CS3219 Project (PeerPrep) - AY2425S1

Group: G38

You can view the live project here: https://peerprep.delishad.com

Team Members:

• Daniel
• James
• Johan
• Joshua

Kubernetes Deployment

1. Ensure that you have a Kubernetes cluster set up.
2. Ensure that you have kubectl installed and configured to point to your Kubernetes cluster.
3. Set up environemnt variables under the config-map.yaml files and secrets.yaml files in the kubernetes directory. Each service also has its own config-map and secret file. Template files have been provided in the kubernetes directory.
4. Run kubectl apply -f kubernetes/ --recursive to deploy all services to your Kubernetes cluster.

Deploying project locally using docker-compose

1. Clone this repository to your local machine.
2. Ensure you have Docker installed.
3. (Optional) Sign up for a MongoDB Atlas account
   • The docker compose file is configured to use a local MongoDB instance by default. If you would like to use a remote MongoDB instance, you can follow the instructions in the "Remote DB Setup" section below.

Building and starting frontend

1. Navigate to the frontend directory: cd frontend/peerprep
2. Duplicate the .env.sample file and rename it to .env
   • if you wish to, you can modify the values in the .env file

     Variable	Description	Default Value
     NEXT_PUBLIC_USER_SERVICE_URL	URL of the user service	http://localhost:8004
     NEXT_PUBLIC_QUESTION_SERVICE_URL	URL of the question service	http://localhost:8003
     NEXT_PUBLIC_MATCHING_SERVICE_URL	URL of the matching service	http://localhost:8002
     NEXT_PUBLIC_COLLAB_SERVICE_URL	URL of the collab service	http://localhost:8010
     NEXT_PUBLIC_COLLAB_SOCKET_URL	URL of the collab socket service	http://localhost:8010
     NEXT_PUBLIC_MATCHING_SOCKET_URL	URL of the matching socket service	http://localhost:8002
     NEXT_PUBLIC_IMAGE_UPLOAD_KEY	AuthToken for image upload	None, you can get this from https://www.portive.com, you need this for image uploads to work with the question editor.
     FRONTEND_PORT	Port to run the frontend service	3000
     JWT_SECRET	Secret for creating JWT signature, make sure this is the same as your user service	you-can-replace-this-with-your-own-secret

3. do npm install to install the required dependencies
4. do npm run build to build the frontend
5. do npm run start to start the frontend
6. Access the frontend at http://localhost:3000

Docker Compose for all Microservices (excluding frontend)

1. Open a terminal and navigate to the root directory of the project.

2. Duplicate the .env.sample file and rename it to .env

   • If you wish to, you can modify the values in the .env file

     Variable	Description	Default Value
     USER_MONGODB_URI	MongoDB URI for the user service	None, commented out. If you are using a remote MongoDB instance, you can key in your connection string here
     USER_MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME	MongoDB root username for the user service	userroot
     USER_MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD	MongoDB root password for the user service	userpassword
     GMAIL_USER	Gmail account for verification emails	None, you can key in your Gmail account here
     GMAIL_PASS	Gmail password for verification emails	None, you can key in your Gmail password here
     USER_PORT	Port to run the user service	8004
     JWT_SECRET	Secret for creating JWT signature	you-can-replace-this-with-your-own-secret
     FRONTEND_URL	URL of the frontend service (Do not change this, its fixed due to NextJS)	http://localhost:3000
     QUESTION_MONGODB_URI	MongoDB URI for the question service	None, commented out. If you are using a remote MongoDB instance, you can key in your connection string here
     QUESTION_MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME	MongoDB root username for the question service	questionroot
     QUESTION_MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD	MongoDB root password for the question service	questionpassword
     QUESTION_PORT	Port to run the question service	8003
     MATCHING_SERVICE_PORT	Port to run the matching service	8002
     REDIS_URL	URL of the Redis instance for internal access	redis://redis:6379
     MATCHING_SERVICE_LOGS_DIR	Directory to store logs for the matching service	./logs
     MATCHING_TIMEOUT	Timeout for matching in milliseconds	10000
     USER_SERVICE_URL	URL of the user service for internal access	http://g38-user-service:8004
     COLLAB_SERVICE_URL	URL of the collab service for internal access	http://g38-collab-service:8010
     QUESTION_SERVICE_URL	URL of the question service for internal access	http://g38-question-service:8003
     COLLAB_API_KEY	API key for the collab service ( used by matching-service for initialising sessions)	collab-api-key

3. Run docker-compose up to start the services.

   • If you keyed in remote MongoDB URIs in the .env file, the MongoDB containers will not be started. The services will connect to the remote MongoDB instances instead.

4. Once the services are up and running, you can access the frontend at http://localhost:<FRONTEND_PORT> (default: http://localhost:3000)

Docker Compose for individual services

If the services are to be run individually (e.g. for deployment on different platforms), you can follow the instructions below.

Matching Service

1. cd into the matching-service directory

2. Duplicate the .env.sample file and rename it to .env

   • If you wish to, you can modify the values in the .env file

     Variable	Description	Default Value
     MATCHING_SERVICE_PORT	Port to run the service	8002
     USER_SERVICE_URL	URL of the user service	http://localhost:8004
     QUESTION_SERVICE_URL	URL of the question service	http://localhost:8003
     COLLAB_SERVICE_URL	URL of the collab service	http://localhost:8010
     COLLAB_API_KEY	API key for the collab service ( used by matching-service for initialising sessions)	collab-api-key
     REDIS_URL	URL of the Redis instance	redis://redis:6379
     MATCHING_SERVICE_LOGS_DIR	Directory to store logs for the matching service	./logs
     MATCHING_TIMEOUT	Timeout for matching in milliseconds	10000

3. Run docker-compose up to start the matching service.

Question Service

1. cd into the question-service directory

2. Duplicate the .env.sample file and rename it to .env

   • If you wish to, you can modify the values in the .env file

     Variable	Description	Default Value
     QUESTION_MONGODB_URI	MongoDB URI	None, commented out. If you are using a remote MongoDB instance, you can key in your connection string here
     QUESTION_PORT	Port to run the service	8003
     MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME	MongoDB root username	root
     MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD	MongoDB root password	password
     USER_SERVICE_URL	URL of the user service	http://localhost:8004

3. Run docker-compose up to start the question service.

   • If you keyed in a remote MongoDB URI in the .env file, the MongoDB container will not be started. The question service will connect to the remote MongoDB instance instead.

Common Issue and Troubleshooting

Issue: MongoParseError: URI malformed

• Solution: Ensure that the MONGODB_URI in your .env file is correctly formatted with the right username, password, and database name.

User Service

1. cd into the user-service directory
2. Duplicate the .env.sample file and rename it to .env

   • If you wish to, modify the values in the .env file to change the port that the service is hosted on.

     Variable	Description	Default Value
     USER_MONGODB_URI	MongoDB URI	None, commented out. If you are using a remote MongoDB instance, you can key in your connection string here
     MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME	MongoDB root username	root
     MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD	MongoDB root password	password
     GMAIL_USER	Gmail account for verification emails	None, you can key in your Gmail account here
     GMAIL_PASS	Gmail password for verification emails	None, you can key in your Gmail password here
     USER_PORT	Port to run the service	8004
     ENV	Environment - determines if secure cookies should be used	PROD
     JWT_SECRET	Secret for creating JWT signature	you-can-replace-this-with-your-own-secret

3. Run docker-compose up to start the user service.
   • If you keyed in a remote MongoDB URI in the .env file, the MongoDB container will not be started. The user service will connect to the remote MongoDB instance instead.

Collaboration Service

1. cd into the collab-service directory
2. Duplicate the .env.sample file and rename it to .env

   • If you wish to, you can modify the values in the .env file

     Variable	Description	Default Value
     COLLAB_MONGODB_URI	MongoDB URI	None, commented out. If you are using a remote MongoDB instance, you can key in your connection string here
     COLLAB_MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME	MongoDB root username	root
     COLLAB_MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD	MongoDB root password	password
     COLLAB_SERVICE_PORT	Port to run the service	8010
     USER_SERVICE_URL	URL of the user service	http://localhost:8004
     QUESTION_SERVICE_URL	URL of the question service	http://localhost:8003
     COLLAB_REDIS_URL	URL of the Redis instance	redis://collab-redis:6379
     COLLAB_API_KEY	API key for the collab service	collab-api-key

Building your own Docker images

1. cd into the any of the service directories (question-service, user-service, frontend/peerprep)
2. Run docker build -t "<image-name>" . to build the Docker image.

Alternatively, you can use the build_and_push_services.sh or build_and_push_services_dev.sh script to build and push all services to the Docker image to Docker Hub.

Microservices API

User Service API Endpoints

The user service API can be found here: User Service API

Question Service API Endpoints

The question service API can be found here: Question Service API

Matching Service API

The matching service API can be found here: Matching Service API

Collaboration Service API

The collaboration service API can be found here: Collaboration Service API

Remote DB Setup (MongoDB Atlas)

1. Visit the MongoDB Atlas Site https://www.mongodb.com/atlas and click on "Try Free"

2. Sign Up/Sign In with your preferred method.

3. You will be greeted with welcome screens. Feel free to skip them till you reach the Dashboard page.

4. Create a Database Deployment by clicking on the green + Create Button:

5. Make selections as followings:

• Select Shared Cluster
• Select aws as Provider

• Select Singapore for Region

• Select M0 Sandbox Cluster (Free Forever - No Card Required)

Ensure to select M0 Sandbox, else you may be prompted to enter card details and may be charged!

• Leave Additional Settings as it is

• Provide a suitable name to the Cluster

6. You will be prompted to set up Security for the database by providing Username and Password. Select that option and enter Username and Password. Please keep this safe as it will be used in User Service later on.

7. Next, click on Add my Current IP Address. This will whiteliste your IP address and allow you to connect to the MongoDB Database.

8. Click Finish and Close and the MongoDB Instance should be up and running.

9. The connection string can be found by clicking on the Connect button on the Cluster Overview Page. followed by Drivers.

Whitelisting All IP's

1. Select Network Access from the left side pane on Dashboard.

2. Click on the Add IP Address Button

3. Select the ALLOW ACCESS FROM ANYWHERE Button and Click Confirm

Now, any IP Address can access this Database.