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Create a remote Zulip dev server

This guide is for mentors who want to help create remote Zulip dev servers for hackathon, GCI, or sprint participants.

The machines (droplets) have been generously provided by DigitalOcean to help Zulip contributors get up and running as easily as possible. Thank you DigitalOcean!

The create.py create uses the DigitalOcean API to quickly create new virtual machines (droplets) with the Zulip dev server already configured.

Step 1: Join Zulip DigitalOcean team

We have created a team on DigitalOcean for Zulip mentors. Ask Rishi or Tim to be added. You need access to the team so you can create your DigitalOcean API token.

Step 2: Create your DigitalOcean API token

Once you've been added to the Zulip team, log in to the DigitalOcean control panel and create your personal API token. Make sure you create your API token under the Zulip team. (It should look something like this).

Copy the API token and store it somewhere safe. You'll need it in the next step.

Step 3: Configure create.py

In tools/droplets/ there is a sample configuration file conf.ini-template.

Copy this file to conf.ini:

$ cd tools/droplets/
$ cp conf.ini-template conf.ini

Now edit the file and replace APITOKEN with the personal API token you generated earlier.

[digitalocean]
api_token = APITOKEN

Now you're ready to use the script.

Usage

create.py takes two arguments

GitHub username
Tags (Optional argument)

$ python3 create.py <username>
$ python3 create.py <username> --tags <tag>
$ python3 create.py <username> --tags <tag1> <tag2> <tag3>

Assigning tags to droplets like GCI can be later useful for listing all the droplets created during GCI. Tags may contain letters, numbers, colons, dashes, and underscores.

You'll need to run this from the Zulip development environment (e.g. in Vagrant).

The script will also stop if a droplet has already been created for the user. If you want to recreate a droplet for a user you can pass the --recreate flag.

$ python3 create.py <username> --recreate

This will destroy the old droplet and create a new droplet for the user.

In order for the script to work, the GitHub user must have:

forked the zulip/zulip repository, and
created an SSH key pair and added it to their GitHub account.

(Share this link with students if they need to do these steps.)

The script will stop if it can't find the user's fork or SSH keys.

Once the droplet is created, you will see something similar to this message:

Your remote Zulip dev server has been created!

- Connect to your server by running
  `ssh zulipdev@<username>.zulipdev.org` on the command line
  (Terminal for macOS and Linux, Bash for Git on Windows).
- There is no password; your account is configured to use your SSH keys.
- Once you log in, you should see `(zulip-py3-venv) ~$`.
- To start the dev server, `cd zulip` and then run `./tools/run-dev`.
- While the dev server is running, you can see the Zulip server in your browser
  at http://<username>.zulipdev.org:9991.

See [Developing
remotely](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/development/remote.html) for tips on
using the remote dev instance and [Git & GitHub
Guide](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/git/index.html) to learn how to
use Git with Zulip.

Copy and paste this message to the user via Zulip chat. Be sure to CC the user so they are notified.

Updating the base image

Switch to the Zulip organization.
Create a new droplet, with:
- "Regular with SSD" / "2GB RAM / 1 CPU"
- Select your SSH key; this will not be built into the image, and is only for access to debug if the build does not succeed.
- Check "Monitoring", "IPv6", and "User data"
- Paste the contents of tools/droplets/new-droplet-image into the text box which says Enter user data here...
- Name it e.g. base-ubuntu-20-04.zulipdev.org
Add an A record for base.zulipdev.org to point to the new host.
Wait for the host to boot.
scp tools/droplets/new-droplet-image base.zulipdev.org:/tmp/new-droplet-image
ssh root@base.zulipdev.org bash /tmp/new-droplet-image; this should take about 15 minutes to complete, and will finish by closing the connection and shutting the host down.
Go to the Snapshots tab on the image, and "Take a Snapshot".
Wait for several minutes for it to complete.
"Add to region" the snapshot into NYC3, SFO3, BLR1, and FRA1.
curl -u <API_KEY>: https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/snapshots | jq .
Replace template_id in create.py in this directory with the appropriate id.
Clean up by destroying the droplet (but leaving all "associated resources"), and removing the DNS entry for base.zulipdev.org
Open a PR with the updated template_id.

Remotely debugging a droplet

To SSH into a droplet, first make sure you have a SSH key associated with your GitHub account, then ask the student to run the following in their VM:

$ python3 ~/zulip/tools/droplets/add_mentor.py <your username>

You should now be able to connect to it using:

$ ssh zulipdev@<their username>.zulipdev.org

They can remove your SSH keys by running:

$ python3 ~/zulip/tools/droplets/add_mentor.py <your username> --remove

Creating a production droplet

create.py can also create a production droplet quickly for testing purposes.

$ python3 create.py <username> --production

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