Ubuntu Deployment Scripts for biophi.dichlab.org

This repository contains the deployment configuration for the public http://biophi.dichlab.org/ server.

Feel free to use this as a template for 🐧 Ubuntu deployment.

Deploying a new release

To deploy a new release, simply run the ./deploy.sh script.

First time setup on Ubuntu

Here's how to set up the deployment. You'll need root acces for this (us su root or sudo bash to run as root).

Summary of the following steps:

• Set up directory and biophi user
• Install conda and BioPhi
• Install and set up redis database
• Set up flask & celery worker services
• Set up Nginx server and SSL

Some steps might be skipped here. If you get stuck, Google is your friend 😊

Create deployment directory

This directory will host all the settings and the OASis DB.

# Create deployment directory (you need root access for this and everything that follows)
mkdir /opt/biophi
cd /opt/biophi
# Clone this repo (or your own fork) into current directory
git clone git@github.com:lich-uct/biophi.dichlab.org.git .

Download OASis DB

Download and unzip the OASis database file (22GB uncompressed).

# Enter the deployment directory
cd /opt/biophi
# Download database file
wget https://zenodo.org/record/5164685/files/OASis_9mers_v1.db.gz
# Unzip
gunzip OASis_9mers_v1.db.gz

Add biophi user

useradd biophi
addgroup biophi staff
addgroup biophi www-data
mkdir /home/biophi /home/biophi/run
chown biophi:biophi /home/biophi /home/biophi/run

Install redis

apt-get install redis-server

This will automatically start it as a service in the background

# Try calling redis
redis-cli PING
# You should get PONG

Install BioPhi

You can install BioPhi using Conda or one of the alternatives (Miniconda, Miniforge).

Then, add conda to your PATH and run conda init.

# Create the BioPhi conda environment
conda create -n biophi python=3.9
conda activate biophi

# Install BioPhi and dependencies from Bioconda channel
conda install -c bioconda biophi

Installing BioPhi from git repository

If you want to install BioPhi directly from a git repository, you can clone it in a separate directory (e.g. /opt/github-biophi) and then install using:

pip install --no-deps /opt/github-biophi

Set up gunicorn service

Check the local gunicorn web server config and adjust as needed:

• gunicorn/biophi-gunicorn.service Gunicorn service config
• gunicorn/gunicorn.sh Gunicorn script, adjust concurrency based on your CPU count here
• activate.sh Conda and ENV var activation

Register the config as a systemd service:

ln -s /opt/biophi/gunicorn/biophi-gunicorn.service /etc/systemd/system/biophi-gunicorn.service

# Start gunicorn
systemctl start biophi-gunicorn
# Register gunicorn at startup (important!)
systemctl enable biophi-gunicorn
# Check the status of gunicorn
systemctl status biophi-gunicorn

See flask gunicorn log using: journalctl -u biophi-gunicorn.service -e

Set up celery service

Check the local celery worker config and adjust as needed:

• celery/biophi-celery.service Celery service config
• celery/celery.sh Celery script, adjust concurrency based on your CPU count here
• activate.sh Conda and ENV var activation

Register the config as a systemd service:

ln -s /opt/biophi/celery/biophi-celery.service /etc/systemd/system/biophi-celery.service

# Start celery
systemctl start biophi-celery
# Register celery at startup (important!)
systemctl enable biophi-celery
# Check the status of celery
systemctl status biophi-celery

See celery task log using: journalctl -u biophi-celery.service -e

Set up nginx

Ngix will listen to HTTP & HTTPS traffic and serve the gunicorn responses as a proxy server.

Based on: https://www.nginx.com/blog/using-free-ssltls-certificates-from-lets-encrypt-with-nginx/

Create a basic nginx config file:

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/biophi.dichlab.org

Enter the following:

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;
    server_name biophi.dichlab.org;

    location / {
        include proxy_params;
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5000;
    }
}

Enable the config:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/biophi.dichlab.org /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/biophi.dichlab.org

# Restart nginx
systemctl restart nginx
# Check status
systemctl status nginx

Set up HTTPS access

Generate SSL certificate using certbot (see installation guide for Ubuntu 20 or other platforms)

# Generate and install certificate
certbot --nginx -d biophi.dichlab.org

Your nginx config file /etc/nginx/sites-available/biophi.dichlab.org should now be updated with the SSL config.

# Restart nginx
systemctl restart nginx
# Check status
systemctl status nginx

Done!

You should be all good to go.