Services

Docker Services	Description	Domain	IP
Langara API	API for Langara Data.	api2.langaracs.ca	http://168.138.79.49:5000
Langara Course Planner	Langara Course Planner	planner.langaracs.ca	http://168.138.79.49:5001
Peregrine	LCSC Discord Bot.	N/A
Website	Our official website.	langaracs.ca	http://168.138.79.49:3000
Website API	API for the website (not for public use).	api.langaracs.ca	http://168.138.79.49:8000
Nginx Proxy Manager	Reverse proxy manager.	nginx.langaracs.ca	http://168.138.79.49:81
Watchtower	Automatically updates docker images.	watchtower.langaracs.ca	http://168.138.79.49:8080
Plausible	Tracks analytics on our website.	plausible.langaracs.ca	http://168.138.79.49:8001
Portainer	Administration tools for docker.	portainer.langaracs.ca	https://168.138.79.49:9443

Other Services	Description
Docker	Manages all of our microservices.
Github Runner	Self-hosted runner for github.

Handbook

Welcome to the Langara Computer Science Server Systems and Infrastructure Handbook.

This document covers all of our infrastructure and services.

This handbook is divided into 6 sections:

Design Philosophy
Docker and Microservices
Github
Server
Domain and Nginx
Other

Design Philosophy

This server exists for multiple reasons:

To host services such as our website and links to other resources;
To provide a real-world testing environment to learn from;
and to increase the reputation of the club.

In order to fulfill those obligations, the server needs to be secure, easily extendible, and should have as little complexity as possible.

Docker and Microservices

In keeping with the design philosophy, we have opted to use the docker / microservices paradigm.

Each service is encapsulated in its own docker image. In short, a docker image is a sandbox for a service that keeps it from interacting with other services. This means that all services are seperated and will not depend on each other.

You can find more information on how docker works at the official docker website.

Github and CI/CD

Github is the central repository for all club projects. All club projects should be hosted on Github.

We use Github Actions to build a fresh docker image on every commit. These images are stored on Github Packages. We combine this with Watchtower to automatically update the docker images on the server.

Watchtower will pull new packages on a 30 minute timer or if its HTTP endpoint is called. It will then pull the new image, take the old one down, and start the new image.

The configuration for Github Actions is stored in .github/workflows and is relatively simple. Note that while most services build for all platforms, some builds (e.g. our website) will only build for arm due to long compile times.

We also run a self-hosted Github Actions runner on our server due to slow compile times (due to emulation) on Github-provided runners. Unfortunately, there is no native support for running a self-hosted runner in a docker container. In the future, this service should be containerized or otherwise improved.

Server

All services currently run on a single virtual machine on the Oracle Cloud, located in Montreal. This server is free, but is reliant on personal non-club credentials.

A future goal is to move to a server in Vancouver. For patriotic and legal reasons, we are not comfortable with a server in the united states.

Specifications:

OCPU count: 2 (Ampere A1)
Memory: 16 GB
Network bandwidth (Gb/s): 2
Boot Volume: 47 GB

Right now, we don't see a lot of load on our servers, so memory and cpu usage hover around 20%.

SSH keys are shared to club technical leads during orientation.

Domain and Nginx

After acquiring a domain, make sure that the proper DNS records are set up. This includes:

A records for hosting subdomains.
SPF and DKIM records for email.

On the server side, we use Nginx Proxy Manager to manage nginx. Although this is a purely GUI based setup, it saves significant time when setting up new services as writing a nginx configuration from scratch is not required.

Nginx Proxy Manager also makes setting up LetsEncrypt certificates very easy. All services are also still available through the direct ip to the server.

Other

Please make sure that you have a comfortable and efficient editing setup.

I highly reccomend using vscode and its remote development feature.

Build

Recommended server specs: 1 core, 8 GB ram, 10 GB storage

Ensure docker is installed
Clone this repository: git clone https://github.com/langaracpsc/server
Enter the cloned directory cd server
Populate .env
Run with ./run.sh
If needed, stop with ./stop.sh

Additional tools:

db_backup.sh creates a backup of the postgres server
db_restore.sh is unimplemented
hard_reset.sh deletes all images, volumes, and networks