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Openshift PaaS

Notice

A quickstart has been made to handle much of the below by using openshift's environment variables. If you're just getting started please take a look at ahwayakchih's openshift repo

The following are installation instructions for the Openshift PaaS. Before starting, you need to install Red Hat's rhc command line at https://developers.openshift.com/en/managing-client-tools.html

Step 1: Create an application:

You may do this through your web console or by using rhc:

rhc app create nodebb nodejs-0.10

If you're using the web console:

Scroll down and choose Node.js 0.10 in "Other types". Then click 'Next'. Type nodebb in application name or replace (name) to whatever you like.

You may see a note indicating you need to specify a namespace. Namespace can be anything as long you do not change the application name. If you do add a namespace make sure to use them in your RHC commands with -n and use -a to target you application by name.

rhc app create -a nodebb -n mynamespace nodejs-0.10

Scroll all the way down and click 'Create Application'. Then you need to wait for it to finish creating your first NodeBB application.

You will be asked if you want to code your application. Simply click 'Not now, contiune'. Then you will be redirected to an application page. It will tell you that it is created without any errors and it is started.

Step 2: Add a Database:

NodeBB works with eaither Redis or MongoDB, we'll use MongoDB.

rhc cartridge add mongodb-2.4 -a nodebb

In the web console:

Click 'see the list of cartridges you can add'. Choose the MongoDB cartridge. Then click 'Next'. You should see if you want to confirm. Click 'Add Cartridge'.

Step 3: Note your Database Credentials.

After installing the cartridge you'll get a notification of your username and password. Write it down somewhere, as you will need it later.

Open terminal (or Git Bash) and paste the following command to access SSH.

rhc app ssh -a nodebb

Note: If you got an error that it does not exist or similar, you need to do the following command and then try again.

rhc setup

Get your Database's Host, IP and Port

Save this for later as well...

echo $OPENSHIFT_NODEJS_IP && echo $OPENSHIFT_MONGODB_DB_HOST && echo $OPENSHIFT_MONGODB_DB_PORT

In order: First line: NodeJS IP address - You should save it. Second line: Mongodb IP address - Write it down. Third line: Mongodb Port - Write it down.

Now exit SSH by pasting the following command.

exit

Note: You might have to type 'exit' once, and then again to exit SSH completely.

Step 4: Add NodeBB's Source Code on Openshift:

Go back to your web console and then click NodeBB application. Copy the URL address from "Scoure Code."

A similar scoure code URL address should be this: ssh://%5Bcode%5D@nodebb-%5Bnamespace%5D.rhcloud.com/~/git/nodebb.git/

Go back to terminal. Paste the following command and then paste the URL address.

git clone ssh://[code]@nodebb-[namespace].rhcloud.com/~/git/nodebb.git/

Note: If it exists, check to make sure you do not have more than four files. If it is, delete it and rerun the command. Otherwise continue on.

Note: This will create NodeBB folder on your computer, usually \~/users/[name]/NodeBB

Then cd to NodeBB folder on your computer. And you will need to clone NodeBB from Github to your application by using this command. The default command git clone will not work with Openshift, unless you're in SSH. You may split up this command into two parts if you needed to clone your repository to another part of your computer start git bash from there.

cd nodebb && git remote add upstream -m master https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB.git

or

cd nodebb
git remote add upstream -m master https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB.git

Then pull files from NodeBB's repository.

git pull -s recursive -X theirs upstream v0.9.x

Openshift does not yet support version 1.0.0 or later, see this issue on github.

Step 5: Upload the source code to Openshift

Now you will need to commit and push files to your application's repository. Replace message with your message. It will take a while to finish.

git commit -a -m 'message' && git push

Step 6: Configure and Install NodeBB.

SSH back into your application:

rhc app ssh -a nodebb

Start the installation of NodeBB using interactive installer. You're going to fill in your application's details.

cd ~/app-root/repo && ./nodebb setup

Note: Web installer (npm start) will not work because the application has not been configured to bind to Openshift's allowed ports. We're about to do this right now.

*URL used to access this NodeBB (http://localhost:4567)**) - Copy and paste your application's URL address and then add port 8080 like so: http://nodebb-%5Bnamespace%5D.rhcloud.com:8080

Please enter a NodeBB secret (code) - Just press enter.

Which database to use (redis) - enter mongo.

Host IP or address of your Mongo instance (127.0.0.1) - Copy & paste Mongo's IP address.

Host port of your Mongo instance (6379) - Copy & paste Mongo's port.

Password of your Mongo database - Enter your Mongo password.

Which database to use (0) - Enter the database name.

Step 7: Now you will need to edit config.json NodeBB had created.

Paste the following command.

nano config.json

Add a line below "url" and then add the following. Repleace NodeJS IP Address to IP address of your application. Then exit the editor using CTRL+X.

` "bind_address": "NodeJS IP Address",`

Step 8: Now start your NodeBB on Openshift!

And you're done! Then visit your website: http://nodebb-%5Bnamespace%5D.rhcloud.com/

cd ~/app-root/repo && ./nodebb start

Note

Starting, stopping, reloading, or restarting NodeBB now works on Openshift. Be sure you always do this before doing it. (Replace [string] with a nodeBB command of your choice). You can recover your application from critical plugin failures for example by running ./nodebb stop followed by ./nodebb reset -p nodebb-plugin-name

rhc app ssh -a nodebb
cd ~/app-root/repo
./nodebb [string]

If your application fails to start after a git push due to an error like EADDRINUSE openshift's application has critically failed and you may want to consider moving your NodeBB install to a new instance. Look up backing up and exporting databases. You can still resolve the error by first force stopping your application before making a push, but you will have to do this every single git push from now on.

rhc app-force-stop -a nodebb
git push origin master