Project description
collective.hostout is a zc.buildout recipe used to create a script for deploying your buildout. You can use it to create a hosting environment for your local buildout and then repeatedly deploy your buildout and custom code to that host.
Release History
0.1.3 (2009-05-06)
Fixed getting fabfile as a resource when packaged as an egg
Allow for specifying extra configuration not in the buildout files
0.1.2 (2009-24-04)
Initial release. Basic uploading of eggs and running of remote buildout.
Detailed Documentation
Warning: This is alpha software. The api and the way it’s used may change and using it with production systems is at your own risk
We have a buildout which we want to deploy to a brand new host
We add collective. hostout to our development buildout
>>> write('buildout.cfg', ... """ ... [buildout] ... parts = hostout ... index = http://pypi.python.org/simple ... develop = ... %(recipe_location)s ... ... [hostout] ... recipe = collective.hostout ... host = localhost ... """ % globals()) >>> cat('buildout.cfg') sdfdfNow we run the buildout
>>> print system('bin/buildout'), ... Installing hostout. hostout: Creating deployment script bin/hostout hostout: Creating hostout.cfg with pinned buildout versions ...
We can run the hostout script the first time. It will
package our release
send it to the server
create a buildout environment running under a virtualenv if need be
run a buildout pinned to the eggs that were selected when you last ran buildout locally
start up your application
Let’s see that working
>>> print system('bin/hostout'),
Creating release 45454345345
Producing source distribution for src/example with version 2343243434
...
Packaged eggs and buildout into deploy-5445454.tgz
...
[localhost] put: /Users/dylanjay/Projects/csiro/dist/deploy_1.tgz -> /tmp/deploy_1.tgz
...
Connecting to localhost.
User 'plone' not found or unable to connect
If this is the first time running this script please enter your root credentials
This will prepare your host to recieve your buildout
user: root
password: root
Creating user account 'deploy'
Creating authorisation key pair
Logging in as 'deploy'
Installing python virtualenv
Pinning egg versions
Deploying eggs to host...done
Deploying buildout to host...done
Stopping remote services...done
Running remote buildout...done
Starting remote services...done
Deployment complete at verson 0.1
We now have a live version of our buildout deployed and running on our host.
Options
- host
the IP or hostname of the host to deploy to. by default it will connect to port 22 using ssh. You can override the port by using hostname:port
- user
The user which hostout will attempt to login to your host as. Defaults to root
- password
The password for the login user. If not given then hostout will ask each time.
- buildout
The configuration file you which to build on the remote host. Note this doesn’t have to be the same .cfg as the hostout section is in but the versions of the eggs will be determined from the buildout with the hostout section in. Defaults to buildout.cfg
- effective-user
The user which will own the buildout files. Defaults to #TODO
- remote_path
The absolute path on the remote host where the buildout will be created. Defaults to ~${hostout:effective-user}/buildout
- start_cmd
A sh command to start up your application. This will be run as root. It is run after every successful running of buildout on the remote host. Defaults to ${buildout:bin-directory}/supervisord
- stop_cmd
A sh command to shutdown your application. This will be run as root. It is run before every buildout on the remote host. If this command fails it will be ignored. Defaults to ${buildout:bin-directory}/supervisorctl shutdown
Frequently asked questions
Who should use this?
Hostout was primarily created to solve the problem of how to create a hosted Plone site for $20 in 20minutes even with no knowledge of linux system administration. It is designed to solve the question “Now I’ve downloaded and installed Plone on my windows machine, how do I get a real site?” However hostout is useful for:
anyone who wants a quick solution for setting up a new host for a buildout based application and then repeatedly redeploying to it, including django and other buildout based apps.
anyone who doesn’t want to deal with learning how to setup and administer a linux server
professionals who use a develop/test/commit/deploy cycle who don’t already have their own custom deployment processes
Why not use git/svn/hg/bzr to pull the code onto the server?
it means you have to use SCM to deploy. I wanted a story where someone can download plone/django, customise it a little and then host it in as few steps as possible.
It means you don’t have to install the SCM on the host and handle that in a SCM neurtral way… I use got, most plone people use svn, I might look at bzr… its a mess.
Really you shouldn’t be hacking the configuration on your host. Good development means you test things locally, get it working. check it in and then deploy. Hostout is designed to support that model. Everyone one has to have a developement environment to deploy.
We want to be SCM neutral.
Why not use collective.releaser or similar to release to a private pypi index?
It’s a lot more complicated to setup and isn’t really needed when your eggs are custom just to the application which is hosted in only one place. There is nothing to stop you releasing your eggs seperatly.
Why is it a buildout recipe?
Applications like Plone use buildout to install and configure installations on all platforms. Adding an extra few lines to the default buildout seemed the easiest solution to allowing those users to take the next step after installing Plone locally, to deploying it remotely.
What kinds of hosts is it known to work with?
It is designed to work with newly installed linux distributions but should work with almost any linux host. Hostout currently uses the plone unified installer to setup a buildout environment. That is designed to work on a large number of linux based systems. Of course what you put in your own buildout will influence the results too.
What kind of applications will it work with?
Hostout deploys buildout based solutions. As long as your code can be built using buildout and any custom code is in source eggs then hostout should work for you.
Todo list
Handle multiple hosts and multiple locations better including simultaneous deployment.
Database handling including backing up, moving between development, staging and production regardless of location.
Integrate with SCM to implement an optional check to not deploy unless committed.
Integrate with SCM to tag all parts so deployments can be rolled back.
Integrate with SCM to use SCM version numbers.
Handle basic rollback when no SCM exists, for instance when buildout fails.
Automatically setup host with password-less ssh login.
Don’t upload eggs unless they have changed.
Help deploy DNS settings, possibly by hosting company specific plugins
Exploure using paramiko directly.
Incorporate unified installer environment setup scripts directly.
Support firewalled servers by an optional tunnel back to a client side web proxy.
Explore ways to make an even easier transition from default plone install to fully hosted site.
Credits
Dylan Jay <software at pretaweb dot com>
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