Deploy to Azure manually

[ehmatthes]

Azure seems like a strong candidate for a second platform to support, because I believe it has a CLI and a reasonable free tier. Automating the DB may be an issue, but perhaps SQLite will work? We'll see, I've never used Azure.

[ehmatthes]

• Start with a local copy of the project, with a requirements.txt file.
• Make a free Azure account.
  • Does require credit card on file.
• Install Azure CLI.
  • $ brew update
  • $ brew install azure-cli
  • "Will install Homebrew Python3". I hope this doesn't mess up my existing Python installation in any difficult way. :/ But I will chance it, and test my understanding of Python installations. :)
  • test with az --version
• Log in: az login
• Pick up here
• az webapp up --help is really helpful
  • --sku F1: free pricing tier
  • --dryrun looks helpful! Needs to be last argument?
  • --luanch-browser as well
  • Need --os-type Linux?
  • --plan: "name of the appserviceplan associated with the webapp"?
• az webapp up --dryrun
  • plan is my default plan, azure-username_asp_Linux_southcentralus_0
  • random name is automatically chosen, like Heroku: blue-river-8b3041a252694a85a13c59b0a5e2b6db
  • default resource group is chosen
  • default runtime is python 3.7!
  • sku is PREMIUMV2! I believe this is ~$0.11/hr, or ~$80/mo!
• Delete app:
  • az webapp delete --name app_name
• Show runtimes: az webapp list-runtimes, or az webapp list-runtimes --linux
  • Set with az webapp --runtime PYTHON:3.8; pipe operator confuses zsh

[ehmatthes]

DB questions

• Would an sqlite file be persistent, or is it destroyed on each redeploy? That's the issue with Heroku, I believe.

[ehmatthes]

More notes

• This process really should be reviewed by someone who knows Azure deployment better, especially free initial deployment.
• Get info: az webapp list
• Trying this: az webapp up --sku F1 --runtime PYTHON:3.8
  • created webapp, resource group, appserviceplan, registered 'Microsoft.Web' resource provider; "Registration succeeded".
  • Then returned Operation returned an invalid status 'Unauthorized'
  • Ran az login again, and then ran the deploy command again. Same error.
  • Redeployed with --verbose. Object of type ClientAuthenticationError is not JSON serializable
  • Redeployed with --debug instead of verbose. Seems like this is the issue: "Code":"Unauthorized","Message":"This region has quota of 0 instances for your subscription. Try selecting different region or SKU."
    • Maybe some regions don't have free plans available?
    • az account list-locations
    • Perhaps try creating an appserviceplan in the free tier first, and then specify that?
    • Using westus2 did not fail. However, I see an application error.
    • Simple az webapp delete, in same terminal session, worked. Confirmed by empty az webapp list.
      • This leaves .azure/ config directory behind. Maybe az webapp delete group?

[ehmatthes]

Next try: az webapp up --sku F1 --runtime PYTHON:3.8 --location westus2 --verbose

• Should deploy, but result in application error. Maybe output is easier to parse than --debug?
  • It's creating a zip file of the project. Is it including the env?
  • Look at logs? Is that the same as debug?
  • az webapp log tail
    • No module named white noise
    • Add whitenoise to requirements.txt.
    • Home page appears!
    • Is there a db? Yes, it pulled my db.sqlite3 file.
    • Make a topic, redeploy. Does the topic still exist? (ie is the db ephemeral, or written over?) It still exists. I don't know why.

[ehmatthes]

Refining db approach

• Give deployed db a unique name, so no overlap with local db?
• How run initial migrations?
• Specify what gets put into the zip file?

[ehmatthes]

Does venv affect deployment time?

• Delete ll_env/, redeploy. Any faster?
  • Need to deploy, which takes longer. Then redeploy 2x, note those times. Then delete venv, and redeploy 2x.

[ehmatthes]

Tasks

• When adding --platform azure option to simple_deploy, add a confirmation that this is in beta and you should confirm that your app is using the resources and plans you want it to.
• In script, consider copying needed files to a tmp dir for push? Gets around no way to exclude directories.
• Research: create zip file manually and push that?

[ehmatthes]

Consider git push approach

• az webapp create --sku F1 --deployment-local-git --dryrun
  • Requires --name arg.

[ehmatthes]

Another attempt

• with no local env
  • az webapp up --sku F1 --runtime PYTHON:3.8 --location westus2 --verbose
  • ~3min for initial deploy
• try with db connection setting for db that doesn't exist in local dir
  • Deploys, but there's no db in production. (OperationalError debug page.)
  • Any way to run migrate?
    • https://app_name.scm.azurewebsites.net/DebugConsole, then click SSH.
    • Note: Any data outside '/home' is not persisted
    • az webapp deployment list-publishing-profiles should give username/ pw for user who can log in to console
• Works:
  • az webapp create-remote-connection
  • This gives tunnel, then gives SSH username and password.
  • ssh root@127.0.0.1 -p 60898
  • Begins session where migrate works!
  • Might take some wrestling to get this to work from a script!!!
  • Push again, see if data persists.
  • Might need to move sqlite file to non-tmp location?

[ehmatthes]

Testing

• I believe the initial request takes longer than most, because a docker container is warming up. Test script may need a longer request timeout for initial request, or several retries before giving up.

[ehmatthes]

Partial script

• Write a bash script that pushes an already-configured django project to azure, and runs the migration, then deletes the app.
  • Deploys and opens app.
  • Runs create-remote-connection, which goes through a few waiting cycles and then gives a port number.
  • Opens remote connection shows port number, but need to find a way to issue next call instead of waiting on more in the current connection. Maybe tail output until find a port number, maybe run the remote connection in a sub shell but follow output????
  • Try: webapp create-remote-connection --port 63256 in a sub shell, then SSH to that port?

[ehmatthes]

Most promising migration approaches

• Run a post-deployment script, that can be included in the project itself.
• Use Kudu REST api.
• Use expect for now, even if it only runs on macOS.
• az webapp ssh
• Make an app setting with POST_BUILD_COMMAND set? Might also need to set POST_BUILD_SCRIPT_PATH?

[ehmatthes]

Migration: Kudu REST api

• Get login credentials from az webapp deployment list-publishing-profiles.
• Make a get request to get information about the deployment.
• Use url to submit command in a JSON format.
  • Simple command, like "echo hello"
  • Choose a known existing directory.
• Run manage.py check
• Where are my files??? (in directory over api)
• I believe this will only work after a git-based deployment?

[ehmatthes]

Notes

• See https://portal.azure.com dashboard to make sure I'm actually deleting my test apps.

[ehmatthes]

Now that something's working...

• Could unset POST_BUILD_COMMAND after initial push?
  • Don't want to set user up for rerunning migrations on every deploy.

[ehmatthes]

Not sure why I closed this, I haven't sorted out an approach to setting up the database yet.

[ehmatthes]

This is working in a separate, private, messy repo. I'll port that work to this project shortly.