🚀 Deployment Guide

This guide will help you deploy your Fantasy Football Newsletter application to your domain using Kamal.

Prerequisites

  1. Domain Name - You need a domain name pointing to your server
  2. VPS/Server - A server with Docker installed (Ubuntu 20.04+ recommended)
  3. Docker Hub Account - For storing your Docker images
  4. SSH Access - To your server

Step 1: Prepare Your Domain

  1. Point your domain to your server:
    • Add an A record pointing your domain to your server’s IP address
    • Example: yourdomain.com → YOUR_SERVER_IP
  2. Wait for DNS propagation (can take up to 48 hours, usually much faster)

Step 2: Update Configuration

  1. Edit config/deploy.yml: 
    # Replace YOUR_DOMAIN_HERE.com with your actual domain
proxy:
  ssl: true
  host: yourdomain.com
   
# Replace your-dockerhub-username with your actual Docker Hub username
image: your-dockerhub-username/newsletter
username: your-dockerhub-username
  2. Update server IP: 
    # Replace 192.168.0.1 with your actual server IP
servers:
  web:
    - YOUR_SERVER_IP

Step 3: Set Up Docker Hub

  1. Create a Docker Hub account (if you don’t have one)
  2. Create an access token:
    • Go to Docker Hub → Account Settings → Security
    • Create a new access token
    • Copy the token
  3. Set the environment variable: 
    export KAMAL_REGISTRY_PASSWORD=your_docker_hub_access_token

Step 4: Prepare Your Server

  1. SSH into your server: 
    ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP
  2. Install Docker: 
    curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sh get-docker.sh
  3. Install Kamal: 
    curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/basecamp/kamal/main/bin/kamal | bash
  4. Set up SSH keys (if not already done): 
    # On your local machine
ssh-copy-id root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Step 5: Deploy Your Application

  1. Build and deploy: 
    # Build the Docker image and push to registry
bin/kamal deploy
  2. Monitor the deployment: 
    # Check deployment status
bin/kamal status
   
# View logs
bin/kamal logs

Step 6: Set Up Database

  1. Run database migrations: 
    bin/kamal app exec bin/rails db:migrate
  2. Seed the database: 
    bin/kamal app exec bin/rails db:seed

Step 7: Verify Deployment

  1. Visit your domain: https://yourdomain.com
  2. Check SSL certificate - Let’s Encrypt should automatically provision SSL
  3. Test all features - Make sure everything works as expected

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. SSL Certificate Issues: 
    # Check SSL status
bin/kamal app exec openssl s_client -connect localhost:443
  2. Database Issues: 
    # Access Rails console
bin/kamal console
   
# Check database connection
bin/kamal app exec bin/rails dbconsole
  3. Logs and Debugging: 
    # View application logs
bin/kamal logs
   
# Access server shell
bin/kamal shell

Useful Commands

# Restart the application
bin/kamal restart

# Rollback to previous version
bin/kamal rollback

# Update environment variables
bin/kamal env set RAILS_LOG_LEVEL=debug

# Access Rails console
bin/kamal console

# View server status
bin/kamal status

Environment Variables

You can set additional environment variables in config/deploy.yml:

env:
  clear:
    RAILS_LOG_LEVEL: info
    WEB_CONCURRENCY: 2
    JOB_CONCURRENCY: 1

Security Considerations

  1. Keep your config/master.key secure - Never commit it to git
  2. Use strong passwords for your Docker Hub access token
  3. Regular updates - Keep your server and application updated
  4. Backup your database regularly

Monitoring

  1. Set up monitoring for your application
  2. Monitor server resources (CPU, memory, disk)
  3. Set up alerts for downtime or errors

Next Steps

  1. Set up automated backups
  2. Configure monitoring and alerts
  3. Set up CI/CD pipeline for automatic deployments
  4. Optimize performance based on usage patterns

Your application should now be live at https://yourdomain.com! 🎉