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Consulting Ghana Limited
PaaS – Platform As A Service
PaaS (platform as a service) is a cloud computing model where a third-party provider delivers hardware and software tools to users over the internet. Usually, these tools are needed for application development.PaaS frees developers from having to install in-house hardware and software to develop or run a new application.
The principal benefit of RedCloudPaaS is simplicity and convenience for users. Our Cloud offering includes much of the infrastructure and other IT services, which our clients can access anywhere through a web browser. The ability to pay on a per-use basis allows enterprises to eliminate the capital expenses they traditionally have for on-premises hardware and software.
RedCloud – Built-In PAAS Capabilities
Our RedCloud Platform is a powerful infrastructure agnostic Cloud Application Management Platform. As a result of this there are some differing concepts compared to other CMP platforms in the space. It is here that it is important to notice the qualification difference between RedCloud and other platforms.
We refer to our platform as a CAMP (Cloud Application Management Platform) as opposed to a (Cloud Management Platform). While that may seem minor, it actually is a big deal. Many CMP based applications start at the IaaS layer and work up to the application layer (often needing additional PaaS) architectures to fill out the model. RedCloud was designed from a middle-ground perspective. This provides a more complete platform that allows for greater capabilities out of the box as will be seen when these concepts are covered.
PaaS Specifics on RedCloud
The deployments section in RedCloud CAMP portal provides very useful PaaS capabilities when it comes to deploying applications into the newly provisioned environment. These can be uploaded directly from the UI, pulled from a build server, pulled from a public or private Git repository or even via the API and the various plugins created, such as Jenkins, and Gradle to support continuous build / integration workflows.
A deployment can be considered a set of versions that relate to a particular project or application being deployed. This allows one to keep track of a history of versions and easily reuse these deployment versions across instances that may exist in different environments. An example might be to deploy a version from a deployment to a staging instance and (once approved) also deployed into production.
Simple & Efficient PaaS Enablement
Getting started with PaaS deployments in PedCloudis easy. They can vary slightly for the application stack being deployed but the simplest phase of a deployment is adding a version and adding the appropriate files to the deployment archive that are needed for the application to run. This could be a single file like a WAR file for Tomcat, or it could be hundreds of files for stacks like Ruby on Rails.
There are a few ways to create a PaaS deployment. The first is to use the Provisioning -> Deployments section of the application to create them. Simply add a new deployment and give it a name representing the application that is being deployed. Once a deployment is created select the deployment to view its versions (which will be empty to start). Next, its time to add a version.
When adding a version there are several options. There are 3 types represented by the UI. These include File, Fetch, and Git respectively. A File deployment allows the user to simply drag their files into the file explorer presented by the dialog. This file explorer can take single files or entire file trees (If files exist in subfolders then only the Chrome browser is supported due to browser limitations at the time of this writing). This is also the common type that is represented when files are uploaded via the CLI, or available build tool integration plugins. Once the files have completed their upload simply save the version for use.
GIT
For performing git based deploys RedCloud supports both public and private repositories. To utilize a private git repository the add version dialog will display a public keypair that can be added to the git service for authentication purposes. Currently this keypair is shared across the account and not specifically scoped to the user so it may be advisable to connect this integration to a deployment account in git. From here either a ssh or https git url can be entered along with a git branch or tag name. Once the version is saved, this repository will be copied down into the deployment archive for use.
Fetch
Fetch based deployments are pretty straightforward. Simply enter a url to a file representing the deployment. This can be a single file (in which case it will just be added to the deployment archive singularly) or it can be a zip file (which will automatically be expanded into the archive). HTTP Authentication options can also be entered if the url requires some form of basic authentication scheme for access by the appliance.
Deploying to an Instance
Now that a version has been added to a deployment it is easy to push that deploy out to any instance provisioned within RedCloud CAMP. Simply navigate to the specific Instance that needs deployed to. On the Instance detail page there is a tab called Deploy. From here simply add a deploy. The dialog will ask firstly from which deployment the deploy is from (or allow you to create a new one on the spot) , and secondly which version to deploy (also with the option to add one on the fly). The next step of the wizard will display any configuration options that might be specific to the instance type being deployed to (i.e.CATALINA_OPTS for Tomcat or Java Command for java) as well as the file explorer and deployment type selections for review (or use when creating a new version on the fly). Fill in the required items then simply hit complete. The deploy will now be asynchronously sent off to all of the virtual machines or containers within the instance in a rolling restart and the deployment status will be represented.
Tip : When deploying to an instance, the custom configuration options that were entered during the previous deployment are automatically carried forward allowing one to edit them or leave them as is.
Rolling Backwards and Forwards
Because of the tracked history of deployments kept within RedCloud CAMP, the deploy tab of instance detail makes it easy to choose a previously run deployment and jump back to it in the event of a failed deployment. The history will automatically be updated and the configuration, as well as data from the previous deployment state of the instance will be restored.
Instruction for web developers
Use one or both photos in PaaS You can cascade or place one over the other and use them.
Place a background behind in the form of a band. If some part of an image is hidden, its no problem
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