VPS

Zero-config deployments of Plug, Phoenix, Rack and Rails apps on a clean Ubuntu server using Docker and Let's Encrypt

NOTE: This is an experimental project

Despite of having my fair share of experience in software development, hosting web applications has never really been my strongest skill set. So as a real programmer, I want to use a command line interface for easy deployments of my web applications (using HTTPS or not).

Important for me is not want to be locked onto a specific hosting provider and also, I want the server to be dispensable because "I know that my CLI has got my back".

So enter the Ruby gem VPS which makes it able to deploy my web application on a totally clean Ubuntu server by roughly just executing five simple commands 💪

Run the following command to install VPS:

$ gem install "vps"

VPS is a command-line-interface, you can print help instructions:

$ vps help
Commands:
  vps -v, [--version]                          # Show VPS version number
  vps deploy HOST [TOOL]                       # Deploy web application to the server
  vps domain                                   # Manage upstream domains
  vps domain add HOST:UPSTREAM DOMAIN [EMAIL]  # Add domain to host upstream (email recommended for https)
  vps domain help [COMMAND]                    # Describe subcommands or one specific subcommand
  vps domain list HOST[:UPSTREAM]              # List domains of host
  vps domain remove HOST[:UPSTREAM] [DOMAIN]   # Remove domain from host upstream
  vps edit [HOST]                              # Edit the VPS configuration(s)
  vps help [COMMAND]                           # Describe available commands or one specific command
  vps init HOST                                # Execute an initial server setup
  vps install HOST [TOOL]                      # Install software on the server
  vps service                                  # Manage host services
  vps service add HOST [SERVICE]               # Add service to host configuration
  vps service help [COMMAND]                   # Describe subcommands or one specific subcommand
  vps service list HOST                        # List services of host configuration
  vps service remove HOST [SERVICE]            # Remove service from host configuration
  vps upstream                                 # Manage host upstreams
  vps upstream add HOST[:UPSTREAM] PATH        # Add upstream to host configuration
  vps upstream help [COMMAND]                  # Describe subcommands or one specific subcommand
  vps upstream list HOST                       # List upstreams of host configuration
  vps upstream remove HOST[:UPSTREAM]          # Remove upstream from host configuration

Let's say the SSH host is called silver_surfer and that the application is located at ~/Sources/spider_web.

Just execute the following commands:

$ vps init silver_surfer
$ vps install silver_surfer docker
$ vps upstream add silver_surfer ~/Sources/spider_web
$ vps domain add silver_surfer:spider_web http://spider.web
$ vps deploy silver_surfer

Et voilà. Your awesome website is online, powered by Docker and Nginx! :D

No problem, just specify so and make sure you also pass a valid email address (which is recommended). During deployment certbot will be added to the docker compose config and the SSL certificates will be created using init-letsencrypt.sh.

$ vps init silver_surfer
$ vps install silver_surfer docker
$ vps upstream add silver_surfer ~/Sources/spider_web
$ vps domain add silver_surfer:spider_web https://spider.web your.valid@email-address.com
$ vps deploy silver_surfer

Cool, huh? :D

Easy. Just run vps service add <yourhost> (e.g. vps service add silver_surfer) and follow the instructions.

Thanks Philipp Medien (@pentacent_hq) for writing about using Nginx and Let's Encrypt with Docker:

https://medium.com/@pentacent / the-blog-post

Thanks Dmitry Fedosov (@dimafeng) for writing about scripting Docker based deployments:

http://dimafeng.com / the-blog-post

• Add documentation about adding docker-compose and Nginx related configs plus adding pre- and postload tasks

For support, remarks and requests, please mail me at pm_engel@icloud.com.

Copyright (c) 2020 Paul Engel, released under the MIT license

http://github.com/archan937 – http://twitter.com/archan937 – pm_engel@icloud.com

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.