Deployment Guide

Overview

This guide provides step-by-step instructions for deploying your application to various environments. We'll cover common deployment strategies and best practices to ensure a smooth and reliable rollout.

Pro-Tip: Always test your deployment in a staging environment before pushing to production.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

Deployment Steps

Step 1: Prepare Your Environment

Ensure your deployment target is ready. This might involve:

  • Setting up a new server or virtual machine.
  • Configuring cloud resources (e.g., EC2 instances, containers, serverless functions).
  • Installing necessary system dependencies like web servers (Nginx, Apache), databases, or runtime environments (Node.js, Python).

For example, on a Debian/Ubuntu system:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx nodejs npm

Step 2: Transfer Application Files

Copy your application's build artifacts to the deployment server. Common methods include:

  • SCP/SFTP: Securely transfer files using SSH.
  • Git Clone: Clone your repository directly onto the server.
  • CI/CD Pipelines: Automated deployment tools push builds.

Using Git:

git clone https://github.com/your-repo/your-app.git /var/www/your-app
cd /var/www/your-app
# Depending on your build process, you might need to run build commands here
# npm install --production
# pm2 start app.js --name your-app

Step 3: Configure Application

Update configuration files with environment-specific settings:

  • Database connection strings.
  • API keys and secrets.
  • Environment variables.

Ensure your configuration is stored securely and not hardcoded in the source. Using environment variables is highly recommended.

Example .env file:

DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:password@host:port/database
API_KEY=your_secret_api_key
NODE_ENV=production

Step 4: Install Dependencies

If your application relies on external libraries or packages, install them now.

# For Node.js projects
npm install --production

# For Python projects
pip install -r requirements.txt

Step 5: Start/Restart Application

Ensure your application is running and configured to start automatically on server reboot.

Using a process manager like PM2 for Node.js:

pm2 start app.js --name my-node-app
pm2 startup systemd
pm2 save

For systemd services:

sudo systemctl start your-app.service
sudo systemctl enable your-app.service

Step 6: Configure Web Server (Optional)

If you're using a web server like Nginx or Apache as a reverse proxy:

  • Configure it to serve your application's static files.
  • Set up proxying to your application's running process.
  • Configure SSL/TLS certificates for HTTPS.

Example Nginx configuration snippet:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000; # Assuming your app runs on port 3000
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

After configuration changes, reload the web server:

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Post-Deployment Checks

Rollback Strategy

Have a plan in place to revert to a previous stable version if the deployment fails or introduces critical issues. This often involves: