Instructions for installing Elixir 1.4, Phoenix 1.2.x, and Erlang 19+ on Centos7/RHEL and deploy with edeliver and distillery. Webpack + React + Yarn for JS

install_and_deploy_elixir_phoenix_on_centos7_rhel.md

Set the environment variables

Install nano(or not if you intend to use vi)

yum install -y nano

Open ~/.profile with nano ~/.profile and add the following:

export ERLANG_VERSION="19.1.5"
export ELIXIR_VERSION="1.4.0"
export PHOENIX_VERSION="1.2.1"
export LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
export LANGUAGE="en_US.en"
export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
export PORT=4000
export HOSTNAME="YOUR HOSTNAME HERE"
export GUARDIAN_SECRET="ADD A SECRET FOR GUARDIAN IF YOU USE IT"

This is a good time to set up you ENV vars in general.

Use cmd-shift-o to save and cmd-shift-x to quit nano.

Run source ~/.profile and check env to make sure everything is set.

Begin installing required packages

yum -y install --setopt=tsflags=nodocs epel-release wget unzip uuid less bzip2 git-core inotify-tools gcc

Install Erlang

yum -y install https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/erlang/esl-erlang/FLAVOUR_1_general/esl-erlang_${ERLANG_VERSION}~centos~7_amd64.rpm && \
yum -y install esl-erlang-${ERLANG_VERSION} && \
yum -y update && \
yum -y reinstall glibc-common glibc

Install Nodejs and Yarn

curl --silent --location https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_7.x | bash -
wget https://dl.yarnpkg.com/rpm/yarn.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/yarn.repo
yum -y install nodejs
yum clean all
yum install yarn

Download and Install Elixir

cd /tmp && \
wget https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/releases/download/v${ELIXIR_VERSION}/Precompiled.zip && \
unzip -d /usr/local/elixir -x Precompiled.zip && \
rm -f /tmp/Precompiled.zip

Set Elixir on the path Open ~/.bashrc with nano ~/.bashrc and add the following:

export PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/elixir/bin"

Then reload the profile with source ~/.profile.

Test the install by running iex.

If it works enter ctrl-c twice to exit.

Install Hex and Phoenix Run the following:

yes | mix local.hex
yes | mix archive.install https://github.com/phoenixframework/archives/raw/master/phoenix_new-$PHOENIX_VERSION.ez

Exit the ssh session Enter ctrl-d to return to you system's terminal.

Clone the Repo

In you desired directory run:

git clone git@github.com:YOUR_REPO/YOUR_APP.git

If necessary also install Elixir, Erlang, and Phoenix locally following these instructions.

Get and compile the dependencies

Run mix deps.get

Check the edeliver config

Make sure edeliver is configured correctly.

open .deliver/config

Check the following:

BUILD_HOST="server ip address goes here"
BUILD_USER="server user name for deployment goes here"

If they have are not correct, set them to the values for the desired server.

Generate a new secret key

Run mix phoenix.gen.secret and copy the output for the next step.

SSH back into the server

Create a production secrets file at /home/$BUILD_USER/build_files/prod.secret.exs where $BUILD_USER is the server's deployment user.

The file should contain the following

use Mix.Config

config :your_app, YourApp.Endpoint,
  secret_key_base: "THE PRODUCTION KEY FROM THE PREVIOUS STEP GOES HERE"

# Configure your database
config :your_app, YourApp.Repo,
  adapter: Ecto.Adapters.Postgres,
  username: "DATABASE USERNAME",
  password: "DATABASE PASSWORD",
  database: "your_app_prod",
  hostname: "DATABASE HOST ADDRESS?NAME,
  port: "5432",
  pool_size: 20

Exit the server

Build the First Release

Run the following:

mix edeliver build release [--revision=<git-revision>|--tag=<git-tag>] [--branch=<git-branch>]

In my case for staging I run:

mix edeliver build release --branch=develop --verbose

Use --branch=develop to deploy staging, master is the default.

Visit the edeliver github to view issues and the docs.

I also use a script called deploy for this which looks like:

#!/bin/bash -ex
BRANCH=${1:-develop}; #arg 1 or develop
ENV=${2:-staging}; #arg2 or staging

mix edeliver build release --branch=$BRANCH --verbose
mix edeliver deploy release to $ENV --verbose
mix edeliver start $ENV
mix edeliver migrate $ENV up --verbose
mix edeliver ping $ENV

It can take one, two, or no arguments. Make sure to runchmod +x deploy so you can run it.

./deploy # this defaults to the branch develop and the env of staging
./deploy master production # will deploy master to production

Deploy Your App!

Run the following:

./deploy

The last result should look like:

EDELIVER BEACON WITH PING COMMAND

-----> pinging staging servers

staging node:

  user    : YOUR_USER
  host    : YOUR HOST
  path    : YOUR DEPLOY PATH
  response: pong

PING DONE!

If it does, you're all set! Otherwise, head over to the Elixir Forums and hit us with a question.