DIY Deploy

This project includes ansible scripts for locking down and provisioning a node.js server, and deploying something you can npm start to that server. That server can be bare metal, or a Virtual Private Server (VPS). These scripts make it so you never have to shell into your server by hand. You can copy or submodule these scripts into your project, which we detail in the setup steps below.

Create or cat ssh keys

If you already have an ssh key pair, cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub or ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub depending on how long ago you did this for the first time.

If you don't have a key pair yet, then generate one:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"

Hit enter three times to save the key pair in the default location and not use a passphrase.

Get a server

Install Ansible

Next let's install ansible:

On a mac

Install homebrew and then:

brew update && brew install ansible

On Linux

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ansible/ansible && sudo apt update && sudo apt install ansible

On Windows

Follow the Ansible Windows Installation Instructions

Provision a new server

If you don't have one yet, try a droplet on digital ocean. Something with 1gb of memory should be enough to start you off. Point a domain at that droplet, and replace privacy-stack-template.com with that domain in the following instructions. An IP address will work as well.

Manually copy or submodule this project into your existing node app

If you want to use a submodule:

cd /path/to/myproject && git submodule add https://github.com/bocoup/deploy.git && git submodule init

Copy an update inventory.example.yml

These ansible playbooks uses the variables in an inventory to know what server to deploy to, what domain to use, what version of node to install, and if you have a root ssh password, what password to use.

First copy the example inventory file:

cp deploy/inventory.example.yml inventory.yml

Then change the values in that file to match your project:

# Our production server.
# Copy this whole block if you'd like to add a staging server
Production:
  # The IP address of your server.
  # Add a second one if you'd like to deploy twice.
  # You can add as many as you want.
  hosts: an.ip.add.ress
  vars:
    # Used for your app's domain name
    domain: example.com
    # Used for your certbot email, note you'll be agreeing to the ToS.
    email: you@example.com
    # Pick your node version
    nodejs_version: 20
    # If you have an SSH key on your server for the root user, you don't need this.
    ansible_ssh_pass: "secret"
    # List of files and folders to copy to the server on deploy.
    # Change this to be the files your node app needs to run.
    # Example set up for a remix.run indie stack app.
    deploy_files:
      - src: ../prisma/migrations
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/prisma/
      - src: ../prisma/schema.prisma
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/prisma/schema.prisma
      - src: ../build/
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/build
      - src: ../public/
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/public
      - src: ../.env
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/
      - src: ../.npmrc
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/
      - src: ../package.json
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/
      - src: ../package-lock.json
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/
      - src: ../LICENSE.md
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/
      - src: ../README.md
        dest: /home/{{ domain }}/

Now you're ready to use ansible in your project.

Lock down the server

First we'll lock down the server. If you have a ssh key already on the server, you can run:

  ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml deploy/lockdown.yml

If you have a root user and password, you need to disable host key checking as part of your command:

export ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING=false && ansible-playbook -i deployment/inventory.yml  deploy/lockdown.yml

In either case this script uses ansible to:

• Add a new user named deploy
• Add deploy user to the sudoers
• Deploy your SSH Key
• Disable Password Authentication
• Disable Root Login
• restart ssh

Provision the server

Now let's configure the server:

ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml deploy/provision.yml

This script uses ansible to:

• Update apt repo and cache
• Upgrade all packages
• Check if a reboot is needed
• Reboot the server if kernel updated
• Install system packages with apt (curl, gnupg, ufw, nginx, and python3-certbot-nginx)
• Enable ufw firewall
• Enable SSH and nginx in UFW
• Create directory for the app
• Copy nginx conf to server and symlink it
• Create ssl certificate with certbot
• Copy systemd service to server
• Copy systemd friendly start script to server
• Reload and enable systemd service
• Restart nginx
• Install nvm and use it to install node and npm

Deploy the software

Next up let's build and deploy your project!

npm run build && ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml deploy/deploy.yml

This script uses ansible to:

• Copy the app to the server (prisma migrations and schema, build files, public files, .env, .npmrc, package.json, package-lock.json, LICENSE.md, and README.md)
• Install npm deps
• Run migrations
• Start the app with systemd

Make package.json commands

We also recommend that you make a deploy command to alias ansible for convenience:

 "scripts": {
    "deploy": "npm run build && ansible-playbook -i inventory.yml deploy/deploy.yml"
  },