Deploying Paybill on Amazon ECS

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You should setup a PostgreSQL database manually to be used by Paybill.

You can effortlessly deploy Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) by utilizing a CloudFormation template:

To deploy all the services at once, simply employ the following template:

curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paybilldev/paybill/refs/heads/master/deploy/cloudformation/Cloudfomation-template-one-click.yml

If you already have existing services and wish to integrate Paybill seamlessly into your current Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) or other setups, you can opt for the following template:

curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paybilldev/paybill/refs/heads/master/deploy/cloudformation/Cloudformation-deploy.yml

Redis

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Paybill optionally requires configuring Redis which is used for caching and telementry.

To deploy Redis on an ECS cluster, please follow the steps outlined below.

Please note that if you already have an existing Redis setup, you can continue using it. However, if you need to create a new Redis service, you can follow the steps provided below.

• Create a new take definition

  

• Please add container and image tag as shown below:
  Make sure that you are using redis version 6.x.x

  

• Ensure that when creating a service, Redis is integrated into the same cluster where your Paybill app will be deployed.
  Note: Please enable public IP

  

Paybill

Follow the steps below to deploy Paybill on a ECS cluster.

1. Setup a PostgreSQL database, Paybill uses a postgres database as the persistent storage for storing data related to users and apps.

2. Create a target group and an application load balancer to route traffic onto Paybill containers. You can reference AWS docs to set it up. Please note that Paybill server exposes /api/__health_check, which you can configure for health checks.

3. Create task definition for deploying Paybill app as a service on your preconfigured cluster.

   1. Select Fargate as launch type compatibility

   2. Configure IAM roles and set operating system family as Linux.

   3. Select task size to have 3GB of memory and 1vCpu

      

   4. Add container details that is shown:
      Specify your container name ex: Paybill
      Set the image you intend to deploy. ex: paybilldev/paybill:ee-latest
      Update port mappings at container port 3000 for tcp protocol.

      

      Specify environmental values for the container. You'd want to make use of secrets to store sensitive information or credentials, kindly refer the AWS docs to set it up. You can also store the env in S3 bucket, kindly refer the AWS docs .

      
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      For the setup, Paybill requires:

      • PB_DB
      • PB_DB_HOST
      • PB_DB_USER
      • PB_DB_PASS
      • PG_HOST
      • PG_DB
      • PG_USER
      • PG_PASS
      • APP_KEY

      
      

      Read environment variables reference

      Additionally, include the Redis environment variables within the Paybill container mentioned above if you have followed the previous steps to create Redis.

      REDIS_HOST=<public ip of redis task>
      REDIS_PORT=6379
      REDIS_USER=default
      REDIS_PASSWORD=

   5. Make sure Use log collection checked and Docker configuration with the command pnpm start:prod

      

4. Create a service to run your task definition within your cluster.

• Select the cluster which you have created
• Select launch type as Fargate
• Select the cluster and set the service name
• You can set the number of tasks to start with as two
• Rest of the values can be kept as default
• Click on next step to configure networking options
• Select your designated VPC, Subnets and Security groups. Kindly ensure that the security group allows for inbound traffic to http port 3000 for the task.
• Since migrations are run as a part of container boot, please specify health check grace period for 900 seconds. Select the application loadbalancer option and set the target group name to the one we had created earlier. This will auto populate the health check endpoints.

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The setup above is just a template. Feel free to update the task definition and configure parameters for resources and environment variables according to your needs.

Database

Deploying Database is optional or else it will default to sqlite.

Follow the steps below to deploy Postgres on a ECS cluster.

1. Create a new take definition

Add the container details and image tag eg postgres:16 as shown below:

Under environmental variable please add corresponding PostgRES env variables. You can also refer env variable.

2. Create service and make sure the postgres is within the same cluster as Paybill app.

3. Specify a service name and leave the remaining settings at their default configurations.

4. Ensure that the PostgRES service resides within the same Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), and confirm that port 5432 is included in the security group used by the Paybill app. Note: Please enable public IP

Update Paybill deployment with the appropriate env variables here and apply the changes.

Upgrading to the Latest LTS Version

New LTS versions are released every 3-5 months with an end-of-life of atleast 18 months. To check the latest LTS version, visit the Paybill Docker Hub page. The LTS tags follow a naming convention with the prefix LTS- followed by the version number, for example paybilldev/paybill:ee-lts-latest.

If this is a new installation of the application, you may start directly with the latest version. This guide is not required for new installations.

Prerequisites for Upgrading to the Latest LTS Version:

• It is crucial to perform a comprehensive backup of your database before starting the upgrade process to prevent data loss.

If you have any questions feel free to join our Discord Community or send us an email at info@paybill.dev.