RightScale App Cookbook

DESCRIPTION:

RightScale's cookbook for application server management.

This is an abstract cookbook that defines the recipes and interface to application provider cookbooks. It is not a standalone cookbook and must be used in conjunction with an application provider cookbook (i.e. app_php, app_tomcat, app_passenger, app_django or a user created application provider).

More detailed information can be found in the descriptions for each recipe in the cookbook. app::*.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Requires a VM launched from a RightScale managed RightImage
• Requires a corresponding app provider cookbook

COOKBOOKS DEPENDENCIES:

Please see metadata.rb file for the latest dependencies.

• sys_firewall
• rightscale
• repo
• app_php
• app_passenger
• app_tomcat
• app_django

KNOWN LIMITATIONS:

There are no known limitations.

SETUP:

In order to use App resource, you must create corresponding providers in your app server cookbook. For examples, see app_passenger, app_php, app_django or app_tomcat cookbooks.

You must define app attributes which will be used in the initialized app[default] resource.

Required attributes:

node[:app][:provider] = "app_passenger"

Recommended:

node[:app][:destination]
node[:app][:port]
node[:app][:root]
node[:app][:database_name]
node[:app][:database_user]
node[:app][:database_password]
node[:app][:database_server_fqdn]
node[:app][:db_adapter]
node[:app][:user]
node[:app][:group]

More detailed descriptions of these attribute variables is located in the resource file's description.

USAGE:

1. Add the app_*::default recipe prior to the app::default recipe to define the provider.
2. Add the default recipe to tag your server as an appserver. This is used by servers (like databases) to identify their clients.
3. Add desired app::do_* recipes to your application server ServerTemplate.
4. Develop corresponding providers in your application server's cookbook.
5. Define required and recommended attributes in your application server's cookbook attributes file.

DETAILS:

General

This cookbook can only be used in conjunction with cookbooks that contain Lightweight Providers which implement the 'app' interface. See the RightScale app_php cookbook for an example.

Note: app[default] resource uses the "persist true" flag, which allows you to save the created resource and its attributes in memory for future use.

This cookbook contains recipes that are required to connect your instance to RightScale's "Load Balancer" ServerTemplates:

• do_loadbalancers_allow
• do_loadbalancers_deny
• request_loadbalancer_allow
• request_loadbalancer_deny

For more info please see: Load Balancer Setups.

Attributes:

• node[:app][:provider] - Set a default provider.
• node[:app][:port] - Set a default port to listen on. Default: 8000
• node[:app][:ip] - IP to listen on. Default: First private IP
• node[:app][:user] - Application server user. Required for changing owner of created project dirs.
• node[:app][:group] - Application server group. Required for changing owner of created project dirs.

Definitions:

app_add_listen_port

Adds a port to the apache listen 'ports.conf' file and node attribute.

Create node[:apache][:listen_ports] - array of strings for the web server to listen on.

This definition created specifically for the apache2 cookbook at this time.

Example:

app_add_listen_port php_port

Libraries-helpers:

RightScale::App::Helper.vhosts(vhost_list)

Created to convert vhost names into an array from a comma-separated list.

Parameters

vhost_list(Sting):: Comma-separated list of virtual hosts.

Returns

Array:: Array of vhosts

LWRPs:

This cookbook provides the abstract app resource, which will act as an "interface" for corresponding Lightweight app_* providers.

This includes app_php, app_tomcat, app_passenger and app_django cookbooks. Each of them contains an implementation of the corresponding app__* Lightweight Provider which can be called using this resource.

To avoid unexpected failures, the Provider persisted in this cookbook will act as a cap if there is no other app_ Light Weight Provider implementation.

For more information about Lightweight Resources and Providers (LWRPs), please see: Lightweight Resources and Providers (LWRP).

App resource actions

All actions declared in this resource are intended to act as templates to typical application server setup operations.

• :install - Install packages required for application server setup.
• :setup_vhost - Action designed to set up APP LWRP with common parameters required for apache vhost file.
• :start - Action designed to set up a user defined start sequence for the application server.
• :stop - Action designed to set up a user defined stop sequence for the application server.
• :restart - Action designed to set up a user defined restart sequence for the application server.
• :reload - Action designed to set up a user defined reload sequence for the application server.
• :code_update - Action designed to perform project source code update/download.
• :setup_db_connection - Action designed to perform database configuration file creation.
• :setup_monitoring - Action designed to set up and install required monitoring software.

App resource attributes

• packages - Set of installed packages
• root - Application root
• port - Application port
• destination - The path on the instance where the application code will be placed
• database_name - Name of the required database
• database_user - Database user
• database_password - Database password
• database_server_fqdn - Database server's fully qualified domain name (FQDN)
• user - App user
• group - Group the app user belongs to

Usage Examples:

Below are a few basic examples. More detailed examples of this resource use can be found in the do_* and setup_* recipes in the cookbook.

app "default" do
  persist true
  provider node[:app][:provider]
  packages node[:app][:packages]
  action :install
end

app "default" do
  database_name node[:app][:database_name]
  database_user node[:app][:database_user]
  database_password node[:app][:database_password]
  database_server_fqdn node[:app][:database_server_fqdn]
  action :setup_db_connection
end

app "default" do
  root node[:app][:root]
  port node[:app][:port].to_i
  action :setup_vhost
end

LICENSE:

Copyright RightScale, Inc. All rights reserved. All access and use subject to the RightScale Terms of Service available at http://www.rightscale.com/terms.php and, if applicable, other agreements such as a RightScale Master Subscription Agreement.