Infrastructure Overview
In this chapter, you are going to take a deep dive into the Appconda infrastructure. It's more theoretical, so be warned.
The Infrastructure
Appconda use a docker-compose.yml file for setup and running is infrastructure.
docker-compose.yml is a yaml file that define the services, volumes and networks needed to run.
Containers & Images In Docker, Containers are a sort of virtual machines running instance of a specific Docker Image. Docker Image is a file that contains all the files and software needed to run a certain service.
Here's a quick overview of Appconda docker-compose.yml file.
| Service Name | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| traefik | traefik:2.7 | Load balancer and traffic router |
| appconda | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Appconda Console & API main entrypoint |
| mariadb | mariadb:10.7 | App & System Database |
| redis | redis:7.0.4-alpine | Key Value on-RAM Database, use to store temporary workers data for queue-based process and cache |
| influxdb | appconda/influxdb:1.5.0 | Timebase Database. use to track Appconda usages. |
| telegraf | appconda/telegraf:1.4.0 | Server Metric usage collector |
| appconda-realtime | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Appconda Realtime entrypoint |
| appconda-executor | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | On-demand Function creator and manager |
| appconda-maintenance | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Maintainer. Do all non-specific jobs. for example adding certificate requirement to the queue |
| appconda-usage | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Usage tracker. Transfers information from influxdb into MariaDB |
| appconda-schedule | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | The crontab (Schedule) manager. |
| appconda-worker-audits | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - Log information for auditing purposes. |
| appconda-worker-webhooks | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - CURL any needed webhooks |
| appconda-worker-deletes | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - Deleting projects, users, collection, documents and anything else. |
| appconda-worker-databases | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - Runs any management needed action on the database, e.g. Adding index. |
| appconda-worker-builds | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - Building deployment of newly deployed functions. |
| appconda-worker-certificates | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - Created required in-queue certificate |
| appconda-worker-functions | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - Execute any in-queue function. |
| appconda-worker-mails | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - Sends any Appconda internal emails. |
| appconda-worker-messaging | appconda/appconda:1.3.8 | Queue Worker - Sends SMS for auth. |
Good To Know
As you can see most of the services are sharing the same Docker image Appconda/Appconda:1.3.8
This approach is quite smart and although that each service is accessing and using different part of the image, it's still one image.
So when a new version is being released all the services will use the new one, and you get an advantage of monorepo approach in a way that you force yourself to make sure that all the services can run with the new image.
What eventually makes upgrading much easy and much more fail-proof.
Networks
In Docker, Networks are a way to connect between containers. Think of them as a virtual switch/router.
Networks are a way to define which containers can communicate with each other, as containers contact each other through the network. That way you can isolate containers from each other.
List of Networks
Here's a quick overview of Appconda networks.
| Network | Usage |
|---|---|
| gateway | Default network Not in use |
| Appconda | Appconda main network shared across all containers except the dynamically created open-runtime containers |
| runtime | Isolated network between the Appconda-executor and any dynamically created open-runtime container(s) |
Volumes
In Docker, Volumes are a way to store data outside the container. Any data that is stored in a volume will persist even if the container is failed, stopped or deleted.
List of Volumes
Here's a quick overview of Appconda volumes.
| volumes | Usage | Used By # Containers |
|---|---|---|
| Appconda-mariadb | MariaDB | mariadb |
| Appconda-redis | Redis | redis |
| Appconda-cache | Cache | Appconda |
| Appconda-worker-deletes | ||
| Appconda-uploads | Storage | Appconda |
| Appconda-worker-deletes | ||
| Appconda-certificates | Certification | traefik |
| Appconda | ||
| Appconda-worker-deletes | ||
| Appconda-worker-certificates | ||
| Appconda-functions | Prebuilt functions | Appconda |
| Appconda-worker-deletes | ||
| Appconda-executor | ||
| Appconda-builds | Built functions | Appconda-worker-deletes |
| Appconda-executor | ||
| Appconda-influxdb | InfluxDB | influxdb |
| Appconda-config | Yaml files for each custom-domain | traefik |
| Appconda | ||
| Appconda-worker-certificates | ||
| Appconda-executor | N/A |
Environment variables
When running any docker container, you may want to pass some environment variables to it. Passing environment variables to a container is a way to configure the container without having the need to change the container itself.
Available Environment variables
I've included only those variables needed to have attention. The full list can be found here.
| Variable | Default value |
|---|---|
| _APP_LOCALE | |
| Set Appconda locale for login emails, teams join and more. | |
| Here you can find list of all the languages are supported by Appconda | en |
| _APP_OPTIONS_ABUSE | |
| Activate Appconda Rate Limit service. | |
| Can be either enabled or disabled. | enabled |
| _APP_OPTIONS_FORCE_HTTPS | |
| If enabled the console & API will accept HTTPS request only | |
| Can be either enabled or disabled. | disabled |
| _APP_OPENSSL_KEY_V1 | |
| Random key created by you. | |
| Will be used to encrypt the JWT token and your files. | |
| Change it to some random long text and make backup of it | your-secret-key |
| _APP_DOMAIN | |
| The domain you'll point to your Appconda server IP | localhost |
| _APP_DOMAIN_TARGET | |
| The domain that any added custom-domain will point using CNAME. | |
| Usually it will be the same value as _APP_DOMAIN | localhost |
| _APP_CONSOLE_WHITELIST_ROOT | |
| When enabled only one user can be created in the console signup form. | |
| Then either you disable this option, or you can send a direct invention to a user. | enabled |
| _APP_CONSOLE_WHITELIST_EMAILS | |
| When APP_CONSOLE_WHITELIST_ROOT is 'disabled' then you can block the signup to specific emails | |
| Separate each email using the comma character. | |
| _APP_CONSOLE_WHITELIST_IPS | |
| When APP_CONSOLE_WHITELIST_ROOT is 'disabled' then you can block the signup to specific IPs | |
| Separate each IP using the comma character. | |
| _APP_SYSTEM_EMAIL_NAME | |
| The sender name in any Appconda generated emails, e.g. password recovery email. | Appconda |
| _APP_SYSTEM_EMAIL_ADDRESS | |
| The sender email in any Appconda generated emails, e.g. password recovery email. | team@Appconda.io |
| _APP_SYSTEM_SECURITY_EMAIL_ADDRESS | |
| Email address for Let's Encrypt alerts. | |
| This email address is also sent in any curl (request that go out from your Appconda) request, eg. Webhooks and in the Avatar service. | certs@Appconda.io |
| _APP_USAGE_STATS | |
| Disable App stat collection. | |
| Just to clearfix the usage collection is between you and Appconda, and not related to any usages data being collected by Appconda. | |
| If you do disabled it you can remove the influxdb and telegraph containers as they won't be used | enabled |
| _APP_LOGGING_PROVIDER | |
| Any custom logger. | |
| You can use any of the following: sentry, raygun, appsignal, logowl | |
| _APP_LOGGING_CONFIG | |
| Custom logger config. | |
| For sentry enter: SENTRY_KEY:SENTRY_ID. | |
| For all the rest: enter single string for your API key or Service ticked in case of logowl | |
| _APP_SMTP_HOST | |
| SMTP host. | |
| Recommended service are: SendInBlue and SendGrid. | |
| _APP_SMTP_PORT | |
| SMTP port. | |
| _APP_SMTP_SECURE | |
| SMTP secure type. | |
| Usually can be: tls, starttls or none. | |
| _APP_SMTP_USERNAME | |
| SMTP Username | |
| _APP_SMTP_PASSWORD | |
| SMTP Password | |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_SIZE_LIMIT | |
| Maximum size of deployed function. | |
| Value is in bytes. | 30000000 |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_TIMEOUT | |
| Function time out. | |
| Meaning what is the maximum time to wait for function to complete. | |
| Value is in seconds. | 900 |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_BUILD_TIMEOUT | |
| Function build timeout. | |
| Meaning what is the maximum time to wait before declare the build as failed. | |
| Value is in seconds. | 900 |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_CONTAINERS | |
| Maximum number of allowed dynamically created functions container. | 10 |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_CPUS | |
| Maximum CPU core for each function. | |
| 0 means unlimited. | 0 |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_MEMORY | |
| Maximum Memory for each function. | |
| 0 means unlimited. | 0 |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_MEMORY_SWAP | |
| Maximum Swap Memory for each function. | |
| 0 means unlimited | 0 |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_RUNTIMES | |
| Available runtimes to write your function in. | |
| You can find the full list here as Appconda use another Appconda-tool called Open Runtime | node-16.0, php-8.0, python-3.9, ruby-3.0 |
| _APP_EXECUTOR_SECRET | |
| Secret key use by the executor (the function orchestrator) | |
| Generate random one. | your-secret-key |
| _APP_EXECUTOR_HOST | |
| Full executor host. as you are using Docker network the endpoint will be the container name | http://Appconda-executor/v1 |
| _APP_FUNCTIONS_INACTIVE_THRESHOLD | |
| Function idle timeout. | |
| Meaning how much time of function idle time before the container will be destroyed. | |
| Value in seconds. | 60 |