[[cloud-deployment]]
= Deploying to the cloud

[partintro]
--
Spring Boot's executable jars are ready-made for most popular cloud PaaS
(platform-as-a-service) providers. These providers tend to require that you
_`bring your own container'_; they manage application processes (not Java applications
specifically), so they need some intermediary layer that adapts _your_ application to the
_cloud's_ notion of a running process.

Two popular cloud providers, Heroku and Cloud Foundry, employ a ``buildpack'' approach.
The buildpack wraps your deployed code in whatever is needed to _start_ your
application: it might be a JDK and a call to `java`, it might be an embedded webserver,
or it might be a full fledged application server. A buildpack is pluggable, but ideally
you should be able to get by with as few customizations to it as possible.
This reduces the footprint of functionality that is not under your control. It minimizes
divergence between deployment and production environments.

Ideally, your application, like a Spring Boot executable jar, has everything that it needs
to run packaged within it.

In this section we'll look at what it takes to get the
<<getting-started.adoc#getting-started-first-application, simple application that we
developed>> in the ``Getting Started'' section up and running in the Cloud.
--



[[cloud-deployment-cloud-foundry]]
== Cloud Foundry
Cloud Foundry provides default buildpacks that come into play if no other buildpack is
specified. The Cloud Foundry https://github.com/cloudfoundry/java-buildpack[Java buildpack]
has excellent support for Spring applications, including Spring Boot.  You can deploy
stand-alone executable jar applications, as well as traditional `.war` packaged
applications.

Once you've built your application (using, for example, `mvn clean package`) and
http://docs.cloudfoundry.org/devguide/installcf/install-go-cli.html[installed the `cf`
command line tool], simply deploy your application using the `cf push` command as follows,
substituting the path to your compiled `.jar`. Be sure to have
http://docs.cloudfoundry.org/devguide/installcf/whats-new-v6.html#login[logged in with your
`cf` command line client] before pushing an application.

[indent=0,subs="verbatim,quotes,attributes"]
----
	$ cf push acloudyspringtime -p target/demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
----

See the http://docs.cloudfoundry.org/devguide/installcf/whats-new-v6.html#push[`cf push`
documentation] for more options. If there is a Cloud Foundry
http://docs.cloudfoundry.org/devguide/deploy-apps/manifest.html[`manifest.yml`]
file present in the same directory, it will be consulted.

NOTE: Here we are substituting `acloudyspringtime` for whatever value you give `cf`
as the name of your application.

At this point `cf` will start uploading your application:

[indent=0,subs="verbatim,quotes,attributes"]
----
	Uploading acloudyspringtime... *OK*
	Preparing to start acloudyspringtime... *OK*
	-----> Downloaded app package (*8.9M*)
	-----> Java Buildpack source: system
	-----> Downloading Open JDK 1.7.0_51 from .../x86_64/openjdk-1.7.0_51.tar.gz (*1.8s*)
	       Expanding Open JDK to .java-buildpack/open_jdk (*1.2s*)
	-----> Downloading Spring Auto Reconfiguration from  0.8.7 .../auto-reconfiguration-0.8.7.jar (*0.1s*)
	-----> Uploading droplet (*44M*)
	Checking status of app 'acloudyspringtime'...
	  0 of 1 instances running (1 starting)
	  ...
	  0 of 1 instances running (1 down)
	  ...
	  0 of 1 instances running (1 starting)
	  ...
	  1 of 1 instances running (1 running)

	App started
----

Congratulations! The application is now live!

It's easy to then verify the status of the deployed application:

[indent=0,subs="verbatim,quotes,attributes"]
----
	$ cf apps
	Getting applications in ...
	OK

	name                 requested state   instances   memory   disk   urls
	...
	acloudyspringtime    started           1/1         512M     1G     acloudyspringtime.cfapps.io
	...
----

Once Cloud Foundry acknowledges that your application has been deployed, you should be
able to hit the application at the URI given, in this case
`http://acloudyspringtime.cfapps.io/`.



[[cloud-deployment-cloud-foundry-services]]
=== Binding to services
By default, meta-data about the running application as well as service connection
information is exposed to the application as environment variables (for example:
`$VCAP_SERVICES`). This architecture decision is due to Cloud Foundry's polyglot
(any language and platform can be supported as a buildpack) nature; process-scoped
environment variables are language agnostic.

Environment variables don't always make for the easiest API so Spring Boot automatically
extracts them and flattens the data into properties that can be accessed through
Spring's `Environment` abstraction:

[source,java,indent=0]
----
	@Component
	class MyBean implements EnvironmentAware {

		private String instanceId;

		@Override
		public void setEnvironment(Environment environment) {
			this.instanceId = environment.getProperty("vcap.application.instance_id");
		}

		// ...

	}
----

All Cloud Foundry properties are prefixed with `vcap`. You can use vcap properties to
access application information (such as the public URL of the application) and service
information (such as database credentials). See `VcapApplicationListener` Javdoc for
complete details.

TIP: The https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-cloud[Spring Cloud] project is a better
fit for tasks such as configuring a DataSource; it also lets you use Spring Cloud with
Heroku.



[[cloud-deployment-heroku]]
== Heroku
Heroku is another popular PaaS platform. To customize Heroku builds, you provide a
`Procfile`, which provides the incantation required to deploy an application. Heroku
assigns a `port` for the Java application to use and then ensures that routing to the
external URI works.

You must configure your application to listen on the correct port. Here's the `Procfile`
for our starter REST application:

[indent=0]
----
	web: java -Dserver.port=$PORT -jar target/demo-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
----

Spring Boot makes `-D` arguments available as properties accessible from a Spring
`Environment` instance. The `server.port` configuration property is fed to the embedded
Tomcat or Jetty instance which then uses it when it starts up. The `$PORT` environment
variable is assigned to us by the Heroku PaaS.

Heroku by default will use Java 1.6. This is fine as long as your Maven or Gradle build
is set to use the same version (Maven users can use the `java.version` property). If you
want to use JDK 1.7, create a new file adjacent to your `pom.xml` and `Procfile`,
called `system.properties`. In this file add the following:

[source,java]
----
java.runtime.version=1.7
----

This should be everything you need. The most common workflow for Heroku deployments is to
`git push` the code to production.

[indent=0,subs="verbatim,quotes,attributes"]
----
	$ git push heroku master

	Initializing repository, *done*.
	Counting objects: 95, *done*.
	Delta compression using up to 8 threads.
	Compressing objects: 100% (78/78), *done*.
	Writing objects: 100% (95/95), 8.66 MiB | 606.00 KiB/s, *done*.
	Total 95 (delta 31), reused 0 (delta 0)

	-----> Java app detected
	-----> Installing OpenJDK 1.7... *done*
	-----> Installing Maven 3.0.3... *done*
	-----> Installing settings.xml... *done*
	-----> executing /app/tmp/cache/.maven/bin/mvn -B
	       -Duser.home=/tmp/build_0c35a5d2-a067-4abc-a232-14b1fb7a8229
	       -Dmaven.repo.local=/app/tmp/cache/.m2/repository
	       -s /app/tmp/cache/.m2/settings.xml -DskipTests=true clean install

	       [INFO] Scanning for projects...
	       Downloading: http://repo.spring.io/...
	       Downloaded: http://repo.spring.io/... (818 B at 1.8 KB/sec)
			....
	       Downloaded: http://s3pository.heroku.com/jvm/... (152 KB at 595.3 KB/sec)
	       [INFO] Installing /tmp/build_0c35a5d2-a067-4abc-a232-14b1fb7a8229/target/...
	       [INFO] Installing /tmp/build_0c35a5d2-a067-4abc-a232-14b1fb7a8229/pom.xml ...
	       [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
	       [INFO] *BUILD SUCCESS*
	       [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
	       [INFO] Total time: 59.358s
	       [INFO] Finished at: Fri Mar 07 07:28:25 UTC 2014
	       [INFO] Final Memory: 20M/493M
	       [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

	-----> Discovering process types
	       Procfile declares types -> *web*

	-----> Compressing... *done*, 70.4MB
	-----> Launching... *done*, v6
	       http://agile-sierra-1405.herokuapp.com/ *deployed to Heroku*

	To git@heroku.com:agile-sierra-1405.git
	 * [new branch]      master -> master
----

Your application should now be up and running on Heroku.



[[cloud-deployment-cloudbees]]
== CloudBees
CloudBees provides cloud-based ``continuous integration'' and ``continuous delivery''
services as well as Java PaaS hosting. https://github.com/msgilligan[Sean Gilligan]
has contributed an excellent
https://github.com/CloudBees-community/springboot-gradle-cloudbees-sample[Spring Boot
sample application] to the CloudBees community GitHub repository. The project includes
an extensive  https://github.com/CloudBees-community/springboot-gradle-cloudbees-sample/blob/master/README.asciidoc[README]
that covers the steps that you need to follow when deploying to CloudBees.



[[cloud-deployment-openshift]]
== Openshift
https://www.openshift.com/[Openshift] is the RedHat public (and enterprise) PaaS solution.
Like Heroku, it works by running scripts triggered by git commits, so you can script
the launching of a Spring Boot application in pretty much any way you like as long as the
Java runtime is available (which is a standard feature you can ask for at Openshift).
To do this you can use the
https://www.openshift.com/developers/do-it-yourself[DIY Cartridge] and hooks in your
repository under `.openshift/action_scripts`:

The basic model is to:

1. Ensure Java and your build tool are installed remotely, e.g. using a `pre_build` hook
   (Java and Maven are installed by default, Gradle is not)
2. Use a `build` hook to build your jar (using Maven or Gradle), e.g.
+
[indent=0]
----
	#!/bin/bash
	cd $OPENSHIFT_REPO_DIR
	mvn package -s .openshift/settings.xml -DskipTests=true
----
+
3. Add a `start` hook that calls `java -jar ...`
+
[indent=0]
----
	#!/bin/bash
	cd $OPENSHIFT_REPO_DIR
	nohup java -jar target/*.jar --server.port=${OPENSHIFT_DIY_PORT} --server.address=${OPENSHIFT_DIY_IP} &
----
+
4. Use a `stop` hook (since the start is supposed to return cleanly), e.g.
+
[indent=0]
----
	#!/bin/bash
	source $OPENSHIFT_CARTRIDGE_SDK_BASH
	PID=$(ps -ef | grep java.*\.jar | grep -v grep | awk '{ print $2 }')
	if [ -z "$PID" ]
	then
	    client_result "Application is already stopped"
	else
	    kill $PID
	fi
----
+
5. Embed service bindings from environment variables provided by the platform
in your `application.properties`, e.g.
+
[indent=0]
----
	spring.datasource.url: jdbc:mysql://${OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_HOST}:${OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_PORT}/${OPENSHIFT_APP_NAME}
	spring.datasource.username: ${OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_USERNAME}
	spring.datasource.password: ${OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_PASSWORD}
----

There's a blog on https://www.openshift.com/blogs/run-gradle-builds-on-openshift[running
Gradle in Openshift] on their website that will get you started with a gradle build to
run the app. A http://issues.gradle.org/browse/GRADLE-2871[bug in Gradle] currently
prevents you from using Gradle newer than 1.6.



[[cloud-deployment-whats-next]]
== What to read next
Check out the http://www.cloudfoundry.com/[Cloud Foundry], https://www.heroku.com/[Heroku]
and http://www.cloudbees.com[CloudBees] web sites for more information about the kinds of
features that a PaaS can offer. These are just three of the most popular Java PaaS
providers, since Spring Boot is so amenable to cloud-based deployment you're free to
consider other providers as well.

The next section goes on to cover the '<<spring-boot-cli.adoc#cli, Spring Boot CLI>>';
or you can jump ahead to read about
'<<build-tool-plugins.adoc#build-tool-plugins, build tool plugins>>'.




