Puppet users - Feb 2011 - web app deployment on a Debian server

Hello,

I would like to ask your advice for the simplest method to do deployment on a
debian server. From my perspective the system should look something like this :

# web server node
node "prod.domain.com" inherits webserver {
    webapp::project{app1:
        domain => "app1.com",
        package => "app1",
        version => ''1.1.2''
    }
    # ... app2, app3, app4 ...
    webapp::project{appN:
        domain => "appN.com",
        package => "appN",
        version => ''x.y.z''
    }
}

# simplified project definition
define webapp::project($domain, $package, $version ) {   
    apache::virtual_host { "$domain":}
    package { $package: 
            ensure => $version 
        }

My biggest problem is how to control version numbers with a web interface. What
i mean is instead of   "version => ''x.y.z''" to
take some how the version number from an external data source(database).

The next issue is how to monitor which version of each application is installed
on which server.  I would like  to know exactly which version of the application
is running on the each server.

The third issue is how to do production deployments manually / or how to trigger
them when wanted.

What I can mention is that we have a 4-5 servers with only two of them being in
production. We do have a couple of php applications which we intend to package
them for debian(depends on solution).

Thank you for advice,

Adrian

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> My biggest problem is how to control version numbers with a web interface.
What i mean is instead of   "version => ''x.y.z''"
to take some how the version number from an external data source(database).
You can either use External Nodes:

http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/external_nodes.html

Which would allows you to define node configuration in an external
tool such as Puppet Dashboard:

http://www.puppetlabs.com/puppet/related-projects/dashboard/

Or the foreman:

http://theforeman.org/

Or a simple and less intrusive methodology might be to write a
function which calls your database:

http://projects.puppetlabs.com/projects/1/wiki/Writing_Your_Own_Functions

This executes on the puppetmaster and can take vars and return vars
using whatever Ruby code you write. So you could do a
get_version("app_name") function that returns say "1.1" for
a DB?
> The next issue is how to monitor which version of each application is
installed on which server.  I would like  to know exactly which version of the
application is running on the each server.
Well ... you can drop a file with a version inside it each time you
deploy?
> The third issue is how to do production deployments manually / or how to
trigger them when wanted.
You could use environments, and stage your releases:

http://projects.puppetlabs.com/projects/1/wiki/Using_Multiple_Environments

Then when you are ready change production configuration or if you are
using VCS for puppet content, forwarding your production environment
to the already-tested version. You would also want to develop and test
a methodology to roll things back when needed.

To trigger Puppet runs I generally use the mcollective puppetd plugin,
but you can happily run puppet when and if needed.
> What I can mention is that we have a 4-5 servers with only two of them
being in production. We do have a couple of php applications which we intend to
package them for debian(depends on solution).  
If the code is PHP only, you could manage your code in an external VCS
system such as git or svn and use the vcsrepo plugin to manage
releases:

http://forge.puppetlabs.com/puppetlabs/vcsrepo

This would save you having to do a packaging step. You can then just
use tags for releases, and use those tags to designate which release
goes into production.

ken.

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