EssayBot Server Deployment

EssayBot Server (Backend) uses GitHub Actions with a self-hosted runner on the A6000 server.

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Server Details

Environment	Path	Branch	Trigger
Production	/opt/Essaybot-server	main	Push to release/prod
UAT	/opt/Essaybot-server-UAT	qdrant-migration	Push to qdrant-migration

Server: A6000 (self-hosted GitHub runner)

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Ports

Environment	Express	Flask	PM2 Namespace
PROD	8001	6000	prod
UAT	8002	6001	uat

Shared Service	Port
MongoDB	27017
Redis	6379
RabbitMQ	5672
Qdrant	6333

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PM2 Process Names

Environment	Express	Flask	Worker
PROD	essaybot-express	essaybot-flask	essaybot-worker
UAT	essaybot-express-uat	essaybot-flask-uat	essaybot-worker-uat

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Deployment Triggers

Automatic (GitHub Actions)

Push to branch → GitHub Action triggers → Deploy to corresponding environment

Branch	Deploys To
release/prod	Production
qdrant-migration	UAT

Manual (Workflow Dispatch)

1. Go to Actions → Deploy EssayBot Server
2. Click Run workflow
3. Select environment (UAT or PROD)
4. Optionally specify a branch

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Deployment Steps (What the CI Does)

1. Backup current deployment
2. Pull latest code from branch
3. Create .env file from GitHub Secrets
4. Install Node.js dependencies (npm ci)
5. Setup Python venv and install requirements
6. Start Docker services (RabbitMQ, Redis)
7. Restart PM2 services (Express, Flask, Worker)
8. Health check on /health endpoints
9. Notify Teams channel

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GitHub Secrets Required

Environment-Specific

Secret	Description
MONGO_URI_UAT	MongoDB connection string for UAT
MONGO_URI_PROD	MongoDB connection string for PROD
ESSAYBOT_PRODUCTION_URL_UAT	UI URL for UAT (https://uat.essaybot.dashlab.studio)
ESSAYBOT_PRODUCTION_URL_PROD	UI URL for PROD (https://essaybot.dashlab.studio)
DASH_PORTAL_PRODUCTION_URL_UAT	DashPortal URL for UAT
DASH_PORTAL_PRODUCTION_URL_PROD	DashPortal URL for PROD
MINIO_BUCKET_UAT	MinIO bucket for UAT (essaybot-uat)
MINIO_BUCKET_PROD	MinIO bucket for PROD (essaybot)

Shared (Both Environments)

Secret	Description
JWT_SECRET	JWT signing secret
EXTERNAL_JWT_SECRET	DashPortal cross-auth secret
MINIO_ACCESS_KEY	MinIO access key
MINIO_SECRET_KEY	MinIO secret key
MINIO_ENDPOINT	MinIO endpoint URL
OLLAMA_URL	vLLM completions endpoint
OLLAMA_MODEL_URL	vLLM base URL
VISION_MODEL	Vision model name
EMBEDDING_MODEL	Embedding model name
AWS_REGION	AWS region for S3 compatibility
GH_PAT	GitHub Personal Access Token
TEAMS_WEBHOOK_URL	MS Teams notification webhook

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PM2 Commands

Check Status

# UAT
sudo -u deploy pm2 status --namespace uat

# PROD
sudo -u deploy pm2 status --namespace prod

View Logs

# UAT
sudo -u deploy pm2 logs --namespace uat --lines 100

# PROD
sudo -u deploy pm2 logs --namespace prod --lines 100

Restart Services

# UAT
sudo -u deploy pm2 restart all --namespace uat

# PROD
sudo -u deploy pm2 restart all --namespace prod

Full Restart (Delete + Start)

# UAT
cd /opt/Essaybot-server-UAT
sudo -u deploy pm2 delete all --namespace uat
sudo -u deploy NAMESPACE=uat pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --only essaybot-express-uat --namespace uat
sudo -u deploy NAMESPACE=uat pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --only essaybot-flask-uat --namespace uat
sudo -u deploy NAMESPACE=uat pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --only essaybot-worker-uat --namespace uat

# PROD
cd /opt/Essaybot-server
sudo -u deploy pm2 delete all --namespace prod
sudo -u deploy NAMESPACE=prod pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --env production --only essaybot-express --namespace prod
sudo -u deploy NAMESPACE=prod pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --env production --only essaybot-flask --namespace prod
sudo -u deploy NAMESPACE=prod pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --env production --only essaybot-worker --namespace prod

Docker Services

# Check status
docker ps

# Restart RabbitMQ and Redis
docker compose restart rabbitmq redis

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Health Check Endpoints

Environment	Express	Flask
UAT	http://localhost:8002/health	http://localhost:6001/health
PROD	http://localhost:8001/health	http://localhost:6000/health

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Rollback

On deployment failure, the CI automatically restores from the latest backup in /opt/Essaybot-server[-UAT]/backups/.

Manual Rollback

# List backups
ls -la /opt/Essaybot-server-UAT/backups/

# Restore specific backup
cd /opt/Essaybot-server-UAT
sudo -u deploy tar -xzf backups/backup-20240115-120000.tar.gz -C .
sudo -u deploy pm2 restart all --namespace uat

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Backup Retention

• Automatic cleanup: Keeps only 3 most recent backups
• Log cleanup: Removes logs older than 30 days
• Backup location: <project-dir>/backups/
• Backup format: backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.gz

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Check
Services not starting	pm2 logs --namespace uat --lines 50
Port already in use	lsof -ti:8002 then kill -9 <PID>
MinIO errors	Verify .env has correct MINIO_* values
JWT auth failures	Check EXTERNAL_JWT_SECRET length (should be 15 chars)
RabbitMQ connection	docker ps — ensure essaybot-rabbitmq is running