CODEWITHSUNDEEP
google-app-enginegoogle-cloud-platform
Mathew Alden
Mathew Alden

Reputation: 1680

Google App Engine different web.xml config per environment?

I'm developing a Java app to be deployed on Google App Engine. Google App Engine allows me to include a web.xml file in my WEB-INF folder in which I can configure different levels of auth for different URLs.

If I want only admin users to be able to access the foobar URL, I can use this config:

  <security-constraint>
    <web-resource-collection>
      <web-resource-name>aname</web-resource-name>
      <url-pattern>/foobar/*</url-pattern>
    </web-resource-collection>
    <user-data-constraint>
      <transport-guarantee>CONFIDENTIAL</transport-guarantee>
    </user-data-constraint>
  </security-constraint>

If I want any users - even unauthenticated users - to be able to access the foobar URL, I can use this config:

  <security-constraint>
    <user-data-constraint>
      <transport-guarantee>CONFIDENTIAL</transport-guarantee>
    </user-data-constraint>
  </security-constraint>

Here's the problem. In my test environment, I would like to authorize only admins to access foobar. But in my production environment, I would like to allow all users (included unauthenticated users) to access foobar. How can I achieve this? How can I change the web.xml config per environment?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 190

Answers (2)

Mathew Alden
Mathew Alden

Reputation: 1680

I decided to implement a solution similar to what Vikram suggested, but slightly different.

Rather than having a single web.xml file in my WEB-INF folder:

- WEB-INF
  + web.xml

I instead created two folders (one for each environment) in my WEB-INF folder:

- WEB-INF
  + local
  | + web.xml
  + prod
    + web.xml

Now, in order for Google App Engine to pick up the config file, it needs to be located in WEB-INF, not in the subdirectories I've created. Therefore, during the build, I use the Maven War Plugin to copy the files from one of the two folders into the parent folder.

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>2.4</version>
    <configuration>
        <webResources>
            <resource>
                <directory>${basedir}/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/${configDirectory}</directory>
                <filtering>false</filtering>
                <targetPath>WEB-INF</targetPath>
                <includes>
                    <include>web.xml</include>
                </includes>
            </resource>
        </webResources>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

And I use Maven Profiles to specify the name of the folder containing the files which I want to actually use.

    <profiles>
        <profile>
            <id>local</id>
            <properties>
                <configDirectory>local</configDirectory>
            </properties>
        </profile>
        <profile>
            <id>prod</id>
            <properties>
                <configDirectory>prod</configDirectory>
            </properties>
        </profile>
    </profiles>

So, the web.xml file gets copied from the correct subdirectory to the parent directory, thereby allowing me to control which config gets used each time I build the app.

Upvotes: 1

Vikram Shinde
Vikram Shinde

Reputation: 1028

You can keep different web.xml for each environments and replace while deploying into each environment.

E.g web_dev.xml, web_test.xml, web_prod.xml Replace web_prod.xml to web.xml

Upvotes: 1

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