Conveniently deploy a bunch of Phoenix apps

The main goal of Gatling is to make it very easy, cheap, and convenient to deploy Phoenix apps.

Gatling is essentially a collection of mix tasks that (from a Git push) automatically create a Distillery release and launches/upgrades it on your server.

• v1.1.1 fixes deployment regressions introduced with v1.1.0
• v1.1.0 catches up with a changed default build directory in Distillery
• v1.0.0 switches from Exrm to Distillery for packaging releases

For more information see the detailed changelog.

As you read through the instructions, keep in mind that both Distillery and Nginx have tons of options you can configure outside of Gatling. Gatling's goal is to offer an out-of-the-box solution that keeps out of the way of your custom deployment strategy. For example, Distillery requires a configuration file in ./rel/config.exs of your project. There is a lot you can do with this but if you decide not to install this yourself, Gatling will generate a basic one for you.

Please see the Distillery docs to unlock the full power of your releases. Gatling simply triggers them in a convenient way.

This has been tested on an Ubuntu 16.04 x64 server on Ec2 and Digital Ocean.

Install Elixir, Nginx, and the Gatling archive on your server:

$ ssh server.address

Follow instructions here to install Elixir.

$ sudo apt-get install nginx git
$ mix archive.install https://github.com/hashrocket/gatling_archives/raw/master/gatling.ez

If needed, install hex and rebar:

mix local.hex
mix local.rebar

For a brand new project, SSH into your server and run the following:

$ mix gatling.load {mix project name}

This only creates git repository on your server. Remember, when pushing to this repository, it would be [email protected]_server:<project name> e.g. for a Digital Ocean box, you would push to [email protected]:sample_project

Ensure your Elixir project can build a production release with Distillery.

Add a file to the root of your project named domains and list all domains that will point to this project. See an example here.

In your config/prod.exs, ensure your port configuration uses an environment variable called PORT (Gatling will set this for you automatically):

config :my_app, MyApp.Endpoint, [
 http: [port: {:system, "PORT"}],
 # root: ".", # add if using Phoenix
 # server: true, # add if using Phoenix
 # url: [host: "www.yourdomain.com"], # add if using Phoenix
]

config :phoenix, :serve_endpoints, true # uncomment if your using Phoenix

Setup your Git remote and push to your server:

$ git remote add production user_with_root_access@<address.to.server>:<project_name>
$ git push production master

SSH back into your server and ensure you have your secret.exs file(s) installed if needed.

Set your environment to prod by adding the following to /etc/environment:

$ MIX_ENV=prod

For the initial deploy, run $ sudo --preserve-env mix gatling.deploy {project_name} and Gatling will do the following:

• Create a distillery release and put all the parts in the right place
• Find an open port, configure Nginx to proxy to your app
• Create an init.d file so your app will boot if/when your server restarts

Once your app is running do the following:

• Increase the version number of your application. See here for an example to automatically increase the version number along with your commit
• Commit your new changes
• git push path.to.remote:project

And that's it! You'll see the new version being deployed with no downtime!

In your project root, create a file called deploy.exs. Define any of the following functions to wrap the Gatling deployment actions:

defmodule SampleProject.DeployCallbacks do
  import Gatling.Bash

  def before_mix_deps_get(env)
  def after_mix_deps_get(env)

  def before_mix_compile(env)
  def after_mix_compile(env)

  def before_mix_digest(env)
  def after_mix_digest(env)

  def before_mix_release_init(env)
  def after_mix_release_init(env)

  def before_mix_release(env)
  def after_mix_release(env)

  def before_make_deploy_dir(env)
  def after_make_deploy_dir(env)

  def before_copy_release_to_deploy(env)
  def after_copy_release_to_deploy(env)

  def before_expand_release(env)
  def after_expand_release(env)

  def before_install_init_script(env)
  def after_install_init_script(env)

  def before_mix_ecto_setup(env)
  def after_mix_ecto_setup(env)

  def before_start_service(env)
  def after_start_service(env)

  def before_configure_nginx(env)
  def after_configure_nginx(env)

end

Note: the env is passed to every function. It is a READ only struct you can use. Returning env from a callback function will have no effect on the rest of the deployment process. Here is an example of the env that is passed in.

In your project root, create a file called upgrade.exs. Define any of the following functions to to wrap the Gatling upgrade actions:

defmodule SampleProject.UpgradeCallbacks do
  import Gatling.Bash

  def before_mix_deps_get(env)
  def after_mix_deps_get(env)

  def before_mix_compile(env)
  def after_mix_compile(env)

  def before_mix_digest(env)
  def after_mix_digest(env)

  def before_mix_release_init(env)
  def after_mix_release_init(env)

  def before_mix_release(env)
  def after_mix_release(env)

  def before_make_upgrade_dir(env)
  def after_make_upgrade_dir(env)

  def before_copy_release_to_upgrade(env)
  def after_copy_release_to_upgrade(env)

  def before_upgrade_service(env)
  def after_upgrade_service(env)

end

Note: the env is passed to every function. It is a READ only struct you can use. Returning env from a callback function will have no effect on the rest of the upgrade process. Here is an example of the env that is passed in.

While implementing your callback functions. If you are going to use System.cmd/3, you can instead add import Gatling.Bash to the top of your module and use bash/3 to get a more transparent output.

Say I want to install wget before my dependencies are installed in the deploy task. Also I want to avoid complaints about the priv/static directory not existing. I would create a file in my project called ./deploy.exs with the following:

defmodule SampleProject.DeployCallbacks do
  import Gatling.Bash

  def before_mix_deps_get(_env) do
    bash("sudo", ~w[apt-get install wget])
  end

  def before_mix_digest(env) do
    # optional: release may complain about this directory not existing
    bash("mkdir", ~w[-p priv/static], cd: env.build_dir)

    # you might also want to add the asset compiling here.
    # see the upgrade example below for details.
  end

end

This wget install function will be called right before mix deps get and the mkdir will happen before mix phoenix.digest.

Say I want the server to run npm install and recompile assets as well as migrate on upgrade:

defmodule SampleProject.UpgradeCallbacks do
  import Gatling.Bash

  def before_mix_digest(env) do
    bash("npm", ~w[install], cd: env.build_dir)
    bash("npm", ~w[run deploy], cd: env.build_dir)
  end

  def before_upgrade_service(env) do
    bash("mix", ~w[ecto.migrate], cd: env.build_dir)
  end

end

• How I Built My Own Heroku for Phoenix Apps
• Deploying Phoenix on Ubuntu with Gatling
• Configuring Nginx for Phoenix applications

$ git clone https://github.com/hashrocket/gatling.git
$ cd gatling
$ mix deps.get
# Clone the archives repo
$ git clone https://github.com/hashrocket/gatling_archives.git

To create a new release, take the following steps:

1. Bump your version number in mix.exs
2. git add . && git commit -m 'Bump to v<version>'
3. $ MIX_ENV=prod mix do compile, build
4. $ cd gatling_archives
5. $ git add .
6. $ git commit -m "Release v<version>" && git tag v<version>
7. $ git push origin master && git push origin --tags
8. $ cd ../ && git tag v<version>
9. $ git push origin master && git push origin --tags

Gatling is supported by the team gatling_archives Hashrocket, a multidisciplinary design and development consultancy. If you'd like to work with us or join our team, don't hesitate to get in touch.