Running and configuring the deployment

A complete Freva instance will need the following services:

solr servers (hostname of the apache solr server)
db servers (hostname of the MariaDB server)
web servers (hostname that will serve web ui)
core servers (hostname(s) where the command line interface will be installed)

Setting the python and git path

Some systems do not have access to python3.4+ (/usr/bin/python3) or git by default. In such cases you can overwrite the ansible_python_interpreter in the inventory settings of the server section to point ansible to a custom python3 bindary. For example

ansible_python_interpreter=/sw/spack-rhel6/miniforge3-4.9.2-3-Linux-x86_64-pwdbqi/bin/python3

The same applies to the path to the git binary:

git_path=/sw/spack-levante/git-2.31.1-25ve7r/bin/git

A map of your server infrastructure (optional)

Different Freva instances are installed across different server hosts. Usually the different Freva instances running at an institution are distinguished by a unique project name for example clex. To keep track of all server and services we have created a service that keeps track of the locations of all services for certain Freva instances. Before the first deployment we recommend to setup this server map by issuing the deploy-freva-map command. Please also refer to the installation section for more details. This step is only necessary once per institution, please talk to the admins of any other Freva instances at your institution if this service has already been set up.

Running the deployment

After successful configuration you can run the deployment. The command deploy-freva opens a text user interface (tui) that will walk you through the setup of the deployment.

Note: Navigation is similar to the one of the nano text editor. The shortcuts start with a ^ which indicates CTRL+.

Please refer to the Appendix I on tui usage instructions.

Deployment with existing configuration.

If you already have a configuration saved in a toml inventory file you can issue the deploy-freva-cmd command:

deploy-freva-cmd --help
usage: deploy-freva-cmd [-h] [--server-map SERVER_MAP] [--config CONFIG] [--steps {web,core,db,solr} [{web,core,db,solr} ...]]
                        [--ask-pass] [-v] [-V]

Deploy Freva and its services on different machines.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --server-map SERVER_MAP
                        Hostname of the service mapping the Freva server architecture, Note: you can create a server map by running
                        the deploy-freva-map command (default: None)
  --config CONFIG, -c CONFIG
                        Path to ansible inventory file. (default: /home/wilfred/.config/freva/deployment/inventory.toml)
  --steps {web,core,db,solr} [{web,core,db,solr} ...]
                        The services/code stack to be deployed (default: ['db', 'solr', 'web', 'core'])
  --ask-pass            Connect to server via ssh passwd instead of public key. (default: False)
  -v, --verbose         Verbosity level (default: 0)
  -V, --version         show program's version number and exit

The --steps flags can be used if not all services should be deployed.

Known Issues:

Below are possible solutions to some known issues:

SSH connection fails:

fatal: [host.name]: FAILED! => {"msg": "Using a SSH password instead of a key is not possible because Host Key checking is enabled and sshpass does not support this.  Please add this host's fingerprint to your known_hosts file to manage this host."}

This means that you’ve never logged on to the server. You can avoid this error message by simply logging on to the server for the first time.

Playbook complains about refused connections for the solr or db playbook

fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "cmd": "docker run --name \"test_ces_db\" -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=\"T3st\" -p \"3306\":3306 -d docker.io/library/mariadb", "delta": "0:00:00.229695", "end": "2021-05-27 16:10:58.553280", "msg": "non-zero return code", "rc": 125, "start": "2021-05-27 16:10:58.323585", "stderr": "docker: Error response from daemon: driver failed programming external connectivity on endpoint test_ces_db (d106bf1fe310a2ae0e012685df5a897874c61870c5241f7a2af2c4ce461794c2): Error starting userland proxy: listen tcp4 0.0.0.0:3306: bind: address already in use.", "stderr_lines": ["docker: Error response from daemon: driver failed programming external connectivity on endpoint test_ces_db (d106bf1fe310a2ae0e012685df5a897874c61870c5241f7a2af2c4ce461794c2): Error starting userland proxy: listen tcp4 0.0.0.0:3306: bind: address already in use."], "stdout": "895ba35cdf5dcf2d4ec86997aedf0637bf4020f2e9d3e5775221966dcfb820a5", "stdout_lines": ["895ba35cdf5dcf2d4ec86997aedf0637bf4020f2e9d3e5775221966dcfb820a5"]}

This means that there is already a service running on this port - in this case a local mariadb service. To avoid this error chose a different port in your config/inventory file.

Playbook cannot create database tables because connections fails

fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "ERROR 1698 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'\n"}

This is a common problem if you’ve set the mariadb docker host to be localhost. You can avoid the problem by setting the db_host variable to a non localhost type IP like 172.17.0.1. If you’re not sure what IP to use try the following command

docker inspect -f '{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.IPAddress}}{{end}}' db_docker_name

you can figure out the db_docker_name using the following command:

docker container ls

Stuck in load/save dialogue in the tui

The load/save forms can be exited by pressing the <TAB> key which will get you to input field at the bottom of the screen. If the input field has text delete it an press the <ESC> key, this will bring you get to the screen where you started.

Advanced: Adjusting the playbook

Playbook templates and be found the in the ~/.config/freva/deployment/playbooks directory. You can also add new variables to the playbook if they are present in the ~/.config/freva/deployment/inventory.toml file.