CODEWITHSUNDEEP
fileweb-applicationsautomationsynchronization
Emmanuel Figuerola
Emmanuel Figuerola

Reputation: 1630

Sync web app files across client installations

We have a web app. This web app is installed for each client of ours in a different folder in our VPS. We also have a separate folder with the base files of the web app (all code up to date).

The problem we're having is: we need to automate the update process of the web app for all client installations. Therefore, if we add files to the base web app, or move files, or create a directory, or remove a file or directory, these changes should be reflected automatically (applied to) on every client installation of the web app. Currently we're on beta and each code update results in a manual update of all files for each client installation using FTP, and the more changes done, the more time this process takes and the more complex it becomes.

Is there a tool available to automate this kind of process? Or if not, how do you suggest it should be approached?

/
    /clients
        /client1.domain.com
            /[web app subfolders and files...]
        /client2.domain.com
            /[web app subfolders and files...]
        /client3.domain.com
            /[web app subfolders and files...]
    /base_web_app
        /[web app subfolders and files...]

So basically, each time we do any changes to the contents of /base_web_app, those changes should be automatically applied (sync) to the web app installations inside /clients (that is, /client1.domain.com, /client2.domain.com, /client3.domain.com).

It is also important to note that we need some files and/or subfolders to be ignored/not overwritten. Mainly configuration files specific to each client's installation.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 85

Answers (1)

kielni
kielni

Reputation: 4999

Check out rsync: http://rsync.samba.org/examples.html It is a tool to synchronize files from one area to another (say your staging area to your production area). You can use patterns to specify what to sync and what to exclude, and it only copies changed files.

On your staging area (where you have the latest changes you want to sync), you could do something like this:

# sync staging area base_web_app directory to production base_web_app
# this syncs the entire local base_webapp directory to remote /base_webapp
rsync -avRc base_webapp server:/
# sync staging area base_web_app files to clients/client* directories, excluding the config directory
# this syncs the entire base_webapp to each remote client dir, excluding the config dir
rsync -avRc --exclude 'config/*' base_webapp server:/clients/client1.domain.com
rsync -avRc --exclude 'config/*' base_webapp server:/clients/client2.domain.com
rsync -avRc --exclude 'config/*' base_webapp server:/clients/client3.domain.com

Upvotes: 1

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