Elentra Deployment

Elentra Deployment Tool v2.0.0

As of Elentra ME 1.19, the recommended deployment strategy for deploying Elentra to servers is to use a PHP-based deployment tool called Deployer. The Elentra Deployment Tool v2.0.0 recipe is based off of Deployer v6.8.0, which comes pre-installed with the Elentra Developer Docker environment and can easily be installed on host workstations or CI/CD servers.

Obtaining Elentra Deployment Tool

To obtain the standard Elentra Deployment Tool template, you can either:

1. If your local elentra-developer Docker environment is up to date, then the template already exists on your computer in the ~/Documents/elentra-developers/resources/templates/deployer/v6 directory. If you're not up to date, simply pull down the latest commits from the master branch.

2. Alternatively, you can always download the latest from our elentra-developer GitHub repository.

Configuration Variables

The following describes the default available deployment variables.

Variable	Description
application	Application Name (e.g.,uni-elentra-1x-me)
packagist_token	Institutional Packagist.com Composer token
repository	Branded Edition Elentra ME Git repository location
branch	The default deployment branch (e.g., master) within your Branded Edition Elentra ME Git repository. This value is always overridden by the host configuration section (if present), so it not overly important.
repository_ejs	Branded Edition Elentra JS 2.x Git repository location.
branch_ejs	The default deployment branch (e.g., master) within your Branded Edition Elentra JS Git repository. This value is always overridden by the host configuration section (if present), so it not overly important.
enable_branded_api	If you have a Branded Edition Elentra API with your implementation of Elentra then please set this to true. Default value is false.
allow_anonymous_stats	It is not recommended to change this value. Default value is false.
build_directory	Local build directory where repositories are stored before deployment. Default value is /tmp.
clear_paths	Array of files or directories removed from host(s) after deployment. Default value is www-root/setup.
default_stage	Default stage to be deployed with dep deploy. Default value is staging.
enable_restart_supervisor	Restart supervisord during the deployment process. Requires appropriate permissions. Default value is true.
exclude_paths	Exclude any files or directories in Elentra's .deployignore from deployment upload. Default value is true.
git_tty	Allocate tty for git clone. Default value is false.
keep_releases	Number of previous deployments to keep on the server. Default value is 10.

Host Configuration

For more documentation related to host configuration options, please see the Deployer Hosts documentation, which is quite extensive.

Single Server

This section illustrates a single server that has multiple Apache virtual hosts defined, which are used for both staging and production.

// Staging Server
host('elentra.med.university.edu/staging')
    ->stage('staging')
    ->user('staging')
    ->set('branch', 'uni/staging')
    ->set('branch_ejs', 'develop')
    ->set('deploy_path', '/var/www/vhosts/elentra-staging.med.university.edu')
    ->roles('app')
    ->forwardAgent();

// Production Server
host('elentra.med.university.edu/production')
    ->stage('production')
    ->user('production')
    ->set('branch', 'uni/production')
    ->set('branch_ejs', 'master')
    ->set('deploy_path', '/var/www/vhosts/elentra.med.university.edu')
    ->roles('app')
    ->forwardAgent();

Single Staging Server, Multiple Production Servers

This section illustrates a single staging server and multiple separate production server hosts.

Tip: When deploying to multiple production servers, you should use the -p or --parallel flag to deploy to multiple servers at the same time: dep deploy production -p

Deployer also supports host ranges (e.g., elentra[01:05].med.university.edu).

// Staging Server
host('elentra-staging.med.university.edu')
    ->stage('staging')
    ->user('staging')
    ->set('branch', 'uni/staging')
    ->set('branch_ejs', 'develop')
    ->set('deploy_path', '/var/www/vhosts/elentra-staging.med.university.edu')
    ->roles('app')
    ->forwardAgent();

// Production Server
host('elentra01.med.university.edu', 'elentra02.med.university.edu')
    ->stage('production')
    ->user('production')
    ->set('branch', 'uni/production')
    ->set('branch_ejs', 'master')
    ->set('deploy_path', '/var/www/vhosts/elentra.med.university.edu')
    ->roles('app')
    ->forwardAgent();

Deployment Commands

Deployer deployment commands are typically executed from within your Elentra Developer Docker Environment within the /var/www/vhosts/uni-elentra-1x-me/deployment directory, but can also be executed by your CI/CD server to automate the deployment process.

Commonly Used Commands

Deployer	Notes
dep deploy staging
dep deploy production	Add -p flag to speed up multi-server deployments. Add -v|vv|vvv flag to increase the verbosity of messages.
dep rollback staging
dep ssh hostname	Connect via SSH to the specified host.

Command Reference

Options:
  -h, --help               Display this help message
  -q, --quiet              Do not output any message
  -V, --version            Display this application version
      --ansi               Force ANSI output
      --no-ansi            Disable ANSI output
  -n, --no-interaction     Do not ask any interactive question
  -f, --file[=FILE]        Specify Deployer file
      --tag=TAG            Tag to deploy
      --revision=REVISION  Revision to deploy
      --branch=BRANCH      Branch to deploy
      --first-run          Skips deployment steps not required during initial deployment
      --force-build        Deletes the local build directories and forces a new build
  -v|vv|vvv, --verbose     Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug

Available commands:
  autocomplete                 Install command line autocompletion capabilities
  build                        Build all required application components
  cleanup                      Cleaning up old releases
  deploy                       Deploy Elentra ME to host(s)
  help                         Displays help for a command
  init                         Initialize deployer in your project
  list                         Lists commands
  rollback                     Rollback to previous release
  run                          Run any arbitrary command on hosts
  self-update                  Updates deployer.phar to the latest version
  ssh                          Connect to host through ssh
 build
  build:clean                  Remove all build directories
  build:ejs2                   Local: Build Elentra JS 2.x, if required
  build:ejs2:clean             Local: Remove Elentra JS 2.x local build directory
  build:me                     Local: Build Elentra ME
  build:me:clean               Local: Remove Elentra ME local build directory
  build:prerequisites          Local: Test for build prerequisites
 config
  config:current               Show current paths
  config:dump                  Print host configuration
  config:hosts                 Print all hosts
 debug
  debug:task                   Display the task-tree for a given task
 deploy
  deploy:clear_paths           Cleaning up files and/or directories
  deploy:copy_dirs             Copy directories
  deploy:lock                  Lock deploy
  deploy:migrate               Once: Run database migrations (on first host in stage only)
  deploy:prepare               Preparing host for deploy
  deploy:release               Prepare release. Clean up unfinished releases and prepare next release
  deploy:shared                Creating symlinks for shared files and dirs
  deploy:symlink               Creating symlink to release
  deploy:unlock                Unlock deploy
  deploy:writable              Make writable dirs
 finalize
  finalize:clear_cache         Clear the PHP opcode cache
  finalize:restart_supervisor  Restart supervisord daemon