How To:

Custom Publish Your OpenShift Online App

Through the IDE you can manage your OpenShift Online application beyond simply its source code. OpenShift Online allows customization of the build and deployment process with markers and action hooks, each of which can be added to the application configuration files using OpenShift Tools and existing IDE functionality. Further, the Git commit and push processes for your changed application source code and configuration files can be customized through the IDE preferences to meet your needs.

The instructions here demonstrate how to complete the following tasks:

Add a Marker to the Application
Add an Action Hook to the Application
Extend the Git Remote Connection Timeout
Republish the Application

1. Add a Marker to the Application

OpenShift Tools provides the Configure Markers wizard for adding markers to and removing them from your OpenShift application. The wizard lists markers that are already applied to your application and those that are available to add given the cartridge configuration of your application. The wizard manages the adding and removing of markers from your application, creating or deleting marker files and adding or removing them from the Git index respectively.

As an example, here the hot deploy marker is added to the application, which triggers OpenShift to publish application changes without first restarting the application cartridges and hence making the republishing faster.

To add the hot deploy marker to the application, complete the following steps:

In the Project Explorer view, right-click {project name} and click OpenShift Configure Markers.
From the Marker table, select Hot Deploy and click OK.

Figure 1. Hot Deploy Marker Selected

An empty .openshift/markers/hot_deploy file is added to the application. OpenShift Tools automatically completes the git add action so that this new file is added to the Git index and can be committed and pushed to the OpenShift application repository when ready.

2. Add an Action Hook to the Application

Using IDE features, you can quickly add action hooks to your OpenShift application. Adding an action hook requires creating a script file named according to the phase in which it is to run, locating it in the application .openshift/action_hooks directory, adding the file to the Git index and ensuring the file is executable by all.

As an example, here a post deploy action hook is added to the application, which triggers a simple bash script to execute on the application main gear after the application is deployed.

To add a post deploy action hook to the application, complete the following steps:

Create the post deploy action hook

In the Navigator view, expand {project name} > .openshift.
Right-click action_hooks and click New File.
In the File name field, type post_deploy and click Finish.
In the file editor, add the following lines to the post_deploy file:
```
#!/bin/bash
echo "This is my post-deploy bash script”
```
Save the file by pressing Ctrl+S (or Cmd+S).

Make the post deploy action hook executable

In the Navigator view, right-click the post_deploy file and click Properties.
In the Permissions table, select the Execute check boxes for all user types.

Figure 2. Execute Permissions Check Boxes Selected for All Users
Click Apply and click OK.

3. Extend the Git Remote Connection Timeout

As your application source code grows in size, the remote connection from the IDE to the OpenShift Online application Git repository may not remain open long enough for the push process to complete. The default Git remote connection timeout is set to 30 seconds after which the connection is closed. But you can extend the Git timeout through the IDE preferences to ensure that the push process is provided with sufficient time to complete.

To extend the Git remote connection timeout, complete the following steps:

Click Window Preferences Team Git.
In the Remote connection timeout (seconds) field, type a value in seconds.

Figure 3. Git Remote Connection Timeout Set
Click Apply and click OK to close the Preferences window.

4. Republish the Application

Before markers and action hooks take effect on your application building and deployment process you must commit the files and push changes to the OpenShift application repository. OpenShift Tools assists you to perform these Git actions as part of the republishing process.

To republish the application, complete the following steps:

In the Servers view, right-click {application name} at OpenShift and click Publish.
Complete the fields about the application changes to commit and push to the OpenShift Online application repository as follows:
- In the Commit message field, type the following message:
  Added hot_deploy marker and post_deploy bash script
- In the Files table, ensure the hot_deploy file is selected and select the post_deploy file.
  
  Figure 4. Commit Message Supplied and Files Selected for Committing and Publishing
Click Commit and Publish.

The Console view becomes the view in focus showing the application publication progress. A snippet of the output demonstrating the effect of the hot deploy marker and post deploy action hook is shown here for the sample application:

Not stopping cartridge xyz because hot deploy is enabled
Building git ref 'master', commit abc123
...
Activating deployment
Deploying xyz cartridge
Not starting cartridge xyz because hot deploy is enabled
This is my post-deploy bash script
-------------------------
Git Post-Receive Result: success
Activation status: success
Deployment completed with status: success

Note that the server has not been stopped and restarted because hot deploy is enabled and the bash script is run post application deployment as required.

Terminology

Git: The revision control system used by OpenShift.
Marker: A set-named empty file added in the OpenShift application in the .openshift/markers directory; markers are used to specify configuration to the OpenShift server.
Action hook: A user-specified script that is added to the OpenShift application, in the .openshift/action_hooks directory; scripts are run by OpenShift at specified stages of the application build and deploy process as denoted by the file name.

Did You Know?

You can also access the Configure Markers wizard from the Server view by right-clicking {application name} at OpenShift and clicking OpenShift Configure Markers.
You can add files to the Git index at any time by right-clicking the file in, for example, the Navigator view and clicking Team Add to Index.
You can see more information relating to the application Git repository by opening the Git perspective or individual Git views. All of these can be assessed from the Window menu.