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Overview

This guide walks you through deploying CaseBender on DigitalOcean using pre-built Docker images with Kubernetes (DOKS) and managed services.

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Prerequisites

  1. DigitalOcean Account
  2. doctl CLI installed
  3. kubectl installed
  4. Docker installed

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Step 1: Initial Setup

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Install and Configure doctl

# Using Homebrew
brew install doctl

# Authenticate with API token

doctl auth init

# Configure Docker for Container Registry

doctl registry login

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Step 2: Create Kubernetes Cluster

# Create DOKS cluster
doctl kubernetes cluster create casebender \
  --region nyc1 \
  --size s-2vcpu-4gb \
  --count 3 \
  --version latest

# Get kubeconfig
doctl kubernetes cluster kubeconfig save casebender

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Step 3: Set Up Managed Services

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Create Spaces for Object Storage

# Create Spaces bucket
doctl spaces create casebender-storage \
  --region nyc3

# Create Spaces access key
doctl spaces access-key create

# Note: Save the access key and secret key securely
# They will be needed for application configuration

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Create Managed PostgreSQL

# Create database cluster
doctl databases create \
  --engine pg \
  --name casebender-db \
  --region nyc1 \
  --size db-s-2vcpu-4gb \
  --version 14 \
  --num-nodes 1

# Create database
doctl databases db create casebender-db casebender

# Get connection details
doctl databases connection casebender-db --format ConnectionString

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Create Managed Redis

# Create Redis cluster
doctl databases create \
  --engine redis \
  --name casebender-redis \
  --region nyc1 \
  --size db-s-1vcpu-2gb \
  --version 7

# Get connection details
doctl databases connection casebender-redis --format ConnectionString

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Step 4: Configure Container Registry

# Create container registry
doctl registry create casebender-registry

# Get registry endpoint
REGISTRY_ENDPOINT=$(doctl registry get-endpoint)

# Pull CaseBender images
docker pull casebender/casebender:latest
docker pull casebender/workflow-processor:latest
docker pull casebender/misp-processor:latest

# Tag images for registry
docker tag casebender/casebender:latest registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/app:latest
docker tag casebender/workflow-processor:latest registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/workflow-processor:latest
docker tag casebender/misp-processor:latest registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/misp-processor:latest

# Push images
docker push registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/app:latest
docker push registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/workflow-processor:latest
docker push registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/misp-processor:latest

# Add registry to Kubernetes cluster
doctl kubernetes cluster registry add casebender

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Step 5: Deploy to Kubernetes

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Create Namespace

kubectl create namespace casebender

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Create Secrets

# Create secrets for database and Redis
kubectl create secret generic db-credentials \
  --namespace casebender \
  --from-literal=postgres-url="postgresql://doadmin:password@casebender-db-do-user-1234567-0.b.db.ondigitalocean.com:25060/casebender?sslmode=require" \
  --from-literal=redis-url="rediss://default:password@casebender-redis-do-user-1234567-0.b.db.ondigitalocean.com:25061"

# Create secrets for application
kubectl create secret generic app-secrets \
  --namespace casebender \
  --from-literal=auth-secret="your-auth-secret" \
  --from-literal=auth-salt="your-auth-salt"

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Deploy Applications

Create deployment.yaml: 
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: casebender-app
  namespace: casebender
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: casebender-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: casebender-app
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: app
          image: registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/app:latest
          ports:
            - containerPort: 3000
          env:
            - name: AUTH_SECRET
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: app-secrets
                  key: auth-secret
            - name: AUTH_SALT
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: app-secrets
                  key: auth-salt
            - name: POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: db-credentials
                  key: postgres-url
            - name: REDIS_URL
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: db-credentials
                  key: redis-url
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: workflow-processor
  namespace: casebender
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: workflow-processor
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: workflow-processor
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: processor
          image: registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/workflow-processor:latest
          env:
            - name: POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: db-credentials
                  key: postgres-url
            - name: REDIS_URL
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: db-credentials
                  key: redis-url
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: misp-processor
  namespace: casebender
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: misp-processor
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: misp-processor
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: processor
          image: registry.digitalocean.com/casebender-registry/misp-processor:latest
          env:
            - name: POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: db-credentials
                  key: postgres-url
            - name: REDIS_URL
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: db-credentials
                  key: redis-url
Apply the deployments: 
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml

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Create Services

Create service.yaml: 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: casebender-app
  namespace: casebender
spec:
  type: ClusterIP
  ports:
    - port: 80
      targetPort: 3000
  selector:
    app: casebender-app
Apply the service: 
kubectl apply -f service.yaml

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Step 7: Set Up Ingress

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Install NGINX Ingress Controller

# Add Helm repository
helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm repo update

# Install NGINX Ingress Controller
helm install nginx-ingress ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \
  --namespace casebender \
  --set controller.publishService.enabled=true

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Configure Ingress

Create ingress.yaml: 
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: casebender-ingress
  namespace: casebender
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: nginx
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  tls:
    - hosts:
        - your-domain.com
      secretName: casebender-tls
  rules:
    - host: your-domain.com
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: casebender-app
                port:
                  number: 80
Apply the ingress: 
kubectl apply -f ingress.yaml

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Step 8: Set Up SSL with cert-manager

# Install cert-manager
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.8.0/cert-manager.yaml

# Create ClusterIssuer
cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  acme:
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    email: your-email@domain.com
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-prod
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          class: nginx
EOF

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Monitoring and Maintenance

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Set Up Monitoring

# Install metrics server
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/metrics-server/releases/latest/download/components.yaml

# Deploy Prometheus and Grafana
helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo update

helm install prometheus prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack \
  --namespace monitoring \
  --create-namespace

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Configure Horizontal Pod Autoscaling

Create hpa.yaml: 
apiVersion: autoscaling/v2
kind: HorizontalPodAutoscaler
metadata:
  name: casebender-app-hpa
  namespace: casebender
spec:
  scaleTargetRef:
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: casebender-app
  minReplicas: 2
  maxReplicas: 10
  metrics:
    - type: Resource
      resource:
        name: cpu
        target:
          type: Utilization
          averageUtilization: 80
Apply the HPA: 
kubectl apply -f hpa.yaml

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Backup and Disaster Recovery

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Database Backups

DigitalOcean managed databases automatically handle backups. You can also: 
# Create manual backup
doctl databases backup casebender-db

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Configure Database Failover

# Enable automatic failover
doctl databases replica casebender-db create \
  --region sfo2

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Security Best Practices

  1. Enable DigitalOcean Cloud Firewall
  2. Use private networking
  3. Implement network policies
  4. Regular security updates
  5. Enable audit logging

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Cost Optimization

  1. Use appropriate node sizes
  2. Implement autoscaling
  3. Use block storage wisely
  4. Monitor resource usage
  5. Consider reserved droplets

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Next Steps

  • Set up CI/CD pipeline
  • Configure monitoring alerts
  • Implement logging solution
  • Review security measures