parse-server for Snowflake

Example project using:

The parse-server module on Express
Can run parse-server locally or deploy it remotely on Heroku
Uses Mailgun for email confirmation and password resets

Additional reading:

Full Parse Server guide here: https://github.com/ParsePlatform/parse-server/wiki/Parse-Server-Guide
Other deployment options beyond Heroku can be found here: https://github.com/ParsePlatform/parse-server-example

Test with your snowflake app

For your convenience, an instance of parse-server is running remotely on Heroku
Follow instructions to install snowflake app at https://github.com/bartonhammond/snowflake
Copy src/lib/config.example.js to src/lib/config.js
Set parseRemote: true
Set hapiRemote: false, hapiLocal: false, parseLocal: false
Set Parse fields:
- Set appId: snowflake
- Set masterKey: myMasterKey
- Set remote url: http://snowflake-parse.herokuapp.com/parse
Run your snowflake app and confirm that you can Register, Update Log out, Reset password, etc.

Steps to setup your own parse-server for Snowflake

Obtain a domain name

Mailgun requires you to have a custom domain from which to send emails
If you don't have a custom domain name already, obtain one now (Namecheap and GoDaddy are popular)
Namecheap will be used as the domain name provider in this example (https://www.namecheap.com)

Signup for a free Mailgun account

Mailgun will be used to send email confirmation and password reset emails
Register at https://mailgun.com/signup
Click on Domains in the upper menu bar
Click on Add New Domain and enter your custom domain name
Click on Domain Verification & DNS
Important Note: You will find information here on configuring TXT and MX records.
However, you will need to make slight modifications to this information in the next steps

Configure your domain name registrar to use Mailgun for email

Log back into your domain registrar if necessary (assumes Namecheap in this example)
Select Domain List from the left menu bar
Select your custom domain
Click on Manage
Click on Advanced DNS
The following configuration steps are specific to using Namecheap
They require you to make slight but important modifications to the configuration information provided by Mailgun.
If you are using a different registrar, then you can obtain additional information here https://help.mailgun.com/hc/en-us/articles/202052074-How-do-I-verify-my-domain-
Add first TXT record from Mailgun, the one with value that starts with v=spf1, however use @ as the host name instead of using your actual custom domain
Add second TXT record from Mailgun, the one with value that starts with k=rsa;, however, use smtp._domainkey. (i.e. don't append your custom domain). Don't forget to include the trailing .
Add both MX records, but use @ as the hostname in both cases
We skip adding the CNAME record in this example, as this is used for email tracking purposes only
These changes will take up to 30 minutes to propagate before they become available to Mailgun

Confirm Mailgun is ready to use email

Click on Domains in the upper menu bar
Select your domain
Click on Domain Verification & DNS
Click on Check DNS Records Now
Confirm that the Current Value field matches the Enter This Value field for both TXT and both MX records
Additional information is available here https://help.mailgun.com/hc/en-us/articles/202052074-How-do-I-verify-my-domain-
If necessary, obtain support from Mailgun and/or your domain registrar

Obtain Mailgun API Keys

In Mailgun, click on your username in top right corner
Select Security from the dropdown
Select the API Keys tab
Copy the Active API Key

Here's sample curl code for sending an email using your custom domain:

curl -s --user '<Active API Key>' \ 
https://api.mailgun.net/v3/samples.mailgun.org/messages \
 -F from='Snowflake Server <info@<your-domain-name>' \
 -F to='<enter the receiving email address>' \
 -F subject='Hello' \
 -F text='Testing some Mailgun awesomeness!'

Setup Heroku

Setup parse-server on Heroku first since it will also setup MongoDB
- Then you can run parse-server either locally or remotely at Heroku
- In both cases, you'll be running MongoDB remotely
Click the Heroku Button

Complete the Heroku deployment form:
- Enter your Heroku App_Name -- this must be unique across all heroku apps (or let Heroku pick name for you)
- Select the region to deploy your server (i.e. United States or Europe)
- mLab MongoDB is automatically selected as an add-on
Next, you will be asked to configure the following environmental variables:

  PARSE_MOUNT:          Accept the default (`parse`)
  APP_ID:               Must match <appId> from the snowflake react-native src/lib/config.js file
  MASTER_KEY:           Must match <masterKey> from the snowflake react-native src/lib/config.js file
  SERVER_URL:           Replace 'yourappname' to match your Heroku 'App_Name' (http://<yourappname>.herokuapp.com/parse)

Add the following additional environment variables which will be used to configure parse-server:
- Click on Settings in the upper menu bar
- Click on Reveal Config Vars
- Set the following Key and Value pairs:

  MONGODB_URI:          This variable is created automatically for you -- don't modify its value
  APP_NAME:             Choose the app name you want to appear in email confirmation & password reset and emails					
  MAILGUN_API_KEY:      Must match Mailgun `Active API Key`
  MAILGUN_DOMAIN:       Must match your <custom domain name>
  MAILGUN_FROM_ADDRESS: Use <anything>@<custom domain name>
  VERBOSE:              Set to true so Heroku keeps detailed logs

Deploy parse-server locally

Configure the same set of environment variables in the terminal
Copy the ./setenv-example to ./setenv
Within your terminal where you will start the server, first do source ./setenv which will setup the environment properly
Edit the environment variables in the ./setenv file
When you run npm start, the ./setenv file is sourced

  export APP_ID= "<same as above>"
  export APP_NAME="<same as above>"
  export MAILGUN_API_KEY="<same as above>"
  export MAILGUN_DOMAIN="<same as above>"
  export MAILGUN_FROM_ADDRESS="<same as above>"
  export MASTER_KEY="<same as above>"
  export MONGODB_URI="<same as above>"
  export PARSE_MOUNT="<same as above>"
  export SERVER_URL="http://localhost:1337/parse"

Type npm install from your parse-server-example project directory
Type npm start to start parse-server

Example request to a server running locally:

curl -X POST \
  -H "X-Parse-Application-Id: <APP_ID>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"score":1337,"playerName":"Sean Plott","cheatMode":false}' \
  http://localhost:1337/parse/classes/GameScore
  
curl -X POST \
  -H "X-Parse-Application-Id: myAppId" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{}' \
  http://localhost:1337/parse/functions/hello

Test local parse-server with your snowflake app

Follow instructions to install snowflake app at https://github.com/bartonhammond/snowflake
Copy src/lib/config.example.js to src/lib/config.js
Change config.js as

  module.exports = {
    SESSION_TOKEN_KEY: 'SESSION_TOKEN_KEY',
  backend: {
    hapiRemote: false,
    hapiLocal: false,
    parseRemote: false,
    parseLocal:  true
  },
  PARSE: {
    appId: <APP_ID>,              // must match `APP_ID` environmental variable
    masterKey: '<MASTER_KEY>',    // must match `MASTER_KEY` environmental variable
    local: {
      url: '<LOCAL_SERVER_URL>',  // must match *local computer's* `SERVER_URL` environmental variable
    },
    remote: {
      url: '<REMOTE_SERVER_URL>'  // must match *heroku's* SERVER_URL environmental variable
    } 		
  }
}

Deploy parse-server on Heroku

Clone this parse-server for Snowflake repo and change directory to it
Make sure you have at least Node 4.3. node --version
Download and install Heroku CLI from https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-command-line#download-and-install
Login into Heroku:
- Type heroku login
- Provide your Heroku credentials
Setup a git remote to Heroku
- Type heroku git:remote -a <Heroku_App_Name>
Push your repo to Heroku:
- Type git push heroku master

Test remote parse-server with your snowflake app

Modify src/lib/config.js

  backend: {
    hapiRemote: false,
    hapiLocal: false,
    parseRemote: true,
    parseLocal:  false
  },

Deploy parser-server-dashboard

Parse server dashboard allows you to inspect the contents of the parse database
It's to confirm the proper operation of the parse-server when its running either locally and remotely
Clone the parse-dashboard from https://github.com/ParsePlatform/parse-dashboard#getting-started
Install the dashboard:

  npm install

modify the package.json file by adding the following two lines in the existing scripts section:

  "scripts": {
    "local": "node ./Parse-Dashboard/index.js --appId snowflake --masterKey myMasterKey --serverURL http://localhost:1337/parse",
    "remote": "node ./Parse-Dashboard/index.js --appId snowflake --masterKey myMasterKey --serverURL https://snowflake-parse.herokuapp.com/parse"
  }

To run parse-dashboard against the local version of parse-server, type:

  npm run local

To run parse-dashboard against the local version of parse-server, type:

  npm run remote

softglance/snowflake-parse-heroku

parse-server for Snowflake

Test with your snowflake app

Steps to setup your own parse-server for Snowflake

Obtain a domain name

Signup for a free Mailgun account

Configure your domain name registrar to use Mailgun for email

Confirm Mailgun is ready to use email

Obtain Mailgun API Keys

Setup Heroku

Deploy parse-server locally

Test local parse-server with your snowflake app

Deploy parse-server on Heroku

Test remote parse-server with your snowflake app

Deploy parser-server-dashboard