[Building Sakai] Dev/Production Setup

[Sean Keesler]

Brandon,

You didn't mention a database server for each environment. You
wouldn't want to run HSQLDB for production and you probably would want
to use the same thing in your development/test environment.

The one thing you'll bang your heads against is the way you will keep
track of your local changes. There have been a number of ways I've
heard of schools doing this, and it probably depends on the scope of
your local changes as to what method you use.
Many of us would add a local subversion server for your local build.

So, the process would go something like:

 - Grab a tag or branch of Sakai from the community subversion server
 - Check in that version to your local subversion server
 - Make modifications and check them in to your local subversion repo
 - QA test your own local build with your users on your dev box
 - deploy acceptable builds to your production instance

This allows you to make your own "release" of your own local eLearning
platform that pulls in improvements and enhancements from the
community code and your own mods.

Again, it depends on your scope and timing of your development, but if
you plan to be making many changes that need QA, I might suggest YET
ANOTHER server for doing QA testing with teachers and
students...separate from the work in development (which may not work
at all at any moment) and the "rock solid" server that the bulk of
classes would be using.


Sean Keesler
130 Academy Street
Manlius, NY 13104
315-682-0830
sean.keesler at threecanoes.com


On Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 8:10 PM, Brandon Davie
<brandondavie at mckeelacademy.com> wrote:
> Hello :-)
>
> We are looking into using Sakai for a group of K12 charter schools. A small
> pilot test of stock Sakai 2.6 took off well last term, so we’re looking at
> setting up a full production environment of stock Sakai 2.6 with the
> intention of customizing Sakai at the code level.
>
> My question relates to the type of setup that would be best for this
> scenario. Let’s say we have one production server running Debian and another
> development system running OS X, which would be where any code level,
> branding, etc. changes would be made. Is such a setup feasible? The ultimate
> goal is to be able to develop and build Sakai on a separate machine from the
> production server.
>
> Production Server:
> - Debian 5.0.4
> - Java 1.5 U22
> - Tomcat 5.5.29
>
> Development System:
> - OS X
> - Java 1.5 U22
> - Tomcat 5.5.29
> - Maven 2.0.9
>
> Using this setup, the latest maintenance branch could be pulled from the svn
> repo to the development system, code level changes made, use Maven to build
> and deploy to the dev system’s Tomcat, changes tested and the resulting
> $CATALINA_HOME dropped into the production server’s Tomcat?
>
> If you’re wondering why these questions sound newbie, it’s because they’re
> coming from one ;-)
>
> Thanks!
> Brandon Davie
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