Linokku

A CLI to roll new Linode servers, install Dokku, and manage deployed apps.

linokku roll                      # provisions server and displays host ip
linokku install REMOTE_IP         # configures dokku on host server

linokku setup REMOTE_IP APP_NAME DOMAIN

git push APP_NAME

In four steps, linokku sets up a Heroku-like service, Dokku, hosted on a Linode server and configures everything under the covers.

The linokku setup will add a new remote to the git repository in the current working directory. The name of the remote will be the value of APP_NAME, and will be used for subsequent pushes, i.e. git push APP_NAME.

linokku supports deploying multiple apps to a single host, e.g. api.example.com, mob-feed.example.com, auth.example.com could all be seperately deployed applications on one server.

Motivation

Dockerfiles provide an excellent way to standardize run-time environments, independent of host machines. Deploying non-public Dockerfiles can be complicated, but services such as Heroku step in to make integrating with private Dockerfile-based repos incredibly simple. Heroku is a popular way of deploying applications due to its ease, and inspired the creation of Dokku.

Heroku comes with many drawbacks when optimizing for cost and availability compared to "DIY" hosting providers like Linode and DigitalOcean. Like Heroku, Dokku allows for local deployment to servers, however Dokku must be configured on a host server before use.

linokku merges the affordable and accessible Linode platform with Dokku to create a four-step process for deploying an app to the cloud starting from only a local Docker repository. Multiple containerized apps can be run on a single host with individual domains handled by Dokku's proxy.