Managing a Network of Drupal Sites with Aegir

Presented at DrupalCamp Scotland 2015

Transcript

1. Managing a Network of Drupal Sites with Aegir
2. Andrew Millar Head of Web Services University of Dundee Email: a.j.millar@dundee.ac.uk Twitter: @millaraj
3. History of Drupal at Dundee 2008 – New Job 2009 – New CMS 2010 – New Direction
4. University CLS School of Research Divisions / Centres / Units (x13) Labs (~85) School of Teaching Support Services Specialised Scientific Services (~ 16) Administrative & Technical Support Affiliated Sites (e.g. Postdoc, PiCLS, Impact, etc) CASE CASS CMDN
5. University CLS School of Research Divisions / Centres / Units (x13) Labs (~85) School of Teaching Support Services Specialised Scientific Services (~ 16) Administrative & Technical Support Affiliated Sites (e.g. Postdoc, PiCLS, Impact, etc) CASE CASS CMDN 130+ DISTINCT SECTIONS
6. Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4
7. A Better Way of Doing Things Events News Publications Profiles Vacancies Awards Other Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 Site 5
8. Central Content Store CLS Site School Site Div Site Lab Site Content Repos Events News Publications (Managed in Pure) Profiles (via Staff DB) Vacancies Awards Other (Contact Info, Directions, Dundee Uni / City info) Taxonomy Unit Subject
9. Too much complexity!
10. Our Approach • The problem • 1 size doesn’t fit all • Best tool doesn’t necessarily scale • Our solution • Standardise on a versatile platform (Drupal) • Instance per project • The Benefits • No danger of new functionality or upgrades breaking existing sites • Users can have as much freedom or restriction as they wish. • Agility • Drawbacks • Lots of individual sites to maintain • Content Sharing
12. Aegir & Drupal
13. How Aegir Works • Multi site
14. Aegir & Drupal Core (e.g. 7.40) profiles sites all modules themes libraries sitename modules themes libraries PLATFORM
15. How Aegir Works • Multi site • Drush • Drupal distribution • Contributed modules • Hosting, provision, eldir • Swaps one problem for another…
16. Too much complexity!
17. John Hume Drupal Developer (Contractor) Previously - Web Developer at Dundee University https://www.drupal.org/u/littledynamo Twitter: @littledynamo1
18. Streamline Your Workflow – Drush Make • Build Drupal sites on the fly • From predefined list of modules, themes, libraries • Patches Too! Create Site drush make mysite.make <location> Create Make File from existing site drush make-generate mysite.make
19. Streamline Your Workflow – Drush Make • Building Platforms with Drush Make
20. Demo • Building a platform using a make file • What does a make file look like?
21. Demo - Upgrading a Site with Drush Make • Update the version in the make file • Build new platform • Migrate site
22. Drupalgeddon – Uh-oh! • Drupalgeddon - SA-CORE-2014-005 • How to quickly secure 80 sites? • Surely there has to be a better way!
23. Automate all the Things!
24. Automated Upgrade 1. Detect when updates are available 2. Build a new Drupal platform 3. Clone site to new Drupal platform 4. Test 5. Push live
25. 1. Detect When Upgrades are Available • Core Update module • Checks status of Core/Modules/Themes • Custom module – Update Trigger Build • http://drupal.org/project/update_trigger_build • Detects when updates are available • Tells Jenkins to build a new Drupal platform
26. 2. Build a New Drupal Platform • Continuous Integration Build Server • Listen for build requests • Initiate the build • Allows us to automate building Drupal platforms • Can detect build success/failures
27. 2. Build a New Drupal Platform • XML based build scripting language • Build Drupal platform on the fly • Runs Aegir Drush commands to create a Platform • Phing Drush Task (https://www.drupal.org/project/phingdrushtask)
28. 4. Test • Manual process • Visually • Key functionality • Further Work - Automate with Behat & SimpleTest
29. 5. Push Live • Manual process • Migrate task in Aegir • Delete old platform
30. Demo • Automated update process • Update Trigger Build module  triggers a Jenkins build • Jenkins build  fires Phing script • Phing script  runs Aegir drush commands • Build platform with updated core/modules/themes • Clone site
31. Questions?