CET Dimensions

A student information system [semester project]

Getting started

We prefer to use Ubuntu as development platform, because of the nice stuff it provides

Install the following packages:

1. NodeJS
2. A compiler to compile native modules Ubuntu users:

   sudo apt-get install g++ make python

3. [optional] nodemon To manually restart express server on changing source files.

   npm install -g nodemon
   

   Try with sudo if npm install fails.
4. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Agathver/dimensions
   

5. Install dependencies

   cd dimensions
   npm install
   

6. Install the database

   sudo apt-get install mongodb
   

   If you have docker isntalledm please see the alternate docker based development workflow.
7. Start the application

   npm start
   

   Or if you have nodemon

   nodemon start
   

   Application should be not visible at http://localhost:3000

Docker based development workflow

If you have docker, then you can try out the wercker based workflow for even easier approach.

If you have docker installed, you should adapt the docker based development approach. (makes life easier)

First time users: Install nodemon, compilers and perform npm install

./dev_env init

To start server:

./dev_env start
nodemon start

Using wercker

Wercker is a shiny new tool to develop, build, test and deploy. If you have docker installed, you can install wercker to do all heavy lifting for you.

1. Install wercker CLI from http://www.wercker.com/wercker-cli or type the following:

   sudo curl -L https://s3.amazonaws.com/downloads.wercker.com/cli/stable/linux_amd64/wercker -o /usr/local/bin/wercker
   sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/wercker
   

2. Run wercker dev --publish 3000 to start your server. No need to install a thing (not even npm install). Server will be available on http://localhost:3000

Production

Live deployment

Current code is deployed automatically to https://dimensions.cetb.in (do not break things ;) )

Running production server locally

Server is based on docker so you can run the production server wherever docker runs.

1. Install docker and docker-compose
2. docker-compose up Site should be live at http://localhost:3000

Reverse Proxy

YOu can use a reverse proxy to increase performance and perform load balancing between workers. We would recommend using nginx.

Sample nginx config:

proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx levels=1:2 keys_zone=my_cache:10m max_size=10g
                 inactive=60m use_temp_path=off;

server {
	listen 80;
	listen [::]:80;

	server_name dimensions.cetb.in;

	location / {
		proxy_cache my_cache;
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
		proxy_cache_revalidate on;
	  proxy_cache_min_uses 3;
		proxy_cache_use_stale error timeout updating http_500 http_502 http_503 http_504;
	  proxy_cache_lock on;
		add_header X-Cache-Status $upstream_cache_status;
		proxy_cache_bypass $http_pragma;
	}
}

Testing

Make sure you test before pushing

npm test

Happy coding!