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adding environment variable first draft

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Damodar Lohani 2021-02-01 12:39:52 +05:45
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docs/tutorials/add-environment-variable.md
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@ -9,44 +9,20 @@ Adding new features may require various configurations options to be set by the
This tutorial will cover, how to properly add new environment variable in Appwrite.
## Error Reporting
### Naming environment varialbe
The environment variables in Appwrite is prefixed with `_APP_`. Then if it belongs to specific cateogry, the category name is appended as `_APP_REDIS` for redis category. Finally the properly describing name is given to the variable as `_APP_REDIS_HOST` for redis host.
By default, Appwrite installation comes with error debugging turned on, We do this to help new users solve issues and report problems while still in development mode.
### Describe new environment variable
First of all we add the new environment variable to `app/config/variables.php` under specific category. If none of the categories fit, add it in general category. Copy the existing variables description to create new one so that you will not miss any required fields.
In production, it is highly recommended to turn error reporting off. To do so, you have to change the Appwrite container environment variable **_APP_ENV** value from **development** to **production**.
### Add to .env and Dockerfile
If newly introduced environment variable has a default value, add it to the `.env` and `Dockerfile` along with other environment variables.
## Enable Encryption
### Add to docker compose file and template
Add the new environment variables to the `docker-compose.yml` and `app/views/install/compose.phtml` for each docker services that require access to those environment variables.
By default, the Appwrite setup doesn’t come with a uniquely generated encryption key. This key is used to store your files and sensitive data like webhook passwords or API keys in a safe way. To take advantage of this feature, you must generate a unique key and set it as the value of the **_APP_OPENSSL_KEY_V1** environment variable.
With these steps, your environment variable is properly added and can be accessed inside Appwrite code or any other containers where it is passed. You can access and use those variables to implement the features you are trying to implement.
Make sure to keep this key in a safe place and never make it publicly accessible. There are many [online resources]([https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-securely-store-api-keys-4ff3ea19ebda/](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-securely-store-api-keys-4ff3ea19ebda/)) with methods of keeping your secret keys safe in your servers.
If everything goes well, commit and initiate a PR and wait for the Appwrite team's approval.
## Limit Access to your Console
By default, anyone can signup for your Appwrite server, create projects, and use your computing power. While this is great for testing around or running your Appwrite service in a network isolated environment, it is highly not recommended for public production use.
We are providing three different methods to limit access to your Appwrite console. You can either set a list of [IPs]([https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite/blob/master/docs/tutorials/environment-variables.md#_app_console_whitelist_ips](https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite/blob/master/docs/tutorials/environment-variables.md#_app_console_whitelist_ips)), [email address]([https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite/blob/master/docs/tutorials/environment-variables.md#_app_console_whitelist_emails](https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite/blob/master/docs/tutorials/environment-variables.md#_app_console_whitelist_emails)) or [email domains]([https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite/blob/master/docs/tutorials/environment-variables.md#_app_console_whitelist_domains](https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite/blob/master/docs/tutorials/environment-variables.md#_app_console_whitelist_domains)) which users are allowed to signup from. You can choose one or multiple restriction methods to apply.
## Scaling
Appwrite was built with scalability in mind. Appwrite can potentially scale horizontally infinitely with no known limitations.
Appwrite uses a few containers to run, where each container has its job. Most of the Appwrite containers are stateless, and in order to scale them, all you need is run multiple instances of them and setup a load balancer in front of them.
If you decide to set up a load balancer for a specific container, make sure that the containers that are trying to communicate with it are accessing it through a load balancer and not directly. All connections between Appwrite different containers are set using Docker environment variables.
There are three Appwrite containers that do keep their state are the MariaDB, Redis, and InfluxDB containers that are used for storing data, cache, and stats (in this order). To scale them out, all you need to do is set up a standard cluster (same as you would with any other app using these technologies) according to your needs and performance.
## Sending Emails
Sending emails is hard. There are a lot of SPAM rules and configurations to master in order to set a functional SMTP server. The SMTP server that comes packaged with Appwrite is great for development but needs some work done to function well against SPAM filters. You can find some guidelines in this [tutorial]([https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-an-spf-record-to-prevent-spoofing-improve-e-mail-reliability](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-an-spf-record-to-prevent-spoofing-improve-e-mail-reliability)).
Another **easier option** is to use an ‘SMTP as a service’ product like [Sendgrid]([https://sendgrid.com/](https://sendgrid.com/)) or [Mailgun]([https://www.mailgun.com/](https://www.mailgun.com/)). You can change Appwrite SMTP settings and credentials to any 3rd party provider you like who support SMTP integration using our [Docker environment variables]([https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite/blob/master/docs/tutorials/environment-variables.md#smtp](https://github.com/appwrite/appwrite/blob/master/docs/tutorials/environment-variables.md#smtp)). Most services offer a decent free tier to get started with.
## Backups
Backups are highly recommended for any production environment. Currently, there is not built-in script we provide to do this automatically. To be able to backup your Appwrite server data, stats, and files you will need to do the following.
1. Create a script to backups and restore your MariaDB Appwrite schema. Note that trying to backup MariaDB using a docker volume backup can result in a corrupted copy of your data. It is recommended to use MariaDB or MySQL built-in tools for this.
2. Create a script to backups and restore your InfluxDB stats. If you don’t care much about your server stats, you can skip this.
3. Create a script to backup Appwrite storage volume. There are many [online resources]([https://blog.ssdnodes.com/blog/docker-backup-volumes/](https://blog.ssdnodes.com/blog/docker-backup-volumes/)) explaining different ways to backup a docker volume. When running on multiple servers, it is very recommended to use an attachable storage point. Some cloud providers offer integrated backups to such attachable mount like GCP, AWS, DigitalOcean, and the list continues.
Whooho! you have successfully added new environment variable to Appwrite.