MeteorDeploy

npm install -g meteor-deploy-ssh

Node script to deploy meteor application to custom server. It creates meteor package, upload it to your server, unpack, install and launch application with node.js forever.

##WHAT IT DOES:

• create meteor package and send it to a server via ssh, extract it in specified website folder, install dependencies from npm, and run application with forever
• optionally creates virtual host file, upload it to the server together with meteor package, move it in apache's folder, enable new website and restart apache
• optionally creates a mongo dump from local or remote mongo db
• optionally restores a mongo dump locally or remotely

###Prerequisites: This script has a virtual host creation option designed for a server that runs apache with reversed proxy; should not be difficult to adapt this option for nginx, (you just need to edit .deploy/assets/vhost.txt file, since the provided one is for apache).

If your server is running apache < 2.4 the ws reverse proxy will not work (your app will fallback to XHR polling).

• node.js with forever should be installed on your server
• this script uses ssh connection so you need appropriate credentials
• your ssh user should be able to use sudo

##Usage:

• install as global npm module and run deploy -init from within your meteor app's folder
• this will create a .deploy folder inside your meteor app's folder; fill the .deploy/configuration.json file with the needed informations;
• then run:

deploy to **deployPosition** (from within the meteor app's folder)

##COMMAND LINE OPTIONS: -init initializes your current folder with .deploy folder; after this you need to update .deploy/configuration.json with correct parameters

-newdb on _deployPosition_ creates a new mongodb user on your server for the app; the option "on" is needed only if -newdb is used without "to" option (only mongodb user creation without deploy)

-vhost manages virtual host file creation, and apache server restart (use this option if the website that will serve the app is not yet setted up on your server). please pay attention: due to connection problems or wrong parameters, apache restart operation can fail; in this case you need to be able to correct the problem and restart it manually.

-dump _deployPosition_ executes mongodump from specified position (use "local" to backup the db of locally running meteor app)

-r _source_ _destination_ restores the specified mongodump (use "local" to restore a dump creted from local meteor app) to the specified destination mongo server. If the -r option is used together with to option, the argument of to will be used as destination. While restoring it is used the "--drop" option, that deletes the collections before restoring from the dump.

-nows disables web-sockets in your app using export DISABLE_WEBSOCKETS=true before launching it (to use if your server is running apach 2.2 with no support for ws reverse proxy; this will avoid the waste of time for ws handshake when not supported)

##EXAMPLES

Assuming production being an object with all parameters setted up in .deploy/configuration.json

deploy app on "production"

deploy to production

create mongo db user and deploy on "production" (if you don't have a mongodb database & user already configured for the app on your server)

deploy to production -newdb

create mongo db user, virtual host file and deploy enabling new website on apache

deploy to production -vhost -newdb

create mongo db user without deploy

deploy -newdb on production

create mongo dump for local database (meteor should be running for this) (mongo restore option coming soon...)

deploy -dump local

create mongo dump for remote database

deploy -dump production

restore a local dump to production server

deploy -r local production

all together (create local dump, create new remote mongo user, restore from local to remote, create virtual host and deploy)

deploy to production -newdb -vhost -dump local -r local

##configuration.json

in this file there are:

• a local object containing configuration for local meteor app
• N "deployPosition" objects, each of them with the following fields:

(after you run deploy -init, look you can copy and paste "production" object in .deploy/configuration.json in order to set up as many deploy environments as you need)

[the vHost parameters are optionals: they are needed only if you will use vhost option]

• vHost object contains informations about apache configuration (used to deploy app to a domain that does not exist yet on your server):

  • apache24: set to true if your server uses apache 2.4 (that needs .conf suffix in virtual host file's name); set to false if you are using apache 2.2 or older
  • baseFile: is the local file used to build the virtual host for your meteor app; it contains <<<placeholders>>> that will be substituted with necessary data by the script; you can edit this file if you need to; it is not needed to edit this line of configuration.json if you don't move the file away from assets folder
  • destDir: is the folder on your server where the virtual host file should be saved (depends by server's configuration)

• mongodb object contains parameters to connect to your remote mongo db for your app [the first three parameters are optionals: are needed only if you need to create a new user for mongodb on your server]

  • rootUser: the username of an admin user in mongodb (should be able to create users)

  • rootPass: the password of mongo admin user

  • rootAuthDb: the name of the db where admin user belongs to

  • user: remote mongodb username

  • password: remote mongodb password

  • serverAddress: the ip of the server where mongo is running

  • port: port used by mongodb on your server (default 27017)

  • dbName: the name of the db that should be used by the app

• distDir: local folder used to save the meteor package; you don't need to change this; the meteor package is not deleted after deploy, so if you need it you can find it in this folder

• webDirectory: remote folder where your app should be unpacked on your server

• port: the port that your application will use on your sever

• foreverProcessName: the process name that will be used by forever to launch the application

• sshUser: username for ssh connection to your server

• sshAddress: your server ip for ssh connection

• sshPass: password for your ssh user

• localProcessMemoFile: this script creates an index file of all deployed processes and respectives used ports; this is the path where this file should be saved locally

##TIPS:

• if you often deploy new apps to the same server, you should consider to edit the source configuration file, located in module's folder (default is /usr/Local/lib/node_modules/meteor-deploy-ssh/lib/configuration.json); since this is the file copied by "-init" option into ".deploy" folder
• the module use the provided virtual host base file to create virtual host files for your apps; this file is located in module's folder (default is /usr/local/lib/node_modules/meteor-deploy-ssh/assets/vhost.txt); if you have improvements or need an host file with different options, you can edit this; use placeholders <<<domainName>>> and <<<port>>> that will be substituted by the script with parameters coming from configuration.json file.

##NOTICE: This script needs the latest version from master-branch of ssh2 npm module by mscdex (thanks to him for his work); the current ssh2 module on npm (0.3.6) does not include the latest changes; for convenience I've included the needed files for ssh2 module in subfolder /lib/ssh2-master;

the first time that you will use deploy, the script will overwrite ssh2 module files in meteor-deploy-ssh/node_modules folder with the latest version automatically; since these operations (copy files and delete lib/ssh2-master subfolder after that) needs root privileges, the first time you will use this script you will be prompted for sudo password;

##Found it useful? please consider making a small donation: donate

###ChangeLog:

• 21/01/2015 Ver 1.0.9

  • added autofind appName function (no more need to specity it in configuration.json)
  • fixed bug for remote mongorestore

• 05/01/2015 Ver. 1.0.3

  • added "-nows" option

• 03/01/2015 Ver. 1.0.2

  • added port in memo file
  • minor improvements
  • autofind of meteor app's name

• 02/01/2015 Ver. 1.0.0

  • added mongorestore function

• 31/12/2014

  • automatic ssh2 files update from mscdex/ssh2 master-branch
  • better error management
  • added mongo dump option

• 30/12/2014

  • implemented virtual host creation and apache restart
  • better error management
  • corrected bug in deploy -init option

• 29/12/2014

  • now supporting multi deploy positions
  • implemented remote mongo db user creation

• 26/12/2014

  • modified to be a global npm module
  • improved memo file function to detect if port for the app has changed

• 22/12/2014

  • added memo file function