recodex-wiki/Installation.md

# Installation

Installation of whole ReCodEx solution is a very complex process. It is
recommended to have good unix skills with basic knowledge of project
architecture.

There are a lot of different GNU/Linux distributions with different package
management, naming convention and version release policies. So it is impossible
to cover all of the possible variants. We picked one distribution, which is
fully supported by automatic installation script, but there are also steps for
manual installation of all components which should work on most of the Linux
distributions.

The distribution of our choice is CentOS, currently in version 7. It is a well
known server distribution, derived from enterprise distribution from Red Hat, so
it is very stable and widely used system with long term support. There are
[EPEL](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL) additional repositories from Fedora
project, which adds newer versions of some packages into CentOS, which allows us
to use current environment. Also, _rpm_ packages are much easier to build than
_deb_ packages (for example from Python sources).

The big rival of CentOS in server distributions field is Debian. We are running
one instance of ReCodEx on Debian too. You need to use _testing_ repositories to
use some decent package versions. It is easy to mess your system easily, so
create file `/etc/apt/apt.conf` with content of `APT::Default-Release
"stable";`. After you add testing repos to `/etc/apt/sources.list`, you can
install packages from there like `$ sudo apt-get -t testing install gcc`.

Some components are also capable of running in Windows environment. However
setting up Windows OS is a little bit of pain and it is not supposed to run
ReCodEx in this way. Only worker component may be needed to run on Windows, so
we are providing clickable installer including dependencies. Just for info, all
components should be able to run on Windows, only broker was not tested and may
require small tweaks to work properly.

## Security

One of the most important aspects of ReCodEx instance is security. It is crucial
to keep gathered data safe and not to allow unauthorized users modify restricted
pieces of information. Here is a small list of recommendations to keep running
ReCodEx instance safe.

- Secure MySQL installation. The installation script does not do any security
  actions, so please run at least `mysql_secure_installation` script on database
  computer.
- Get HTTPS certificate and set it in Apache for web application and API.
  Monitor should be proxied through the web server too with valid certificate.
  You can get free DV certificate from [Let's
  Encrypt](https://letsencrypt.org/). Do not forget to set up automatic
  renewing!
- Hide broker, workers and fileserver behind firewall, private subnet or IPsec
  tunnel. They are not required to be reached from public internet, so it is
  better keep them isolated.
- Keep your server updated and well configured. For automatic installation of
  security updates on CentOS system refer to `yum-cron` package. Configure SSH
  and Apache to use only strong ciphers, some recommendations can be found
  [here](https://bettercrypto.org/static/applied-crypto-hardening.pdf).
- Do not put actually used credentials on web, for example do not commit your
  passwords (in Ansible variables file) on GitHub.
- Regularly check logs for anomalies.

## Ansible installer

DEPRECATED - Ansible installer is no longer working!

For automatic installation is used a set of Ansible scripts. Ansible is one of
the best known and used tools for automatic server management. It is required
only to have SSH access to the server and Ansible installed on the client
machine. For further reading is supposed basic Ansible knowledge. For more info
check their [documentation](http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/intro.html).

All Ansible scripts are located in _utils_ repository, _installation_
[directory](https://github.com/ReCodEx/utils/tree/master/installation). Ansible
files are pretty self-describing, they can be also use as template for
installation to different systems. Before installation itself it is required to
edit two files -- set addresses of hosts and values of some variables.

### Hosts configuration

First, it is needed to set IP addresses of your computers. Common practice is to
have multiple files with definitions, one for development, another for
production for example. Example configuration is in _development_ file. Each
component of ReCodEx project can be installed on different server. Hosts can be
specified as hostnames or IP addresses, optionally with port of SSH after colon.

Shorten example of hosts config:

```
[workers]
127.0.0.1:22

[broker]
127.0.0.1:22

[all:children]
workers
broker
```

### Variables

Configurable variables are saved in _group_vars/all.yml_ file. Syntax is basic
key-value pair per line, separated by colon. Values with brief description:

- _source_dir_ -- Directory, where to store all sources from GitHub. Defaults
  `/opt/recodex`.
- _mysql_root_password_ -- Password of root user of MySQL database. Will be set
  after installation and saved to `/root/.my.cnf` file.
- _mysql_recodex_username_ -- MySQL username for ReCodEx API access.
- _mysql_recodex_password_ -- Password for the user above.
- _admin_email_ -- Email of administrator. Used when configuring Apache
  webserver.
- _recodex_hostname_ -- Hostname where the API and web app will be accessible.
  For example "recodex.projekty.ms.mff.cuni.cz".
- _webapp_node_addr_ -- IP address of NodeJS server running web app. Defaults to
  "127.0.0.1" and should not be changed.
- _webapp_node_port_ -- Port to above.
- _webapp_public_addr_ -- Public address, where web server for web app will
  listen. Defaults to "*".
- _webapp_public_port_ -- Port to above.
- _webapp_firewall_ -- Open port for web app in firewall, values "yes" or "no".
- _webapi_public_endpoint_ -- Public URL when the API will be running, for
  example "https://recodex.projekty.ms.mff.cuni.cz:4000/v1".
- _webapi_public_addr_ -- Public address, where web server for API will listen.
  Defaults to "*".
- _webapi_public_port_ -- Port to above.
- _webapi_firewall_ -- Open port for API in firewall, values "yes" or "no".
- _database_firewall_ -- Open port for database in firewall, values "yes" or
  "no".
- _broker_to_webapi_addr_ -- Address, where API can reach broker. Private one is
  recommended.
- _broker_to_webapi_port_ -- Port to above.
- _broker_firewall_api_ -- Open above port in firewall, "yes" or "no".
- _broker_to_workers_addr_ -- Address, where workers can reach broker. Private
  one is recommended.
- _broker_to_workers_port_ -- Port to above.
- _broker_firewall_workers_ -- Open above port in firewall, "yes" or "no".
- _broker_notifier_address_ -- URL (on API), where broker will send
  notifications, for example
  "https://recodex.projekty.ms.mff.cuni.cz/v1/broker-reports".
- _broker_notifier_port_ -- Port to above, should be the same as for API itself
  (_webapi_public_port_)
- _broker_notifier_username_ -- Username for HTTP Authentication for reports
- _broker_notifier_password_ -- Password for HTTP Authentication for reports
- _monitor_websocket_addr_ -- Address, where WebSocket connection from monitor
  will be available
- _monitor_websocket_port_ -- Port to above.
- _monitor_firewall_websocket_ -- Open above port in firewall, "yes" or "no".
- _monitor_zeromq_addr_ -- Address, where monitor will be available on ZeroMQ
  socket for broker to receive reports.
- _monitor_zeromq_port_ -- Port to above.
- _monitor_firewall_zeromq_ -- Open above port in firewall, "yes" or "no".
- _fileserver_addr_ -- Address, where fileserver will serve files.
- _fileserver_port_ -- Port to above.
- _fileserver_firewall_ -- Open above port in firewall, "yes" or "no".
- _fileserver_username_ -- Username for HTTP Authentication for access the
  fileserver.
- _fileserver_password_ -- Password for HTTP Authentication for access the
  fileserver.
- _worker_cache_dir_ -- File cache storage for workers. Defaults to
  "/tmp/recodex/cache".
- _worker_cache_age_ -- How long hold fetched files in worker cache, in seconds.
- _isolate_version_ -- Git tag of Isolate version worker depends on.

### Installation itself

With your computers installed with CentOS and configuration modified it is time
to run the installation. 

```
$ ansible-playbook -i development recodex.yml
```

This command installs all components of ReCodEx onto machines listed in
_development_ file. It is possible to install only specified parts of project,
just use component's YAML file instead of _recodex.yml_.

Ansible expects to have password-less access to the remote machines. If you have
not such setup, use options `--ask-pass` and `--ask-become-pass`.


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