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Deploy

Flaxo is is distributed as on-premises solution. It means that the system is not available as a service but can be downloaded and hosted in your own environment with no restrictions.

The whole system is packaged in the several docker containers which can be easily deployed using docker compose tool.

Prerequisites

Docker

Docker and docker-compose tools should be installed on the local server. Information on how to install the tools in your environment can be found here and here.

GitHub OAuth App

Github OAuth Application is required to enable GitHub authentication in Flaxo. Therefore, you have to create a GitHub OAuth App and collect its id and secret. Moreover, you have to configure Homepage URL and Authorization callback URL GitHub OAuth App settings.

More information on GitHub Apps can be found in the official documentation.

Setting	Description
Homepage URL	Root endpoint of the Flaxo deployment. F.e. http://8.8.8.8.
Authorization callback URL	GitHub Authorization endpoint of the Flaxo deployment. F.e. http://8.8.8.8:8080/rest/github/auth/code.

MOSS

If you are planning to analyse student submissions for plagiarism you have to get through the MOSS email registration process to retrieve personal userid. You can do so following the instructions from the official site.

Configuration

Once a GitHub OAuth App is created and MOSS userid is retrieved then you can resolve Flaxo deployment parameters.

Variable	Description
GITHUB_ID	Created GitHub OAuth app id.
GITHUB_SECRET	Created GitHub OAuth app secret.
GITPLAG_GITHUB_AUTH	Default GitHub authentication token for gitplag.
MOSS_USER_ID	Retrieved MOSS userid.
DEPLOYMENT_URL	URL of the Flaxo deployment server or Homepage URL. The endpoint should be available from the outer network. F.e. http://8.8.8.8.
REST_URL	Rest endpoint of the Flaxo deployment. The endpoint should be available from the outer network. F.e. http://8.8.8.8:8080/rest.
POSTGRES_USER	User name to connect to the packaged PostgreSQL DB.
POSTGRES_PASSWORD	User password to connect to the packaged PostgreSQL DB.
POSTGRES_DB	Database name to use by flaxo in the packaged PostgreSQL DB.
GITPLAG_POSTGRES_DB	Database name to use by gitplag in the packaged PostgreSQL DB.
tag	Flaxo release to use. Latest release can be found here.
data2graph_tag	Data2graph release to use. It should be specified without v prefix, f.e. v0.4 becomes 0.4. Latest release can be found here.
gitplag_tag	GitPlag release to use. It should be specified without v prefix, f.e. v0.5.2 becomes 0.5.2. Latest release can be found here.
data_dir	Host local directory to store packaged PostgreSQL DB files.
logs_dir	Host local directory to store backend logs.
gitplag_dir	Host local directory to store gitplag localized files.

Launch

Clone the Flaxo repository.

git clone https://github.com/tcibinan/flaxo.git

Change current directory to the cloned repository directory.

cd flaxo

Checkout to the required Flaxo release. Latest release can be found here.

git checkout 0.7

Change current directory to the docker compose directory.

cd docker/compose

Create .env file and fill it with the previously resolved deployment parameters.

cat > .env << EOL
GITHUB_ID=123456
GITHUB_SECRET=secretalphanumericstring12345
GITPLAG_GITHUB_AUTH=anothersecretalphanumericstring12345
MOSS_USER_ID=123456
DEPLOYMENT_URL=http://8.8.8.8
REST_URL=http://8.8.8.8:8080/rest
POSTGRES_USER=flaxo
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=tobechanged
POSTGRES_DB=flaxo
GITPLAG_POSTGRES_DB=gitplag
tag=0.7
data2graph_tag=0.4
gitplag_tag=0.5.2
data_dir=/local/path/to/db/files
logs_dir=/local/path/to/log/files
gitplag_dir=/local/path/to/gitplag/files
EOL

Boot up Flaxo ecosystem.

docker-compose up