server-deploy

name	server-deploy
description	Deploy itransition-coursework to production server. Use when: deploying code, rebuilding containers, updating production, pushing changes to server, redeploy, shipping to prod, release.

Server Deploy

Server Info

Property	Value
Host	173.212.212.36
Domain	itra.taskcal.online
User	root
OS	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Project dir	/opt/itransition-coursework

SSH Connection

Password auth only. Use sshpass with -e flag (set SSHPASS env var) and disable pubkey:

SSHPASS='<password>' sshpass -e ssh \
  -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no \
  -o PubkeyAuthentication=no \
  root@173.212.212.36 'COMMAND'

Ask the user for the password before connecting.

Architecture on Server

Nginx (host, ports 80/443)
  └── / → 127.0.0.1:18888 (.NET Core MVC + SignalR)

Docker Compose (/opt/itransition-coursework/docker-compose.yml):
  ├── db (Azure SQL Edge, 1433→11433)
  └── web (.NET Core 3.1, 8080→18888)

Tech Stack

• App: ASP.NET Core 3.1 MVC + Razor Views + Identity + SignalR
• Database: Azure SQL Edge (MSSQL) with EF Core
• Frontend: Bootstrap + jQuery + TypeScript + SignalR JS client
• DB Init: EnsureCreated() with 15 retry attempts on startup

TLS

• Certbot with Nginx plugin, auto-renewal enabled
• Cert: /etc/letsencrypt/live/itra.taskcal.online/fullchain.pem
• Key: /etc/letsencrypt/live/itra.taskcal.online/privkey.pem
• Nginx config: /etc/nginx/sites-available/itra.taskcal.online
• Nginx config source: deploy/nginx/itra.taskcal.online.conf

Deploy nginx config

ssh ... 'cp /opt/itransition-coursework/deploy/nginx/itra.taskcal.online.conf /etc/nginx/sites-available/itra.taskcal.online'
ssh ... 'ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/itra.taskcal.online /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/itra.taskcal.online'
ssh ... 'nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx'

Deploy Procedure

Full deploy

1. Sync files:

SSHPASS='<password>' sshpass -e rsync -az \
  -e 'ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o PubkeyAuthentication=no' \
  --exclude='.git' --exclude='.env' --exclude='node_modules' \
  --exclude='bin' --exclude='obj' \
  ./ root@173.212.212.36:/opt/itransition-coursework/

IMPORTANT: Do NOT exclude wwwroot/lib — it contains Bootstrap/jQuery/etc. needed at runtime.

2. Build and restart:

docker compose build --no-cache && docker compose up -d

App-only deploy

rsync ... && ssh ... 'cd /opt/itransition-coursework && docker compose build web && docker compose up -d web'

Config-only change (.env update)

ssh ... 'cd /opt/itransition-coursework && docker compose restart web'

Verification

# Site check
curl -s https://itra.taskcal.online/ | head -5

# Container status
docker compose -f /opt/itransition-coursework/docker-compose.yml ps

# Logs
docker logs itransition-coursework-web --tail 20
docker logs itransition-coursework-db --tail 20

Production .env

Located at /opt/itransition-coursework/.env (chmod 600). Contains:

• MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD — strong password for Azure SQL Edge

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
DB connection error	Check docker logs itransition-coursework-web, verify MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD matches
MSSQL password rejected	Azure SQL Edge requires complex passwords: min 8 chars with uppercase + lowercase + digits + symbols. E.g. B7e4f2A9!c1D830
App crashes after 15 retries	Azure SQL Edge takes ~30s to start. If docker compose up -d starts both at once, web may exhaust retries. Fix: docker compose restart web after DB is ready
Missing styles (unstyled page)	wwwroot/lib/ was not synced. Re-rsync without --exclude='wwwroot/lib' and rebuild: docker compose build web && docker compose up -d web
Nginx 502	docker compose ps — check containers running
TLS cert expired	certbot renew (auto-renewal active)
Disk full	docker system prune -a