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tutorial-vpc-3tier-networking's Introduction

Use GUI, CLI or API to run a Web App in VPC network

Purpose

Build a load balanced 3-tier web application that separates the web, application, and data tiers by placing them in separate subnetworks.

Based on Solution Tutorials - Highly Available & Scalable Web App

This document illustrates the deployment of WordPress on top of a LAMP stack (software_bundle) hosted on IBM Cloud Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). The main objective is to highlight the features of IBM VPC but at the end of this tutorial, a tested and working application environment will be deployed.

Features:

Application

A load balanced application - WordPress
Using multiple databases - HyperDB
With source/replica data replication - MySQL

Infrastructure

Public isolation - VPC
Where application and data layers are deployed on separate subnets
With separate network security groups
Using bring-your-own-IP

Below is the IBM Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) architecture of the solution showing public isolation for both Application (through an Application Load Balancer) and data.

VPC Architecture

Assumptions and Limitations

This document expects the reader to have a basic level of understanding of network infrastructure and application deployment on a Linux environment.
The solution will use HTTP.
The LAMP stack will use Nginx Web Application Server and MySQL will be deployed on a separate server.
Fixes to issues found during the deployment of the environment have been provided. However, these fixes are as of the time of this writing and other issues may occur with new deployments or versions of the stack.
Not shown in the architecture diagram is the use a public IP addresses in order to deploy the application. IBM VPC uses a floating IP and a Public Gateway to allow internet traffic. We will use these to access the VSIs and pull the software from public repositories. Once the images are deployed, floating IPs will be removed for improved system isolation.
Bring-Your-Own-Image (BYOI) is not included.
Network storage is not included.

VPC Functional Coverage

Function	Result	Notes
VPC	✅
Subnets	✅
Private IP (BYOIP)	✅
Virtual Server Instance (VSI)	✅
Multiple Network Interfaces in VSI	✅
Application Load Balancer	✅
Floating IPv4	✅	⚠️ Temporary use to deploy application images
Public Gateway	✅	⚠️ Temporary use to deploy application images

System Requirements

Operating system

Tier	Operating system
Web Server & Application	Ubuntu 20.04
Data	Ubuntu 20.04

Hardware

Tier	Type	Profile
Web Server and Application	VSI	bx2-4x16
Data	VSI	bx2-4x16

Documented Steps

To build this scenario we will first deploy the VPC infrastructure followed by the deployment and configuration of the application. Then, we will build and configure an HA application cluster to enable scalability of the application when higher traffic requires new nodes added to the application load balancer.

Prerequisites

The following needs to be executed before starting with the deployment:

Have access to a public SSH key as described in SSH Keys.
Create a new resource group called VPC1 as described in Managing resource groups
Once the VPC1 resource group has been created, update user permissions and provide the required access as described in Managing user permissions for VPC resources

Deploy VPC Infrastructure

IBM Cloud provides four methods to deploy the VPC infrastructure and three of them are documented here. The reader may follow the instructions using one of these to set up the environment for this scenario.

Deploy using CLI

Deploy using API

Deploy using UI

Install Web Application

Deploy the application once the VPC infrastructure has been deployed.

Install Application Layer

Error Scenarios

Application layer failures are included during the deployment and test of the software stack. No infrastructure failures were introduced.

Documentation Provided

Useful links for VPC documentation.

Getting started with IBM Cloud Virtual Private Cloud

Assigning role-based access to VPC resources

IBM Cloud CLI for VPC Reference

VPC API

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tutorial-vpc-3tier-networking's Issues

Modify the description of "Create an SSH Key"

In Create an SSH Key, The description needs to be modified since the menu on the UI was changed.

Before

From the Compute menu select "SSH keys" and then "Add SSH key."

After

From VPC Infrastructure menu select "SSH keys" and then "Create +"

Update API.md examples using current API version

In tutorial-vpc-3tier-networking/API.md, Prerequisite #5 states that API version 2019-01-01 was used to generate examples.

Could someone please refresh the tutorial's examples to use a newer API version (current version is 2020-06-16)

VPC API guide: https://cloud.ibm.com/apidocs/vpc
Raw JSON: https://pages.github.ibm.com/riaas/api-spec/spec_genesis_2020-06-16/spec/openapi.json

Modify the description of "Create Two VPC Subnets"

In Create Two VPC Subnets, the name of menu has been changed on the current version of IBM Cloud so that the description needs be modified to apply the changes.

Before

On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "Subnets" and then "New subnet". Create each subnet and attach the VPC's public gateway.

After

On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "Subnets" and then click "Create +". Create each subnet and attach the VPC's public gateway.

Modify the description of "Create a VPC"

In Create a VPC, the description needs to be modified since the menu on the UI was changed.

Before

On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "VPCs" under "Network.". Then select "New virtual private cloud".

After

On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "VPCs" under "Network.". Then select "Create +"

Before

Use subnet0 for subnet and attach a Public Gateway. The public gateway will be needed to access the application software from the public repositories.

After

Use subnet0 for subnet and attach a Public Gateway. The public gateway will be needed to access the application software from the public repositories.

The following description also needs to be modified since IBM Cloud no longer support the special character (_) as a part of the name of VPC.

Before

Create a VPC named wp_vpc.

After

Create a VPC named wp-vpc.

Update the screenshot of "Create the Load Balancer"

In Create the Load Balancer, the current screenshots should be replaced with the latest ones applied changes. Please find the examples below.

Update the screenshot of "Optionally, Remove Original Subnet0"

In Optionally, Remove Original Subnet0, the current screenshot seems to be captured from the previous version of IBM Cloud. It should be replaced with the latest one applied changes.

Modify the description of "Security Groups and Access Control Lists"

In Security Groups and Access Control Lists, the description needs to be modified since the menu on the UI was changed.

Before

On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "Security groups" and then "New security group".

After

On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "Security groups" and then "Create +".

The following description also needs to be modified since IBM Cloud no longer support the special character (_) as a part of the name of Security Group.

Before

Application Security Group - app_sg

After

Application Security Group - app-sg

Before

Application Security Group - data_sg

After

Application Security Group - data-sg

Update the screenshots of "Create Two VPC Subnets"

In Create Two VPC Subnets, the current screenshots should be replaced since they seems out of date.

Subnet1

Subnet2

Modify the description of "Create Addresses Prefixes"

In Create Addresses Prefixes, the description needs to be modified since the menu on the UI was changed.

Before

On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "VPCs" under "Network.". Select VPC wp_vpc to get the details, then select "Address prefixes" and "New prefix."

After

On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "VPCs" under "Network.". Select VPC wp_vpc to get the details, then select "Address prefixes" and "Create."

Modify the description of "Prepare to Load Application Software"

In Prepare to Load Application Software, the description needs to be modified since the menu on the UI was changed.

Before

Add Public IP to each Data and Application servers
On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "Virtual server instances" and then select one server to drill down to the details. Under "Network interfaces" select "Reserve" on eth0 to add a Floating IP.

After

Add Public IP to each Data and Application servers
On the VPC Infrastructure menu, select "Virtual server instances" and then select one server to drill down to the details. Under "Network interfaces" click the pencil icon to edit it on eth0 and select "Reserve a new floating IP" at Floating IP address.

Update the screenshot of "Create an SSH Key"

In Create an SSH Key, the screenshot should be replaced with the latest one since it seems out of date.

Update the screenshot of "Prepare to Load Application Software"

In Prepare to Load Application Software, the current screens should be replaced with the latest ones applied changes.

appserv1

appserv2

mysql1

mysql2

Update the screenshot of "Create Data Tier VPC Instances - Subnet2"

In Create Data Tier VPC Instances - Subnet2, the current screenshots should be replaced with the latest ones applied changes. Please find the example below.

Instance=mysql1

Instance=mysql2

Update the screenshot of "Create Web and Application tier VPC instances - Subnet1"

In Create Web and Application tier VPC instances - Subnet1, the current screenshots should replaced with the latest ones applied changes. Please find the examples below.

Instance = AppServ1