Talking about the way to put in production an Elixir application. From Meetup Languages over BEAM United, Stockholm, 11th of June of 2019

1. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
CREATING YOUR
NON-STOP ELIXIR
APPLICATION
Manuel Rubio
Senior Erlang Developer @ Erlang Solutions
@MRonErlang
manuel.rubio@erlang-solutions.com

2. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE JOURNEY...
▸ What means release exactly?
▸ Using Elixir 1.9 release feature.
▸ Using Distillery to create these releases.
▸ Ecto issues for production and how to solve them.
▸ Creating tasks for production (not for mix).
▸ Reload of the configuration

3. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE DEV WAY...
copyElixir
Code
iex -S
mix run
Local
Server
run
compile
Or
iex -S mix
phx.server
for Phoenix

4. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE WRONG WAY...
copyElixir
Code mix runPROD
Server
run
compile
Or
mix phx.server
for Phoenix

5. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE WRONG WAY...
copyElixir
Code mix runPROD
Server
run
compile
Or
mix phx.server
for Phoenix

6. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE WRONG WAY...
▸ It needs a TTY (docker, tmux, screen, …)
▸ It’s using applications which are not needed.
▸ You’re copying all of the code into production.
▸ You’re compiling into production.

7. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE HARD WAY...
copy
Elixir
Code
start
PROD
Server
compile
BUILD
Server
BEAM
Package
publish
deploy
upgrade

8. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE HARD WAY...
▸ Elixir 1.9 includes release commands… but limited
▸ Distillery let us to create tarball files
▸ Distillery let us to create hot-upgrade packages
▸ Distillery let us to include our own commands

9. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE HARD WAY...
▸ Elixir 1.9 includes release commands… but limited
▸ Distillery let us to create tarball files
▸ Distillery let us to create hot-upgrade packages
▸ Distillery let us to include our own commands
▸ Distillery rock!

10. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE HARD WAY...
https://books.altenwald.com

11. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE HARD WAY...
▸ mix release.init

12. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE HARD WAY...
copy
Elixir
Code
start
PROD
Server
compile
BUILD
Server
BEAM
Package
publish
deploy
upgrade

13. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE HARD WAY...
▸ mix release --upgrade

14. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THE HARD WAY...
copy
Elixir
Code
start
PROD
Server
compile
BUILD
Server
BEAM
Package
publish
deploy
upgrade

15. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
DISADVANTAGES...
▸ We have no mix in production
▹ mix ecto.migrate ?!?
▹ mix ecto.create_db ?!?
▹ Any other custom task?
▸ Configuration is only in Erlang format (sys.config)

16. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
SOME TRICKS...
▸ Auto Ecto Migration tool
{:ecto_boot_migration, "~> 0.1.1"}
▸ TOML Configuration format
{:toml, "~> 0.5.2"}
▸ Use OTP as much as possible.

17. www.erlang-solutions.com
© 1999-2019 Erlang Solutions Ltd
THANK YOU
Q&A
Manuel Rubio
Senior Erlang Developer @ Erlang Solutions
@MRonErlang
manuel.rubio@erlang-solutions.com