Getting Started with Genero Container Images

Manual Deployment During Runtime

docker cp archive_name container_id:/archive_name.gar

export GASADMIN="/opt/fourjs/gas/bin/gasadmin gar -E res.appdata.path=/opt/fourjs/gas/appdata"
su - genero -c "$GASADMIN --deploy-archive /archive_name.gar"
su - genero -c "$GASADMIN --enable-archive archive_name"

Automate Process

Instead of going through the copy/paste and deploy/enable steps manually, whenever you have a new version of your application, there are various ways to automate the process.

Ask your professional services team to get more information on this topic.

Connect to a Database Server from Your Genero Runtime Container

Your application might require a connection to a specific database server to start, log users in, retrieve data, and more. This process is simplified with the provided lineage of Genero Runtime images with db-clients installed. All you have to do is check whether your required database type is listed in the table of the image provided, copy the ECR Name to the image, and use that to start your container(s).

567640560273.dkr.ecr.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/genero/enterprise/runtime-psql

psql -h psql-db -d genero_db -u genero_user -W

Manually

If creating a Genero Container Image with your app installed on it is what you are looking for, then you can do this in various ways. Starting with a basic test step. After copying and pasting you gar file, deploying and enabling it on the container and testing that you get a connection, you can simply save the container’s state into a new image. This is similar to the VM snapshots.

To do that, check the Docker manual on the docker image save command: docker image save

After creating the image, you can start your new containers using that image, and your application will run on it.

You can also add libraries and files, install any other dependencies, or add configurations.

From DockerFile

You can create a new Docker Container image based on our Genero Container Image but with additions that your application requires by creating a new Docker file and adding all the requirements there. For example;

 FROM <our image> 
# Your features
COPY path/to/my_feature_script /path/to/target/location/my_feature_script 
...

Automatically via CI/CD

Taking the process of creating your own Genero Container Image 10 steps further by automating it via CI/CD pipelines.

An alternate way of creating a custom image with your app already built-in it is to compile it and install it in the same build process. To that end, we provide an image with GST Server installed on it. The GST Server image lets you compile your Genero project. The resulting files can then be transferred to a Genero runtime image in order to deploy your app.

We recommend using a gar file as the target, but you can compile your app using any mechanism you wish, in which case you’ll need to install what you need on the GST image (this can be done during the build phase).

#*****************************************************************************#
## Intermediate build stage
FROM 567640560273.dkr.ecr.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/genero/enterprise/development-build-gar AS builder
ARG FGL_LICENSE_NUMBER
ARG FGL_LICENSE_KEY
  # You'll need to define FGL_LICENSE_NUMBER and FGL_LICENSE_KEY as environment variables in your repo
  # and pass them as build arguments.
ENV FGL_LICENSE_NUMBER=${FGL_LICENSE_NUMBER}
ENV FGL_LICENSE_KEY=${FGL_LICENSE_KEY}
ENV BUILD_CMD=gsmake
ENV SOURCE_4PW_FILE=/opt/genero/<your genero project folder>/<your app name>.4pw
  # Define the location of your 4pw file.
COPY ./<your genero project folder> /opt/genero/<your genero project folder>
  # Copy project folder to the builder container
RUN /entrypoint.sh
  # Build the project
  # /!\ Note that you can replace the call to '/entrypoint.sh' or 'gsmake' with the
  #     call to your preferred build command, you’ll also need to call /generate-fgllicense.sh
  #     beforehand in order to setup the Genero License, otherwise you won’t be able to compile
  #     your Genero Project.
#*****************************************************************************#
## Base Install Image
FROM 567640560273.dkr.ecr.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/genero/enterprise/runtime
COPY --from=builder /opt/genero/<your genero project folder>/distbin/<your app name>.gar /<your app name>.gar
RUN su - genero -c "/opt/fourjs/gas/bin/gasadmin gar -E res.appdata.path=/opt/fourjs/gas/appdata --deploy-archive /<your app name>.gar" \
  && su - genero -c "/opt/fourjs/gas/bin/gasadmin gar -E res.appdata.path=/opt/fourjs/gas/appdata --enable-archive <your app name>"
  # NOTE: If you package your app in a different way, you'll have to install the binaries of your app accordingly.
#*****************************************************************************#

This dockerfile can then be used to build your image via a CI/CD pipeline. Here is a diagram that summarizes the build process in the case of Bitbucket’s Pipelines with ECR:

In order to properly manage your Genero app and your image, we recommend using 2 separate repositories: one for your Genero app code and one for your custom image build files. You can then declare the the Genero code’s repo as a sub module of the image’s repo. By doing that, you keep both projects (the image’s and the genero app’s) separate but the image’s repo has access to the genero code, which means you can build the app while building your image. A benefit of using sub-modules is that you can add as many genero apps as you need. Here is a link for more details about sub-modules: Git - Submodules

Here are the steps to follow in order to setup your image’s repo:

1. Add your Genero code’s git repo as a submodule of your image’s repo:

    git submodule add <Your git link>

   Note:

   If you are using the pipelines build, your pipelines will need to be able to pull the Genero code’s git repo. To create a key for the pipelines, go to your image’s repository settings → under Pipelines, SSH Keys → Generate a key and configure your app’s repo to allow pulls using that generated key. If your Genero code’s repo is under Bitbucket, Repository Settings > Under Security > Access keys > Add key > Paste the public key you generated.

2. Edit the Dockerfile to compile your app in a first stage and then build the final image with your app in the final stage. Example here: Bitbucket .
3. Repeat for each app you want to add to your custom image.

Summary

Thank you for following this guide to help you get ahead in deploying your Genero application on Docker containers. Now that you know the basics, continue with our team of experts to deploy your Genero application in an advanced environment with various additions that improve your application lifecycle and user experience.