Ansible Role: silverstripe

Description

Silverstripe is a versatile open source framework for websites. This role deploys a Silverstripe installation of your choice to a LAMP server.

Key features of this role include:

• Minimal reqiurements for deployment -> deploy anywhere
• Release retention -> roll back quickly in the case of an error
• Downtimeless deployment -> deploy without interrupting usage
• CI ready -> specify tags or keep branches up to date
• Backup friendly -> run backup scripts before flushing and building

Downtimeless Deployment

By default, this role deploys any version downtimeless. This means, that the build and flush processes will happen before the actual codebase is linked to be used by html/index.php. This brings some advantages as no user is locked out from using the site which makes deployments possible during uptime-crucial times. Silverstripe is in most cases capable of being deployed this way, as the database structure is mostly backwards compatible. The only times at the time of writing this readme where this could lead to problems are:

• Removing DataObjects
  • Silvertripe dosen't remove the Table, but prefixes it with deprecated_
• Changing Enum values

These scenarios are very specific and should in theory not happen as it would be a sign of bad planning on the developer side.

However, this may also lead to problems database backups, as additional care has to be taken in order to get consistent backups! This responsibility is to be taken by the user of this role.

Installation

ansible-galaxy install syntro_gmbh.silverstripe

Requirements

• Composer
• Git

Dependencies

None, but make sure to have composer and git installed on the host you are deploying to.

Usage

Apart from a few required variables, this role can simply be used for any silverstripe project. Have a look on the defaults file to get an idea of what you can customize.

The webroot and the files generated

This role uses the following directory structure to serve your application:

{{ WorkingDir }}/
├── {{ current }}
│   ├── .htaccess
│   ├── index.php
│   ├── assets --> ../shared/assets
│   └── _resources --> ../releases/<current sha>/_resources
├── releases/
│   ├── <current sha>/
│   │   ├── .git
│   │   └── ...
│   └── <other sha>/
│       ├── .git
│       └── ...
├── shared/
│   └── assets/
└── logs/

your webroot should point to the {{ WorkingDir }}/{{ current }}/ directory. You can configure these directories using silverstripe_working_dir and silverstripe_current_dir_name, respectively.

Building and updating the database and running backups

In order to get Silverstripe working with a new install, one has to build or update the database. By default, this role executes the standard build task combined with the flush=1 parameter before updating any files in the webroot.

You can add more commands, but don't forget to re-add the build command using the silverstripe_provisioning_cmds. This is also the place to add any backup commands you might need. (You might use our restic role to install a backup utility and create the scripts automatically.) by adding these scripts before the build step, you get the most recent version of your installation in case you need to roll back.

Downtimeless deployment

This role deploys silverstripe version downtimeless. This means, that the build and flush processes will happen before the actual codebase is linked to be used by index.php. This brings some advantages as no user is locked out from using the site which makes deployments possible at any time. Silverstripe is in most cases capable of being deployed this way, as the database structure is mostly backwards compatible. The only times at the time of writing this readme where this could lead to problems are:

• Removing DataObjects
  • Silvertripe dosen't remove the Table, but prefixes it with deprecated_
• Changing Enum values

These scenarios are very specific and should in theory not happen as it would be a sign of bad planning on the developer side. Nevertheless, you should always create a backup of the database before updating.

Role Variables

Check the defaults file to get an idea of what you can control.

Minimal example playbook

- hosts: all
  vars:
    silverstripe_project_repository: https://github.com/silverstripe/demo.silverstripe.org
    silverstripe_project_version: master
    silverstripe_ss_database_name: silverstripe
    silverstripe_ss_database_username: root
    silverstripe_ss_database_password: root
  roles:
    - silverstripe

Author

• Matthias Leutenegger

License

MIT

Copyright

(c) 2020, Syntro GmbH