Production Deployment - Ecomdrop IA Connector

Overview

This guide covers deploying the Ecomdrop IA Connector to production using Docker Swarm, Traefik reverse proxy, and Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates.

Architecture

The production setup includes:

Traefik: Reverse proxy with automatic SSL certificates
Docker Swarm: Container orchestration and high availability
MySQL 8.0: Production database
Portainer: Container management UI (optional)
Let’s Encrypt: Free SSL certificates

Prerequisites

VPS Requirements

OS: Ubuntu 20.04+ or Debian 11+
RAM: 2GB minimum (4GB recommended)
Storage: 20GB minimum
CPU: 2 cores minimum

Software Prerequisites

Docker 20.10+
Docker Compose 2.0+
Git

Domain Setup

Domain pointing to your VPS IP
DNS A record: connector.ecomdrop.io → your.vps.ip

Firewall Configuration

# Allow HTTP (for Let's Encrypt validation)
ufw allow 80/tcp

# Allow HTTPS
ufw allow 443/tcp

# Allow SSH (if not already enabled)
ufw allow 22/tcp

# Enable firewall
ufw enable

Initial Server Setup

1. Install Docker

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install dependencies
sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

# Add Docker GPG key
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg

# Add Docker repository
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

# Install Docker
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

# Add user to docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and back in for group changes to take effect.

2. Initialize Docker Swarm

# Initialize Swarm mode
docker swarm init

# Create overlay network for services
docker network create --driver overlay EcomdropNet

3. Set Up Traefik

Create Traefik configuration directory

mkdir -p /opt/traefik
cd /opt/traefik

Create Traefik configuration file

Create traefik.yml:

api:
  dashboard: true

entryPoints:
  web:
    address: ":80"
    http:
      redirections:
        entryPoint:
          to: websecure
          scheme: https
  websecure:
    address: ":443"

certificatesResolvers:
  letsencryptresolver:
    acme:
      email: your-email@example.com
      storage: /letsencrypt/acme.json
      httpChallenge:
        entryPoint: web

providers:
  docker:
    swarmMode: true
    exposedByDefault: false
    network: EcomdropNet

Create Traefik docker-compose file

Create docker-compose.yml:

version: "3.8"

services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:v2.10
    command:
      - --configFile=/traefik.yml
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    networks:
      - EcomdropNet
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./traefik.yml:/traefik.yml:ro
      - traefik-certificates:/letsencrypt
    deploy:
      placement:
        constraints:
          - node.role == manager
      labels:
        - traefik.enable=true
        - traefik.http.routers.traefik.rule=Host(`traefik.ecomdrop.io`)
        - traefik.http.routers.traefik.entrypoints=websecure
        - traefik.http.routers.traefik.tls.certresolver=letsencryptresolver
        - traefik.http.services.traefik.loadbalancer.server.port=8080

networks:
  EcomdropNet:
    external: true

volumes:
  traefik-certificates:
    driver: local

Deploy Traefik

docker stack deploy -c docker-compose.yml traefik

Application Deployment

1. Clone Repository

cd /opt
git clone <your-repository-url> ecomdrop-ia-connector
cd ecomdrop-ia-connector

2. Configure Environment Variables

Create .env file

cp .env.example .env
nano .env

Set required variables

# Database Configuration
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=your_secure_root_password
MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_secure_user_password

# Shopify API
SHOPIFY_API_KEY=your_shopify_api_key
SHOPIFY_API_SECRET=your_shopify_api_secret
SHOPIFY_APP_URL=https://connector.ecomdrop.io

# Optional: Theme Configuration
THEME_2_5_GIT_REPO=your-org/theme-repo
THEME_2_5_GIT_BRANCH=main
THEME_2_5_GIT_PROVIDER=github
THEME_2_5_GIT_TOKEN=your_github_token

# Optional: Custom Domain
SHOP_CUSTOM_DOMAIN=yourstore.com

Use strong passwords! Generate secure passwords with: openssl rand -base64 32

3. Build Docker Image

Choose one of these methods:

# Build on the server
docker build -t shopify-app_shopify_app:latest .

4. Deploy Application Stack

# Deploy the stack
docker stack deploy -c docker-compose.yml shopify-app

# Verify deployment
docker service ls

You should see:

shopify-app_mysql
shopify-app_shopify_app

5. Monitor Deployment

# Check service status
docker service ps shopify-app_shopify_app
docker service ps shopify-app_mysql

Wait for MySQL to complete its health check before the application starts. This typically takes 30-60 seconds on first deployment.

SSL/HTTPS Setup

Automatic SSL with Traefik

Traefik automatically obtains and renews SSL certificates from Let’s Encrypt. The configuration in docker-compose.yml includes:

labels:
  - traefik.enable=true
  - traefik.http.routers.shopify_app.rule=Host(`connector.ecomdrop.io`)
  - traefik.http.routers.shopify_app.entrypoints=websecure
  - traefik.http.routers.shopify_app.tls.certresolver=letsencryptresolver

Verify SSL Certificate

# Check certificate
curl -vI https://connector.ecomdrop.io

# Verify SSL score
# Visit: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=connector.ecomdrop.io

Force HTTPS Redirect

Traefik automatically redirects HTTP to HTTPS:

labels:
  - traefik.http.middlewares.shopify_app-headers.headers.sslredirect=true

Configure Shopify Partners

Open Shopify Partners Dashboard

Navigate to partners.shopify.com

Select your app

Go to Apps and select your app.

Update App URL

In App setup:

App URL: https://connector.ecomdrop.io
Allowed redirection URL(s): https://connector.ecomdrop.io/api/auth

Save changes

Click Save and test the installation.

Monitoring and Logging

Health Checks

MySQL includes built-in health monitoring:

healthcheck:
  test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost"]
  interval: 10s
  timeout: 5s
  retries: 10
  start_period: 30s

Log Aggregation

# View logs from all services
docker service logs --tail 200 --follow shopify-app_shopify_app

# Export logs to file
docker service logs --since 24h shopify-app_shopify_app > app-logs-$(date +%Y%m%d).log

Resource Monitoring

# Monitor resource usage
docker stats

Set Up Portainer (Optional)

Deploy Portainer

docker volume create portainer_data

docker service create \
  --name portainer \
  --publish 9000:9000 \
  --publish 8000:8000 \
  --constraint 'node.role == manager' \
  --mount type=bind,src=/var/run/docker.sock,dst=/var/run/docker.sock \
  --mount type=volume,src=portainer_data,dst=/data \
  portainer/portainer-ce:latest

Access Portainer

Navigate to http://your-vps-ip:9000 and create an admin account.

Secure with Traefik

Add Traefik labels to expose Portainer via HTTPS (optional).

Database Backups

Manual Backup

# Create backup directory
mkdir -p /opt/backups/mysql

# Backup database
docker exec $(docker ps -q -f name=shopify-app_mysql) \
  mysqldump -u shopify_user -p${MYSQL_PASSWORD} shopify_app \
  > /opt/backups/mysql/backup_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).sql

Automated Backups

Create a backup script /opt/scripts/backup-mysql.sh:

#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="/opt/backups/mysql"
RETENTION_DAYS=7

# Create backup
DATETIME=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
docker exec $(docker ps -q -f name=shopify-app_mysql) \
  mysqldump -u shopify_user -p${MYSQL_PASSWORD} shopify_app \
  > "${BACKUP_DIR}/backup_${DATETIME}.sql"

# Compress backup
gzip "${BACKUP_DIR}/backup_${DATETIME}.sql"

# Delete old backups
find "${BACKUP_DIR}" -name "backup_*.sql.gz" -mtime +${RETENTION_DAYS} -delete

echo "Backup completed: backup_${DATETIME}.sql.gz"

Make it executable and add to cron:

chmod +x /opt/scripts/backup-mysql.sh

# Add to crontab (daily at 2 AM)
crontab -e
# Add line:
0 2 * * * /opt/scripts/backup-mysql.sh >> /var/log/mysql-backup.log 2>&1

Restore from Backup

# Restore specific backup
docker exec -i $(docker ps -q -f name=shopify-app_mysql) \
  mysql -u shopify_user -p${MYSQL_PASSWORD} shopify_app \
  < /opt/backups/mysql/backup_20250304_020000.sql

Scaling

Horizontal Scaling

# Scale application to 3 instances
docker service scale shopify-app_shopify_app=3

# Verify scaling
docker service ps shopify-app_shopify_app

Do not scale MySQL without proper replication setup. Consider using a managed database service for high-availability requirements.

Vertical Scaling

Update resource limits in docker-compose.yml:

deploy:
  resources:
    limits:
      cpus: '2'
      memory: 2G
    reservations:
      cpus: '1'
      memory: 1G

Updates and Maintenance

Update Application

Pull latest code

cd /opt/ecomdrop-ia-connector
git pull origin main

Rebuild image

docker build -t shopify-app_shopify_app:latest .

Update service

docker service update \
  --image shopify-app_shopify_app:latest \
  shopify-app_shopify_app

Monitor rollout

docker service logs -f shopify-app_shopify_app

Zero-Downtime Updates

# Update with rolling update strategy
docker service update \
  --update-parallelism 1 \
  --update-delay 10s \
  --image shopify-app_shopify_app:latest \
  shopify-app_shopify_app

Security Best Practices

Use strong passwords

# Generate secure passwords
openssl rand -base64 32

Enable Docker secrets

# Create secret
echo "my_secret_value" | docker secret create mysql_password -

# Use in docker-compose.yml
secrets:
  - mysql_password

Restrict network access

# Only allow Traefik and internal services
# Do not expose MySQL port externally

Regular security updates

# Update system packages
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Update Docker images
docker pull mysql:8.0
docker pull node:20-alpine

Never commit secrets

Add to .gitignore:

.env
*.pem
*.key
credentials.json

Hosting Options

DigitalOcean

Droplets: $12/month (2GB RAM)

Pre-configured Docker images
Managed databases available
Easy firewall configuration

AWS EC2

t3.small: ~$15/month

Highly scalable
Use RDS for managed MySQL
Advanced networking options

Linode

Nanode: $5/month (1GB RAM)

Simple pricing
Good performance
Managed databases available

Vultr

Cloud Compute: $6/month (1GB RAM)

Fast deployment
Multiple data centers
Easy scaling

Performance Optimization

MySQL Tuning

command:
  - mysqld
  - --innodb_buffer_pool_size=1G  # 50-70% of available RAM
  - --max_connections=200
  - --query_cache_size=32M
  - --tmp_table_size=64M
  - --max_heap_table_size=64M

Application Caching

Consider adding Redis for session storage and caching:

redis:
  image: redis:7-alpine
  networks:
    - EcomdropNet
  volumes:
    - redis_data:/data

CDN Integration

Use Cloudflare for:

Static asset caching
DDoS protection
Global CDN
Additional SSL layer

Next Steps

Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions for production deployments

Docker Guide

Deep dive into Docker configuration and best practices

Overview

Getting Started

Core Features

Integrations

Configuration

Deployment

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Architecture

​Prerequisites

​Initial Server Setup

​1. Install Docker

​2. Initialize Docker Swarm

​3. Set Up Traefik

​Application Deployment

​1. Clone Repository

​2. Configure Environment Variables

​3. Build Docker Image

​4. Deploy Application Stack

​5. Monitor Deployment

​SSL/HTTPS Setup

​Automatic SSL with Traefik

​Verify SSL Certificate

​Force HTTPS Redirect

​Configure Shopify Partners

​Monitoring and Logging

​Health Checks

​Log Aggregation

​Resource Monitoring

​Set Up Portainer (Optional)

​Database Backups

​Manual Backup

​Automated Backups

​Restore from Backup

​Scaling

​Horizontal Scaling

​Vertical Scaling

​Updates and Maintenance

​Update Application

​Zero-Downtime Updates

​Security Best Practices

​Hosting Options

DigitalOcean

AWS EC2

Linode

Vultr

​Performance Optimization

​MySQL Tuning

​Application Caching

​CDN Integration

​Next Steps

Troubleshooting

Docker Guide

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Architecture

Prerequisites

Initial Server Setup

1. Install Docker

2. Initialize Docker Swarm

3. Set Up Traefik

Application Deployment

1. Clone Repository

2. Configure Environment Variables

3. Build Docker Image

4. Deploy Application Stack

5. Monitor Deployment

SSL/HTTPS Setup

Automatic SSL with Traefik

Verify SSL Certificate

Force HTTPS Redirect

Configure Shopify Partners

Monitoring and Logging

Health Checks

Log Aggregation

Resource Monitoring

Set Up Portainer (Optional)

Database Backups

Manual Backup

Automated Backups

Restore from Backup

Scaling

Horizontal Scaling

Vertical Scaling

Updates and Maintenance

Update Application

Zero-Downtime Updates

Security Best Practices

Hosting Options

Performance Optimization

MySQL Tuning

Application Caching

CDN Integration

Next Steps