browsertrix/docs/deploy/local.md

Local Deployment

To try out the latest release of Browsertrix Cloud on your local machine, you'll first need to have a working Kubernetes cluster.

Installing Kubernetes

Before running Browsertrix Cloud, you'll need to set up a running Kubernetes cluster.

Today, there are numerous ways to deploy Kubernetes fairly easily, and we recommend trying one of the single-node options, which include Docker Desktop, microk8s, minikube and k3s.

The instructions below assume you have cloned the https://github.com/webrecorder/browsertrix-cloud repository locally, and have local package managers for your platform (eg. brew for Mac, choco for Windows, etc...) already installed.

Here are some environment specific instructions for setting up a local cluster from different Kubernetes vendors:

??? info "Docker Desktop (recommended for Mac and Windows)"

For Mac and Windows, we recommend testing out Browsertrix Cloud using Kubernetes support in Docker Desktop as that will be one of the simplest options.

1. [Install Docker Desktop](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/) if not already installed.

2. From the Dashboard app, ensure `Enable Kubernetes` is checked from the Preferences screen.

3. Restart Docker Desktop if asked, and wait for it to fully restart.

4. Install [Helm](https://helm.sh/), which can be installed with `brew install helm` (Mac) or `choco install kubernetes-helm` (Windows) or following some of the [other install options](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/)

??? info "MicroK8S (recommended for Ubuntu)"

For Ubuntu and other linux distros, we recommend using MicroK8S for both local deployment and production.

1. Install MicroK8s, by running `sudo snap install microk8s --classic` [see more detailed instructions here](https://microk8s.io/docs/getting-started) or [alternate installation instructions here](https://microk8s.io/docs/install-alternatives)

2. Install the following addons `microk8s enable dns hostpath-storage registry helm3`. (For production, also add `ingress cert-manager` to the list of addons)

3. Wait for add-ons to finish installing with `microk8s status --wait-ready`

Note: microk8s comes with its own version helm, so you don't need to install it separately. Replace `helm` with `microk8s helm3` in the subsequent instructions below.

??? info "Minikube (Windows, Mac or Linux)"

1. Install Minikube [following installation instructions](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/start/), eg. `brew install minikube`.
   Note that Minikube also requires Docker or another container management system to be installed as well.

2. Install [Helm](https://helm.sh/), which can be installed with `brew install helm` (Mac) or `choco install kubernetes-helm` (Windows) or following some of the [other install options](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/)

??? info "K3S (recommended for non-Ubuntu Linux)"

1. Install K3s [as per the instructions](https://docs.k3s.io/quick-start)

2. Install [Helm](https://helm.sh/), which can be installed with `brew install helm` (Mac) or `choco install kubernetes-helm` (Windows) or following some of the [other install options](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/)

3. Set `KUBECONFIG` to point to the config for K3S: `export KUBECONFIG=/etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml` to ensure Helm will use the correct version.

Launching Browsertrix Cloud with Helm

Once you have a running Kubernetes cluster with one of the options above, and Helm 3 installed, you can then run from the Browsertrix Cloud repo directory:

helm upgrade --install -f ./chart/values.yaml \
-f ./chart/examples/local-config.yaml btrix ./chart/

??? info "MicroK8S"

If using microk8s, the command will be:

```sh
microk8s helm3 upgrade --install -f ./chart/values.yaml \
-f ./chart/examples/local-config.yaml btrix ./chart/
```

Subsequent commands will also use `microk8s helm3` instead of `helm`.

The local setup includes the full Browsertrix Cloud system, with frontend, backend api, db (via MongoDB) and storage (via Minio)

An admin user with name admin@example.com and password PASSW0RD! will be automatically created.

This config uses the standard config (./chart/values.yaml) with a couple additional settings for local deployment (./chart/examples/local-config.yaml). With Helm, additional YAML files can be added to further override previous settings.

These settings can be changed in charts/examples/local-config.yaml.

For example, to change the default superadmin, uncomment the superadmin block in local-config.yaml, and then change the username (admin@example.com) and password (PASSW0RD!) to different values. (The admin username and password will be updated with each deployment)

Waiting for Cluster to Start

After running the helm command, you should see something like:

Release "btrix" does not exist. Installing it now.
NAME: btrix
LAST DEPLOYED: <time>
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: deployed
REVISION: 1
TEST SUITE: None

After that, especially on first run, it may take a few minutes for the Browsertrix Cloud cluster to start, as all images need to be downloaded locally.

You can try running the command: kubectl wait --for=condition=ready pod --all --timeout=300s to wait for all pods to be initialized.

The command will exit when all pods have been loaded, or if there is an error and it times out.

If the command succeeds, you should be able to access Browsertrix Cloud by loading: http://localhost:30870/ in your browser.

??? info "Minikube (on Mac)"

When using Minikube on a Mac, the port will not be 30870. Instead, Minikube opens a tunnel to a random port,
obtained by running `minikube service browsertrix-cloud-frontend --url` in a separate terminal.
Use the provided URL (in the format `http://127.0.0.1:<TUNNEL_PORT>`) instead.

Debugging Pod Issues

If this command fails, you can also run kubectl get pods to see the status of each of the pods.

There should be 4 pods listed: backend, frontend, minio and mongodb. If any one is not ready for a while, something may be wrong.

To get more details about why a pod has not started, you can run kubectl describe <podname> and see the latest status at the bottom.

Often, the error may be obvious, such as failed to pull an image.

If the pod is running, or previously ran, you can also get the logs from the container by running kubectl logs <podname>

The outputs of these commands will be helpful if you'd like to report an issue on GitHub

Updating the Cluster

To update the cluster, re-run the same command again, which will pull the latest images. In this way, you can upgrade to the latest release of Browsertrix Cloud. The upgrade will preserve the database and current archives.

helm upgrade --install -f ./chart/values.yaml -f ./chart/examples/local-config.yaml btrix ./chart/

Uninstalling

To uninstall, run helm uninstall btrix.

By default, the database + storage volumes are not automatically deleted, so you can run helm upgrade ... again to restart the cluster in its current state.

If you are upgrading from a previous version, and run into issues with helm upgrade ..., we recommend uninstalling and then re-running upgrade.

Deleting all Data

To fully delete all persistent data (db + archives) created in the cluster, also run kubectl delete pvc --all after uninstalling.

Deploying for Local Development

These instructions are intended for deploying the cluster from the latest release. See setting up cluster for local development for additional customizations related to developing Browsertrix Cloud and deploying from local images.