Deployment

Deployment is the process in which your code is downloaded from the source control provider onto your server. FlashPanel shows deployments as a table, the table shows what (logs) were deployed, when they were deployed, and how long they lasted.

.env file

Some applications, such as those built with the Laravel Framework, may require an .env file to configure settings such as the database and caching. You can create and edit your Environment files in the management console of the FlashPanel site.

At the site management console > Select .env

! Automatic Environment Files

If your project contains a .env.example file, FlashPanel will automatically copy this file and replace some settings to match the server's database settings your. An empty .env.example file may result in an empty environment file on first deployment.

Automatic deployment

The Auto-deploy feature of FlashPanel allows you to easily deploy your projects when you push code to your source control provider. When you push to your configured deployment branch, FlashPanel will pull your latest code from source control and run your application's configured deployment script. You can enable auto-deployment of FlashPanel following:

1. At the website management dashboard
2. Select the Deployments tab and click the Enable auto deploy button

Deployment script

The commands that are executed on your server when your project is deployed are determined by your site's deployment script. Of course, this deployment script can be edited directly in the FlashPanel user interface.

FlashPanel provides a number of variables for you to easily use

FLASHVPS_SITE_ROOT='/path/to/yoursite.com'
FLASHVPS_CODE_BRANCH='siteBranch'
FLASHVPS_PHP='your-phpVersion'
FLASHVPS_PHP_FPM='your-phpVersion-fpm'

By default, your site's deployment script will:

cd $FLASHVPS_SITE_ROOT
git pull origin $FLASHVPS_CODE_BRANCH
echo 'Restarting FPM...';
sudo -S service $FLASHVPS_PHP_FPM reload

! Zero Downtime Deployments
Deployment may cause your site to be unavailable momentarily. If you want to avoid delays in your website's rollout, check out Envoyer

PHP Versions

If you have multiple PHP versions installed on your server, your deployment script may need to be updated to use the correct PHP version.

By default, php will always point to the active PHP version used on the CLI. If you need to use a different version of PHP, you must use phpx.x where x.x corresponds to the version used (e.g. php8.1) when calling PHP commands.

The deployment script for newly created sites uses the $FLASHVPS_PHP environment variable. This environment variable will always contain the name of the current PHP version configured for the site, so no additional changes are needed to your deployment script when using this variable and when switching the PHP version of your website.

Environment variables

FlashPanel will automatically include the following environment variables in your deployment script at runtime:

Variable	Description
FLASHVPS_PHP_FPM	The PHP-FPM process name is being used by FlashPanel.
FLASHVPS_PHP	The PHP version being used by the website or server FlashPanel.
FLASHVPS_CODE_BRANCH	The name of the branch to be deployed.
FLASHVPS_SITE_ROOT	The root of the deployment path, e.g. /home/flashvps/mysite.com

Deploy from CI

So far, we have discussed deploying FlashPanel pages from the FlashPanel frontend or by using the 'Auto-deploy' feature ' of FlashPanel. However, you can also deploy them from the CI platform of your choice.

To perform a deployment of FlashPanel from a CI platform, you can use Deploy from CI.

1. At the site management console > Select Auto-trigger deployment URL
2. Select Refresh deployment token

Use the Deployment Trigger

You can perform a deployment at any time by instructing your CI platform to make a GET or POST request to the URL shown in your site details.

While you can refresh your website token at any time, you'll need to update any services using this URL after you refresh the token.

Deployment branch

You can change the deployed branch for your site by updating the deployment branch settings. Once you have updated the deployment branch, you will then need to select Deploy Now to manually enable the new deployment to the new deployment branch.

Steps to update deployment branch:

1. At the site management console > Select Update deployment branch
2. Enter the name of the branch to change
3. Select Update

Steps to manually enable deploy now:

1. At the site management console > Select Deployment and History
2. Select Deploy now

Git Remote

Updating the Git Remote control from the site management console will update the Git Remote URL on your server; however, the website will not be removed or unavailable during this process. The updated Git Remote must contain the same Git repository/history as the currently installed repository.

You should not use this function to install a completely different project on a website. If you want to install a completely different project, you should completely uninstall the existing repository using the 'Remove code' button in the Site Management Console.

Steps to update Git Remote:

1. At the site management console > Select Git Remote Update
2. Change the provider or full path of the repository.
3. Select Update

Steps to Remove code:

1. At the website management dashboard > Select Remove code
2. Select Delete code